Nothing new here.  Mark Shea’s cultural commentary in the NCRegister is a lament.  He rightly diagnoses some of the ills of our society, but seems to offer no suggestions for a possible solution.  But on the other hand, the mournful lament is a worthy genre in and of itself.

Western civilization is like a cut flower; its beatury can’t last long, since it’s lost connection with the Christian roots that once gave it life.  And as its glory fades and the flower withers, it becomes ugly and eventually putrid.

I just wish we Anglicans had a comprehensive newsweekly comparable to the Catholic NCRegister.com, with the art and all.

David Handy+

Shea goes astray here in the very sentence by introducing the notion of a “heterosexual human being”. Scripture and Christian tradition know nothing of “heterosexuals”; they only know of men and women.

Sorry #2, but this conclusion is not the case. Scripture and Christian tradition know a great deal about homosexuality and its acts, and have uniformly condemned them. In sanctioning marriage and sexual contact therein, the church shows that it knows that it is talking about heterosexual human beings, not tree swallows or chimpanzees.
  Larry

[1] New Reformation Advocate,

Hello, Fr. Handy. First, by way of full disclosure, Mr. Shea is a parishioner at my parish, and was a presenter at one of the first RCIA sessions I attended.

As to “suggestions for a possible solution,” I would not be surprised to find them in one, or more, of the article(s) he intimates will follow during the near term.

Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer

Hello, MA/Keith (#4),

It’s always good to hear from you.  I’m glad to know Mark Shea is a member of your new RC parish; which only makes it sound all the more impressive.  FWIW, I attended the Pentecost Vigil Mass at the nearest RC church to the retreat center where I work; the parish, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Newport New, VA, is beautifully laid out in a spectacular oval design with the congregation seated around the central axis, that contains the altar near one end, and the pulpit near the other.

Just as I wish we Anglicans had something like NCRegister.com; so likewise I wish we had more gorgeous, well-designed churches like that one that reflects post-Vatican II reforms at their best.

I’ll look forward to reading any follow up pieces by Mark Shea with added interest now.

David Handy+