Welcome Pewsitters!

Last updated on: December 30, 2014 at 5:43 pm by Mark Shea

Welcome Pewsitters! 2014-12-30T17:43:51-07:00 Mark Shea

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Pewsitter’s a funny site. The anonymous people who run it have decided I am a Public Enemy because I blasphemed their folk hero Fr. John Corapi by pointing out the, you know, truth that the guy was a fraud, a liar, and a grifter and his bishop and superior were absolutely right to call the guy to heel. So, in their intensely loving Christian way, they’ve had it in for me ever since and periodically link to me with a headline meant to induce their readers into a 15 minute hate. Sometimes the headlines are merely misleading. Sometimes they are a good solid lie, as with their recent libellous claim that I am “pro-mullah” and their incredibly stupid choice to link to a piece claiming this by a rabidly anti-catholic writer on the theory that the enemy of their enemy is their friend. No vindictiveness is too petty for the gatekeepers of tribalized “orthodoxy” over at Pewsitter. And fuggehdabout writing them and trying to get a response: they know who the Enemy is and they know who the Righteous are, so conversation is out–they may contract ritual impurity if they respond to the likes of me.

Anyway, I note today that my comboxes are flooded afresh with inquisitors telling me to go back to Protestantism, or informing me that as one of those convert types, I don’t understand how things are done around here, etc. because I recorded a few days ago that Fr. Groeschel and Cdl Dolan have both noticed the same thing I did: that there is no theological block to the Church creating a female cardinal if she feels like doing so.

And sure enough, over at Pewsitter, in red, is the latest “Go, my pretties and defend the Church against the evil Protestant fraud!” sic ’em headline: “Woman Cardinal What?”

To recap: I hold no brief for women cardinals. I simply note that it is an interesting theological fact that there is nothing in the idea of a female cardinal that is contrary to apostolic tradition, just as there is nothing about a female parish council member that is contrary to apostolic tradition. Is it contrary to human custom and canon law? Sure. But these things can be changed, which is my point. I also voice the guess that we could see such a thing sometime this century. And I further say that, if we do, people should not freak out and hold God to a contract he never signed. I don’t say I think it’s necessarily a good idea. I can see arguments for and against it myself and I have no burning interest in the question myself since I have equal measures of passionate interest in the cardinalate as I do in parish councils. It’s a big yawn for me. But the anonymous cowards at Pewsitter, determined to do the full Emmanuel Goldstein on me by sending their herd of independent minds over here to decry and denounce the heretic don’t mention that. I’m thinking they might consider a proposal to NBC to cover their religion beat with the accuracy for which that network is justly famous.

On the bright side, Pewsitter always drives my traffic way up, and that’s full of win for me.

UPDATE: The link is gone: flushed down the memory hole without so much as an apology. For Catholics, those guys don’t seem to be into contrition too much. I think it was the realization that they were driving up my traffic that did the trick. I wonder if this means they will now give me the silent treatment? This could be my chance! I wonder how many outrageous things I can say before they crack and link me in an orgy of denunciations. It’s tempting. Perhaps a declaration like:

“My enjoyment of Harry Potter and happiness with the Novus Ordo led me to conclude Obama was born in Hawaii, torture is a grave and intrinsic evil, women can theoretically be cardinals, the death penalty should be abolished, Israel is not immaculately conceived, pre-emptive war is wrong, capitalism is not sacred tradition, Santorum’s cafeteria Catholicism leads Catholics astray, and Fr. Corapi is a fraud and a grifter who betrayed his priesthood, his flock, his Church, and his God”.

That should make their heads explode. Come and get me, boys!

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