As if to illustrate my point…

Last updated on: January 8, 2015 at 4:15 pm by Mark Shea

As if to illustrate my point… 2015-01-08T16:15:42-07:00 Mark Shea

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about the deranged, anti-Catholic thing that so much of the “faithful conservative” Catholic subculture has become, First Things publishes this festival of crazy contempt for Francis in which we are instructed that “Francis is … an ideologue and a meddlesome egoist.” We see the teaching office of St. Peter described as a “sandwich board”. We learn that “Francis serves an environmentalist mindset that, unlike the traditional ethos of conservation, views man as a parasite” (how the aptly named Ms. Mullarkey divines knowledge of the Pope’s Human Extermination Agenda before Francis has even published a word of his encyclical is left unclear. Ours is not to inquire into the prophetic gifts of a conservatism that has so often shown itself able to peer into the future and see success in Iraq, the genius of Cliven Bundy, and the innocence of Fr. Maciel.) We learn as well that Francis is “only being photographed with the right kind of sinner.”

Then it goes to Rev. Wright (culture war dog whistle!)…. and ends with… BUM BUM BUMMMMMM… Satan. And Francis. Next to each other. All it needs is this to really complete the vibe.

Naturally, this revolting (in every sense) smear job is advertised as an act of massive courage by the author’s fans who say: “I’m not a sycophantic groveller before the throne of St. Peter.” The Catholic faithful at FT are accordingly granted permission to likewise stand up against this Pope of Human Extermination and defy whatever it is he has yet to actually say.

Cuz that’s super-duper *real* Catholic faith.

The stinking, sweaty, panic-stricken hatred of the pope from the kind of “faithful conservative” Catholicism represented by Maureen Mullarkey is getting more and more palpable–and respectable among the increasingly deranged right wing. This was not written on a bathroom wall where it belongs. It was not published on some blog published from Ignatius Reilly’s basement. This was published by First Freakin’ Things.

Reader John Medaille remarks, “The rhetoric of the Right-wing Catholics of today is becoming indistinguishable from that of the anti-catholics of yesterday.” Indeed. A friend of mine rather impishly has sent this crazy FT screed to Shoutin’ Bill Donahue at the Catholic League with a request that he denounce this bizarre Know Nothing rant. I doubt much will come of it. But there is little to separate it from the dumbest hayseed tract from a Fundamentalist who makes Jack Chick look like a Ph.D.

First Things: What happened to you guys?

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