"It's Crap," says Mark Shea, and he rejects it. And so do I.

Mark Shea throws down the hammer on those who impugn Catholics (such as Karl Keating, myself, and others) as "Neo-Catholics," pointing out that this epithet is simply a thought-stopping term used by some against those who, as Mark pegs it, are not "sufficiently bitter" toward Pope John Paul and Vatican II.

While Mark and I may disagree on a variety of issues, I think he's right on target in his analysis of the connotations implicit in the snarky "neo-Catholic" put down. Frankly, his push-back on this particular issue is overdue, and I am happy to see it. Thanks, Mark. You said it better than I could have.

(See also my post on Catholic name-calling [with audio clip])

Sorry, but no deal. "Neo-Catholic" remains a swear word designed to impute the odor of heresy to faithful Catholics who are docile to the Church, to Vatican II, and to the papacy of JPII. To say that such people are not Catholic is a smear. And to say that calling them "Catholic" means that people with Traditionalist sensibilities are not Catholic is a lie. The Church is the home of many kinds of piety and many schools of opinion. Traditionalists are Catholic. So are people who think the Council was a good thing and JPII a good Pope. Indeed, sometimes those two classes of people overlap. All "neo-Catholic" does is provide Traditionalists who would like to reduce the Faith to their particular cultural obsessions with a tribal label designed to traduce the good faith of Catholics docile to the Church. It's crap. And I reject it.

The Big Chill

Britain's SKY News is reporting that winter conditions across the UK are bad and getting worse. This satellite image shows all of England, Wales, and Scotland entirely covered in snow and ice, with temps in some areas rivalling those in Antarctica.

Click . . .

Yesterday, on the "Open Line" radio program . . .

We had two hours worth of calls on a good variety of issues, including a few on Medjugorje, Guadalupe, and Marian apparitions in general, the sinlessness of Mary, priestly celibacy, the tetragrammaton YHWH, the Novus Ordo Missae, Calvinists and baptismal regeneration, whether the devil spies on you when you're praying, indulgences, and more. Click to listen to the show.

Killian Is Coming Home Soon, Very Soon

Here's a snap of grandad visiting with the little man in the hospital preemie ward recently.

And here's the wee lad, as of today. He's rather a stout little fellow now, wouldn't you say?

Praise be to God! He will be coming home soon. Thank you all for your many prayers on Killian's behalf. May God reward you.

Killian Patrick, my 7th grandchild, the son of my son Timothy and his wife Nina, was born 3 months premature. Here are some previous updates.

16 Anti-Theft Gadgets to Deter Thieves

I'd like a couple of number 7s, please. The rest of the list is available here.

For those who have difficulty waking up in the morning, this alarm tone might help

I didn't know you could do this with an iPhone

I want one.

Please? Someone?

Full of Sound and Fury; Signifying . . . Nothing

This visual metaphor depicts something I've witnessed countless times over the last 23 years of engaging JWs, Protestants, and Mormons and their attempts at biblical arguments against the Catholic Church. At first glance, some of their claims might seem plausible but, upon closer inspection, they simply collapse.

Examples of paper-tiger Protestant arguments that fall flat can be found in debates such as “Does the Bible Teach Sola Scriptura?” and “What Still Divides Us?”

I didn't know you could do this with Legos

Calvinists are swarming over on Free Republic

Things are getting a little fidgety over in Calvinland, at least within the Sovereign Calvinist embassy to Free Republic. The Great Reformed Ping List is underway again, complete with some obligatory tub-thumping and chest-beating about their enemies' "anthropomorphic rantings" and how their solas are being "mightily assailed," etc., etc.

It's kind of fun to watch (bad Latin grammar and all), but still, it's sad to see good people become so hopelessly entangled in the errors of the Calvinist religious system (some of which are quite ably refuted here, here, and here).

Exurge, Calvinisti, et judica causam tuam...

Arise (some older mss still read 'Swarm'), O Calvinists, and plead your cause. The doctrines of grace are mightily assailed by those who would proclaim with their father, “I will be like the Most High.” Set forth the biblical case for a sovereign God who is jealous for His glory. Disallow through disputation (and lampooning when needed) the damnable errors of those who have refashioned the great sola doctrines into a salvation-helper gospel that exalts the fallen will of man.

From every corner, in every thread exalt the right of God to do whatsoever He pleaseth. Be not dismayed by persistent anthropocentric rantings. Blessed are you when they revile you for the sake of the truth. Happy are ye when the Servetus card is played and the strawmen are paraded before you for He who is enthroned in heaven reigns.

Google is for Dhimmies

Robert Spencer from Jihad Watch shows how Google automatically offers viciously derrogatory search suggestions on phrases such as "Christianity is" (I also found it does the same for searches on "Catholicism is," "Pope Benedict is," and "the pope is"), but it does not do the same when someone searches "Islam is." In fact, as Robert points out, type in "Islam is" and Google suggests . . . nothing at all.

Draw your own conclusions.

If horses ran the world . . .

"You're late for work again, Smith. Mr. Ed wants to see you in his office immediately!"

Okay, as long as we're in the mood for some Shatner, feast on this

Daddy-O William Shatner's Beatnik Interpretation of Sarah Palin

Radical Feminist Theologian Mary Daly Dead at 81

This just in from The National Catholic Reporter:

Feminist theologian Mary Daly died Jan. 3. She was a radical feminist philosopher, academic, and theologian who taught at Boston College for 33 years. Daly consented to retire from Boston College in 1999, after violating university policy by refusing to allow male students in her Women's Studies classroom.

May the good Lord have mercy on her soul. Let's all remember her in our prayers. Many of you know about her and her legacy. For those who do not, you can read more about her here and here.

I note without further comment that, at her particular judgment, she was judged by a Man.