The reach of this blog is a testimony to your own witness, Mark.
Sounds like the writings of a person in Love with God through Jesus!
Mark,
How do know it was really her?
Oh, and thanks for all the great press on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Which of Mark's blog entries did Rice respond to?
The only one I could find was this one linking to a page of reviews, but her comment wasn't in that entry's Comments box.
OOPS!!! After "this one" I meant to include this URL:
http://markshea.blogspot.com/
200...026877818586896
I didn't find any others in which he referred to Rice's new novel.
Jack:
I suspect those address check thingies would help confirm.
But it's almost certainly Anne Rice--she's very fond of the 'net, and has been known to leave comments on sites and blogs that reference her work. She did the same over at Speculative Catholic last week. I had the same thing happen earlier this year on my blog, albeit with a different author.
Wow. First Bishop Sheridan, "a hulking beast of a man", leaves a comment on St. Blog's, and now Anne Rice.
It's a small world after all. :D
Jason, You forgot C.S.Lewis (above), Dale Price, and, now, me.
On the other hand, it is a testament to Ann's faith, that she would choose to reach out to her fellow Catholics on your website. Most other authors of her stature would not take the time to stoop to the "little people".
So consider yourself lucky. By the way, you might want to file that comment away for future refererence, IMHO.
Very kind of her to write!
I do wish her all the best with this new book. Can't wait to hear the reaction to it from St Blog's folks! It will be at the bottom of my very large stack for some time so I'll have to live vicariously through others until I whittle that down a bit!
The only thing about her novel (and I'm going from media reports about it) that worries me is her use of a scrap from the apocrypha, where the child Jesus performs miracles like giving life to clay birds.
The reason it concerns me is that a lot of DaVinci-code-loving Christians will read these things and think "That's cool!"
Then they'll go look for them in the Bible and not find them.
Then they'll discover that these sorts of episodes are in the Koran.
Then they'll start to call the Incarnation itself into question.
I've had this conversation with people already, you know -- young adults being challenged by their fellow (Muslim) university students.
Watch for it.
Fr. Thomas:
I have the beginnings of a treatment of the same question at my place on the net.
Mark:
Mrs. Rice stopped by my place as well. I think she is very serious to do right by our Lord. I just hope she understands that concerns are not the same as criticism. I can state a concern based on sketchy evidence which then may or may not pan out. Criticism requires me to actually have the book in front of me and then to make a position pt, etc. All in all, I am just happy she is home in the embrace of the Holy Church.
> "Then they'll go look for them in the Bible and not find them. Then they'll discover that these sorts of episodes are in the Koran."
This is one reason a lot of ex-Evangelicals leave for other denominations. For many people, being told "Yes! We have an answer to that question!" will always be more attractive than "Sorry, no, God didn't see fit to record the answer to that in Scripture, so it can't me something we were meant to know."
"There is also a certain bareness about the Christian picture of the universe. A future state and orders of superhuman creatures are held to exist, but only the slightest hints of their nature are offered." -- CS
Lewis, "Is Theology Poetry?" (1944)
> "Then they'll go look for them in the Bible and not find them. Then they'll discover that these sorts of episodes are in the Koran."
This is one reason a lot of ex-Evangelicals leave for other denominations. For many people, being told "Yes! We have an answer to that question!" will always be more attractive than "Sorry, no, God didn't see fit to record the answer to that in Scripture, so it can't me something we were meant to know."
"There is also a certain bareness about the Christian picture of the universe. A future state and orders of superhuman creatures are held to exist, but only the slightest hints of their nature are offered." -- CS
Lewis, "Is Theology Poetry?" (1944)
I'll be sure to pick up Anne's book (wow, I'm already on a first-name basis with her). I'm really looking forward to it.
Can't call it a legitimate Catholic artistic Renaissance with Ms. Rice's novel coming out as we read. Along with the now-classic TPOTC of course. But great that folks skilled in the creative arts use their gifts in the service of Christ And His Church. Will look forward to reading novel at some point in near future. Such artistry must be rewarded with cold hard coin.
Normally, I think it's a good thing to see authors participating in Internet conversations. But Anne Rice is always getting overanxious about what people think of her on the Net. Hopefully, she can stay positive this time, instead of sending out the lawyering threats or starting the flamewars.
I really do think she has a lot of talent and a calling from God, and I wish her well. However, I also wish her calmness and gravitas, because she's bound to take a lot of criticism about this book even if it's the best and most inspirational piece of historical fiction ever written. So let's pray for her.
Maureen:
It's an occupational hazard when you put your heart up to be shot at. I agree she could use prayer. Who couldn't? 
Anne Rice maintains a book review list on Amazon. Anyone who has read it in the last few months could easily tell she was a sincere convert, although I understand why people ask questions on what her theology is.
The only thing about her novel (and I'm going from media reports about it) that worries me is her use of a scrap from the apocrypha, where the child Jesus performs miracles like giving life to clay birds.
Personally, I'm more concerned about her using the story where Jesus kills another child. Could be very problematic. I guess I'll have to wait until later today to find out how Rice plays that.
In the meantime, I agree that Anne Rice can use our prayers. She has exposed her heart to the world, and she needs our support.
By the way, I think this is hilarious:
Buy Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt and get The Vampire Encyclopedia at an additional 5% off Amazon.com's everyday low price.
*LOL*
The saintly Father Leonard Fenney RIP, once said 90% of the books of converts should be on the index of banned books.
OK, Charles, who are you really? Some person with a very dry sense of humor trying to discredit rad-trad-ism? (I admit, it can be a fun thing among people who know you.)
I admit I thought your comment above on the Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez combox ("The Left is So *Fun* When it Wets Itself and Freaks Out") might have been for real: "some claim [Iraq] will cost us more than 100,000 dead and wounded" indeed.
But referring to "the saintly Father Leonard Feeney" (an excommunicant) and citing favorably on a convert author's blog Feeney's saying that 90% of converts' books should be banned. C'mon, who you trolling for? It's too good that your name is "Charles Coughlin."
Sadly, Victor, Charles will not be able to reply. I don't like Rad Trad Jew-baiters and won't have them on my blog. He's been banned.
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