Mark P. Shea (born August 5, 1958) is an American author, blogger, and speaker working in the field of

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

apologetics Apologetics (from Greek ) is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and recommended their f ...

. Born on August 5, 1958, and raised in

Everett, Washington Everett (; ) is the county seat and most populous city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the Seattle metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett ...

, Shea describes himself as a "double-jump convert raised more or less as an agnostic pagan, hobecame a

non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. The term has been used in the context of various faiths, including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoro ...

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

in 1979, and entered the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in 1987".

Blogging

Since June 2020, Shea has maintained the ''Stumbling Toward Heaven'', blog. From April 2002 until May 2020, he wrote the ''Catholic and Enjoying It!'', blog.

Books

*''This is My Body: An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence'' ( Christendom Press, 1993) *''By What Authority?: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition'' (

Ignatius Press Ignatius Press is a Catholic theological publishing house based in San Francisco, California, in the United States. It was founded in 1978 by Father Joseph Fessio, a former pupil of both Henri de Lubac and Pope Benedict XVI. Named after Ignatiu ...

, 1996) *''Making Senses Out of Scripture: Reading the Bible as the First Christians Did'' (Basilica Press, 1999) *''Shaken by Scandals: Catholics Speak Out About Priests' Sexual Abuse'' (Charis Books, 2002). (Contributed "Chapter 9 - Dark Hour: The Long Good Friday of 2002") *''Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings (Mythopoeic Press, 2004). (Contribute
"The Lord of the Rings: A Source-Critical Analysis"
*''A Guide to the Passion: 100 Questions About The Passion of the Christ'' (Ascension Press, 2004) *''A Guide to Narnia: 100 Questions About The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'' (Ascension Press, 2005) *''The Da Vinci Deception: 100 Questions about the Facts and Fiction of The Da Vinci Code'' (Ascension Press, 2006) (co-author with Edward Sri) *''Amazing Grace for Survivors'' (Ascension Press, 2008). Contributed "All is Forgiven, Sadie Hawkins!". *''Mary, Mother of the Son'' (

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

, 2014) *''Catholic Controversies: Understanding Church Teachings and Events in History'' (Moorings Press, 2010) (Contributed "The Mother of the Son: The Case for Marian Devotion" and "Purgatory: Where is ''That'' in the Bible?") *''Disorientation: The 13 "isms" That Will Send You to Intellectual "La La Land"'' (Ascension Press, 2010) (Contributed "Americanism") *''The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet'' (

Our Sunday Visitor Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) is a Catholic publishing company in Huntington, Indiana, which prints the American national weekly newspaper of that name, as well as numerous Catholic periodicals, religious books, pamphlets, catechetical materials, ...

, 2011). (Contributed "Chapter 4: - Modern Epistles: Blogging the Faith") *''The Work of Mercy: Being the Hands and Heart of Christ'' ( Servant books, 2012) *''The Heart of Catholic Prayer: Rediscovering the Our Father and the Hail Mary'' (

, 2012) *''Salt and Light: The Commandments, the Beatitudes, and a Joyful Life'' ( Servant books, 2013) *''The Church's Best-Kept Secret: A Primer on Catholic Social Teaching'' ( New City Press, 2020)

Periodicals

Shea has been published in the ''

National Catholic Register The ''National Catholic Register'' is a Catholic newspaper in the United States. It was founded on November 8, 1927, by Matthew J. Smith as the national edition of the '' Denver Catholic Register''. The ''Registers current owner is the Ete ...

'', ''

Catholic Weekly ''The Catholic Weekly'' is an English language newspaper currently published in Sydney, Australia. It is published in tabloid format. Throughout its history, it has also been published as ''The Freeman's Journal'' and ''Catholic Freeman's Jou ...

'', ''

Catholic Answers Catholic Answers is a Catholic advocacy group based in El Cajon, California. History Catholic Answers was founded in 1979 by Karl Keating in response to a fundamentalist Protestant church in San Diego that was distributing anti-Catholic propa ...

'', ''

St. Anthony Messenger ''St. Anthony Messenger'' is a national Roman Catholic family magazine published by the Franciscan Friars (O.F.M.) of St. John the Baptist Province, Cincinnati, Ohio in the United States, with the explicit ecclesiastical approval of the Archbi ...

'', the ''

American Spectator ''The American Spectator'' is a conservative American magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation. It was founded in 1967 by Tyrrell (the current editor-in ...

'', ''

Beliefnet Beliefnet is a Christian lifestyle website featuring editorial content related to the topics of inspiration, spirituality, health, wellness, love and family, news, and entertainment. History Launched in 1999 by Steven Waldman and Robert Nylen, ...

'', the ''

Catholic World Report ''The Catholic World Report'' is an international news magazine published by Ignatius Press that covers issues related to the Catholic Church. It was founded by Joseph Fessio in 1991 as a print monthly. Its circulation was approximately 20,000 i ...

'', ''

New Oxford Review The ''New Oxford Review'' (NOR) is a magazine of traditionalist Catholic cultural and theological commentary.Ronald Lora, William Henry Longton, ''The conservative press in twentieth-century America'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999, p. 20/ref> ...

'', '' The Door'', and ''

Catholic Digest ''Catholic Digest'' was an American Roman Catholic monthly magazine founded in 1936. By the 1950s ''Catholic Digest'' was publishing articles by such well-known Catholic authors as Fulton J. Sheen, Frank Sheed and Dorothy Day. In 2016 it was re ...

''.

Radio

Shea's one-minute "Words of Encouragement" segments have been broadcast nationally in the United States on ''

Ave Maria Radio WDEO is a radio station broadcasting on 990 kilohertz in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Broadcasting Catholic programming, WDEO is operated by Ave Maria Radio. Most programming is locally produced, but some daytime content comes from the EWTN Global Cat ...

''.

Podcasting

From 2015 to 2018, Shea hosted ''

Connecting the Dots Connect the dots (also known as connect-the-dots, dot to dot, join the dots or follow the dots) is a form of puzzle containing a sequence of numbered dots. When a line is drawn connecting the dots the outline of an object is revealed. The puzz ...

''.

TV

Shea played Innocent Smith on Dale Ahlquist's television program ''G. K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense'', on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). Shea also appeared on EWTN in the

made-for-television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrestr ...

adaptation of Chesterton's play '' The Surprise'', as the captain of the guard. In addition, Shea appeared on '' The Journey Home''The Journey Home
/ref> on ETWN.

Film

In 2015, Shea appeared in ''Convinced'', a documentary by Donald J. Johnson on the conversions of over 20 people to the Catholic faith.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shea, Mark P Converts to Roman Catholicism from Evangelicalism American Roman Catholic writers Christian apologists American male bloggers American bloggers Living people 1958 births 21st-century American non-fiction writers Catholics from Washington (state)