Assumption of Mary — Assumptions of White

I was notified that James White, the magisterial voice of Protestant anti-Catholics, had responded to my blog on the Assumption of Mary. Not only is he insulting and arrogant — though it may be his sorry attempt at humor and relational psychology — he is also wrong and sloppy. I hope to have time to respond to his huffing and puffing but don't know if I will have the time before I leave. If I do I want to answer well and that takes time — not matter what the topic.

By the way, White is usually the first to whine about people who use "ad hominem" arguments and comments against him. He even wept crocodile tears about it in one of our past correspondences. But James and I have not corresponded in years and the last time I did speak with him was in New York at his debate with Gary Michuta. I thouight we have a cordial meeting. Before that I invited him to lunch on one of my trips to Phoenix and he "No" explaining that to have lunch with little ole me would compromise the gospel. Geez, even Jesus ate with sinners! Plus he said he didn't like me and he only eats lunch with people he likes. Well, frankly, I dont' like him either, but I was willing to be charitable and see if we could find common ground and work toward liking each other. But he said no.

Interestingly, and quite consistent with his usual inconsistency, White comments in his "Year of the Cat" blog entry that, "The past five days have set new all-time records for vitriolic nastiness, at least on the part of those devoted to Rome." Geez, what a thing to say from a guy who with no provocation wrote this sarcastically about me today — "Steve Ray, Catholic Convert Extraordinaire and king of on-location videography, world-traveler and sufferer of permanent safari hat-hair." So much for his consistent inconsistency.

(Picture of White as a troll taken from his blog. There is a certain resemblance.)

Will I respond to White and his assumptions? I hope so — if I have time. But he seems to historically have taken me more seriously than I have ever taken him. I am packing to lead a group in Israel and have another group schedule for Rome in October and another to Israel in November. I am also trying to finish another book for Ignatius Press, negotiating with EWTN to get our Footprints series on TV and have at least 10 speaking engagements in the next six weeks — and that does not even take into consideration my business and family — especially my grandkids :-). I long for the good old days when I could relax and respond to such diatribes and nonsense, but those days are long gone. Anyway, we'll see what time allows.

For my past discussion with the likes of White, visit here. To read Jimmy Akin's recent blog "James White Has Completely Lost It", click here. You can also read the 768+ comments that people have left in response on Jimmy's site.

By the way, here is what Jimmy Akin of Catholic Answers says about conversing or debating with White on his blog entry linked above: "If you [White] can't immediately see that and make amends then no one, knowing that you are capable of this, should engage you in debate or discussions of any kind."