Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 117

Padre in the NYT

  I was asked to contribute this small piece to the New York Times on the subject of priestly celibacy. Catholics may think it nice and easy to support a married man with two children. But if the man and his wife are young and fertile, can Catholics support a large clerical family? Do they [Read More...]

Is “I Am Legend” a Christian Film?

My article for Imaginative Conservative this week is an analysis of the Christian symbolism and themes in the sic fi horror film I Am Legend The film conveys the tense dread of living alone in an abandoned city inhabited only by humans who have turned into monsters. The atmosphere of a New York that has become [Read More...]

Living in the Past in the Present

Part of being a Catholic is to live in the past in the present. What I am getting at is the idea that the universality of the Catholic faith means that it transcends not only particular cultural circumstances and particular locales, but it also transcends time. Think about it. At Mass the priest comes out [Read More...]

Are US Bishops Attacking Pope Francis?

My article for Aleteia this week asks whether conservative Benedict XVI appointed bishops are out to get Pope Francis. In a highly biased report, radical progressive Michael Sean Winters twisted the Archbishop’s comments into criticism of Pope Francis. Archbishop Chaput replied, “There are people who…deliberately want to twist the truth, and divide the Church, and [Read More...]

Is There a List of Mortal Sins?

One of the strengths and weaknesses of the internet age is that people write to strangers with personal problems which are often complex, but there is no context or background. So I’ll get an email out of the blue from someone I don’t know asking “What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? [Read More...]

I’ll Be Back

I’ve had a lot of other stuff to think about the last few days, and the head that usually thinks about churchy blog type stuff has been otherwise occupied. I haven’t given up though. I’ll be back.

Life is a Casting Off

What is it in me that likes the difficult sayings of Jesus more than the easy sayings? Everybody loves Jesus who says, “Let the little children come to me” and “Neither do I condemn you” But have you read the gospels lately?  Jesus’ teaching is much more forceful and strident than we like to remember. [Read More...]

Old Monk on Stability

Novice: I think God is calling me to join a different community Old Monk: As you go you will be taking the problem of this community with you.

The Vulnerability of Beauty

A friend of mine once exclaimed, “Oh, the vulnerability of beauty in a world of useful things!” What he was observing is the fact that beauty cuts across utilitarian and economic ideals. Of course a thing that is efficient and useful might also be beautiful, but something which seeks to be beautiful first of all [Read More...]

Tolkien and the Great War

In honor of Armistice Day my article for Imaginative Conservative this week explores the influence that World War I had on Tolkien and his writing. It is from these first hand experiences of war that Tolkien was to find the ground and content for a fantasy that was empowered by vivid realism. Writing in his [Read More...]