Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 124

Homosexuals Have Gifts to Offer?

Here is another paragraph from the Relatio that has got people hot and bothered and buzzing with fury. Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community: are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a fraternal space in our communities? Often they wish to encounter a Church that offers them [Read More...]

Cohabiting Couples Need Pastoral Care?

I was interested in this excerpt from the Synod on the Family: With regard to cohabitation in certain regions, it was shown that this is often due to economic and social factors and not a form of refusal of the teachings of the Church. Often, moreover, these and other types of de facto unions are [Read More...]

Get Happy

When I lived in England I used to walk to church for Evening Prayer every night. At the corner of the street lived a Jehovah’s Witness. He was the kind of guy who always had his hair combed and probably wore a neck tie with his pajamas. Well, he used to spot me coming down [Read More...]

Compassion, Puppies and Kittens

Don’t get me wrong. I love the Divine Mercy mission. I’m all for compassion and mercy, forgiveness and love, warmth and welcome. I’m totally in favor of the priests being like the father welcoming home the prodigal with a kiss, clean clothes and a banquet. The problem I have with the current narrative coming from [Read More...]

On Making Girls Cry

Here I am as a Catholic priest, and I make girls cry. The situation is this: new parishioners Barbie and Ken come to see me. They’ve signed up at the parish, but I’ve never seen them at Mass. On the registration form they have different last names, but the same address. OK. I guess they [Read More...]

Evidence for God’s Existence

Over at Brandon Vogt’s website Strange Notions here and here I have a set of arguments for God’s existence which are not philosophical arguments based on Design, Prime Movers, etc, but on physical, historical evidence. The argument and evidence goes like this: If atheistic materialism is true, then the natural world must be a closed system. [Read More...]

Bl. John Henry Newman

Today is the memorial of the great Bl John Henry Newman. Remember his tender and wise words: God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I [Read More...]

Atheism: Don’t Even Think About It!

An atheist not only does not believe in God, he doesn’t believe in angels or demons. He doesn’t believe in heaven or hell. He doesn’t believe in the reality of the spiritual realm at all. He can’t. An atheist must also be a materialist. This is where  Chesterton’s observation in Orthodoxy ring home: Spiritual doctrines [Read More...]

Divine Mercy Shrine in Greenville

Here is what the proposed Divine Mercy Shrine in the new church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Greenville will look like. Situated in the Lower Church, the Divine Mercy Shrine will feature small shrines to Pope St John Paul II and St Faustina. In the ambulatory that circles around the back of the [Read More...]

The Cardinal Clash

    Here is my latest article for ZENIT which analyzes the real clash between the two camps of Cardinals Kasper and Burke The Burke/Kasper clash is therefore about much more than the treatment of divorced and remarried Catholics. This is a clash between easy going establishment Catholicism and radical anti-establishment Catholicism. The clash is [Read More...]