Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 142

Fr Longenecker’s Conversion Story

I’m really supposed to be on vacation and not blogging, but knowing how the blog is a hungry beast, I thought I would point out to readers that there is a good bit of archived material to be read using the tab “Archived Articles” at the top of the blog home page. These are articles [Read More...]

Pope Francis and the Evangelicals

Sandro Magister reports here on Pope Francis’ outreach to Evangelical Christians. Francis clearly understands that there are real points of contact with Evangelical Christians and Catholics and what interests me in his ecumenical outreach is how he builds relationships with individuals who are not necessarily “big players” in the Protestant world. He has diplomatic meetings [Read More...]

Ten Things to Remember if You Hate Ecumenism

When I was training to be an Anglican minister I remember going to my first “Ecumenical Evensong”. It was in a village church in England in February. The weather wasn’t the only thing damp and cold. The Methodists sat on one side of the church and the Anglicans on the other. For the most part [Read More...]

America Locking Up Americans

Did you know that the USA has the highest per capita rate of incarceration of any country in the world? Wee have far more people in prison per capita than any other country. I often hear paranoid talk about America locking up Americans. It is already happening on a massive scale. Many of the prisoners [Read More...]

Obama’s Second Term: A Triumph of Hope Over Experience

Matt Lewis at the Daily Telegraph says President Obama is not paying available because he’s on a course….a golf course. He rightly observes that presidential golf comes across as aloof and elitist. Who plays golf? The country club set. This article outlines the international and domestic crises that have blown up over the last few weeks [Read More...]

FaithWorks! – 28

My weekly newsletter started up again  this summer with a series on the ten commandments. Sorry I have forgotten to post the links here for blog readers. We are up to the fourth commandment, and here is the link to the new, shorter and more concise FaithWorks! If you want to subscribe go here. If [Read More...]

Pope Says to Anglicans “Come on Over!”

Pope Francis has waved a welcome to Anglicans who are still shivering on the banks of the Tiber . They don’t even have to swim the Tiber anymore. They can walk across the bridge called “Ordinariate” In the wake of the Church of England’s decision to ordain women bishops the Ordinariate of Our Lady of [Read More...]

Why is Pope Francis’ Visit to Philly Important?

This report says that while the Vatican has yet to confirm the date, Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia has indicated that Pope Francis will visit the city for next September’s World Meeting of Families. If the pope is planning to visit the City of Brotherly Love next fall what’s the big deal? Kathy Schiffer reports here that the [Read More...]

For St James Day – The Botofumeiro

For the Feast Day of St James, here is a video of the famous botofumeiro at the Cathedral of St James Compostella. For those who are not in the know, this is a thurible–incense container that is about four foot high. They put the incense in with shovels and then they swing the thing from [Read More...]

Demonic Infection and Victory Over Sin

Is there a demonic element to seemingly ordinary human problems? Sometimes. While full blown demonic possession is rare, it is much more common for souls to be troubled by what might be called “demonic infection”. In counseling people spiritually I have come to believe that there is a state of demonic influence in our lives which [Read More...]