Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 149

Hobby Lobby Case – It Should Have Been 9-0

Monsignor Pope opines here that the Supreme Court judges should have passed on a unanimous decision in favor of Hobby Lobby. Here’s why: But here’s a concern: why didn’t the Justices vote 9–0?To be even more clear, if religious liberty, a right given us by God and legally enshrined in the First Amendment, prevailed by [Read More...]

I Knew a Priest Who Could See the Dead

I’ll call him Father John. He was charismatic Anglo Catholic priest. A friend of my brother Daryl’s we’ll call Henry died suddenly in a plane crash and he was upset because although Henry was a believer he was away from God when he died. So Fr John said, “We have to have a requiem Mass [Read More...]

Pope Francis Evangelical Catholic

Here is my latest article for Aleteia – reporting on Pope Francis’ meeting with Anglican bishop Tony Palmer and Charismatic televangelist Kenneth Copeland and other Evangelical leaders. For some time now the real division in Christianity has not been between Catholics and Protestants. It has been between those Christians who believe in a revealed religion [Read More...]

The Most Effective Form of Contraception…

I posted a comment on Facebook this morning that has proven quite popular: If a woman’s chosen form of contraception is to keep her clothes on does her employer have to pay for her wardrobe? It reminds me of the British slang for the rather sturdy form of women’s underwear: They call them “Passion killers.” [Read More...]

Gals Wrestle Over Hobby Lobby Decision

I am late to this game. Instead of staying up last night to write an wise, stunning and insightful post about the Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision I slouched around with the boys watching a movie. Everybody else has already commented and as we all know, men are supposed to be quiet about this issue. [Read More...]

Mass Has Ended in Mosul. Do Not Go in Peace.

Mass has ended in Mosul. This article chronicles the horror facing Christians in Northern Iraq as the Muslim terrorists seek to create an Islamic Caliphate across Northern Iraq and Syria. Last Sunday, for the first time in 1600 years, no mass was celebrated in Mosul. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) seized Iraq’s second largest [Read More...]

Peter and Paul: Brains and Brawn

You can look at St Peter and Paul as the twins who founded the new Rome–the new Romulus and Remus if you like, but another way is to consider the balance between the body and the mind. In other words, we need both a muscular Christianity and an intellectual Christianity. Too much action without thinking [Read More...]

Is There Mercy for Muslims?

When faced with the horrors of Islamic terrorism it is mighty difficult to step back and ask whether there is mercy for Muslims. Can there be mercy for those who have no mercy? When a horde of fanatical thugs burn churches, behead their enemies, rape nuns, murder priests and threaten mass murder it is not [Read More...]

Anglican Memories Anglican Orders

Today is the thirtieth anniversary of my ordination as an Anglican priest in Eastbourne in the Diocese of Chichester. I served as an Anglican priest for ten very happy years, first as a curate at St Peter’s, Bexhill on Sea, then for two years as chaplain to Kings College Choir School in Cambridge and then [Read More...]

I’ll Forgive You If…

My latest article for Integrated Catholic Life discusses where we get to power to forgive. What I am more likely to find authentic is the person who says, “Father, that person offended me badly and I feel awful because I just can’t forgive.” “Exactly!” is my reply, “The Pharisees were right when they said, ‘Who [Read More...]