Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 15

Is Pope Francis Selling the Family Silver?

The Holy Father wants to pull some of authority away from the Vatican and shift it back to the local level. Here's why that may not be a great idea for Catholicism.

Trust and Obey = Faith

When I was a child I was taught the Sunday School song, “Trust and Obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to Trust and Obey.” So some time ago this song comes back to me when I read the gospel of the healing of the centurion’s servant. A new understanding […]

Augustine and the Heretics

Heresy is never totally wrong. Its just that it is never totally right.

Missing Mass and Skipping Mass

I have to hand it to the nuns. Those sisters with rulers certainly got it into the heads of the young Catholics that missing Mass was a mortal sin. However, one of the troublesome things about hearing confessions is how many older Catholics seem to think this is the only sin, and they do not seem able […]

How Do You Love a Terrorist?

Somebody asked me, “Why don’t you write a blog post about how to love an Islamic terrorist into submission. I like a challenge, so here goes. You don’t start with the terrorist. You start with yourself. By God’s grace you may get to the point where you are so filled with love that you live […]

Should Converts Shut Up?

Is it one thing to convert to Catholicism, and another thing to really see the world as Catholics see it?

The Parable of the Good Nazi

Most people don't know that the Parable of the Good Samaritan is really about racial and religious prejudice.

What Happened in Charlottesville?

I’ll tell you what’s happened in Charlottesville this weekend. It is human beings revealing what lies within. It’s real simple and its been happening since Cain killed his brother Abel. It works like this: Human being is unhappy He doesn’t know why he’s unhappy Somebody must be at fault. He needs to blame somebody for […]

Miracles? Nah.

There has been some interesting talk about miracles resulting from my recent article at Catholic Herald UK on the Shroud of Turin. I am on the side of those who believe in the shroud’s authenticity, and I respect those who shrug their shoulders and remain agnostic. But the ones who interest me the most are [Read More...]

David Hume and the Shroud of Turin

The Scottish philosopher David Hume famously disbelieved in miracles. He used a kind of Occam’s Razor to cut through any suggestion of a miracle. He argued: By definition, a miracle goes against our very regular and extensive experience of how the world works. Therefore, on the basis of experience, the probability that a miracle has [Read More...]