Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 172

Pope Obama and President Bergoglio?

Over at Get Religion Terry Mattingley dissects a recent New York Times article about the Catholic Roots of Obama’s activism. His post cuts through a lot of the progressive assumptions about Cardinal Bernadin of Chicago, Pope Francis and Obama. Many, but not all, conservative Catholics were truly convinced that the cardinal was a liberal’s liberal through [Read More...]

Fasting and Feasting

Every Lent I am somewhat amused and bemused by the Catholic attitude to fasting. Okay, I’m a convert and I’m still learning, but there seems to be this quaint legalistic game Catholics love to play. So I hear conversations along these lines, “You know I think it is better to take something up than give [Read More...]

Read, Mark and Learn – Day 15

Welcome to day 15 of our Blobble Study of Mark’s gospel. By reading the whole gospel straight through we are able to see how Mark builds the story and how much the whole gospel revolves around the conflict Jesus creates. Every chapter bristles with astounding actions, subversive words and upsetting behaviors. Jesus is unpredictable, dangerous [Read More...]

Read, Mark and Learn – Day 14

Are you still with us? I’m finding it a little bit difficult with my busy schedule to keep up to my daily commitment of reading Mark’s gospel during Lent and providing the Blobble study here. I hope you don’t mind if I miss a day or two! Today I leave for St Thomas Church, North [Read More...]

John Allen’s Vatican Round Up

John Allen is one of the world’s top “Vaticanistas”. He seems to know everybody and like a church mouse, gets into every corner of the church to feast–not on moldy hymnbooks, but on tidbits of news and morsels of information from the engine room of the church. Here is Allen’s usual concise and objective reporting [Read More...]

The Hermit in Me

How do I know that I need a retreat at Belmont Abbey? It’s because the hermit in me starts to rumble. I get antsy and restless. I get fed up with minutiae. I get tired of people. I start dreaming of the great downsizing–that time when we can sell this too large house in the [Read More...]

Read, Mark and Learn – Day 13

We continue chapter five with another longer, more detailed story. We began in chapter one with an introduction to Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. The stories were short and sharp. Almost as if they were preludes or little introductions to the main story. After Jesus’ identity is established Mark now takes the time for more detailed [Read More...]

Fr Ray Ryland R.I.P

Fr Ray Ryland was the second married former Episcopal priest in the USA to be ordained as a Catholic priest. A gentle, scholar, a wise friend, a man full of the Holy Spirit and good humor. He will be greatly missed by his extended family and friends. I first got to know Fr Ryland through [Read More...]

Let’s Get Metaphysical

  Here is my latest article for The Imaginative Conservative–on George Herbert and the metaphysical poets. The “metaphysical poets” were given that name because they wrote paradoxical and pure poems about mysterious  subjects. In their own way they were authors of fairy tales. They were fantasy poets for they wrote not of elves, but angels; [Read More...]

Idol Speculation

Here is my latest published article for Integrated Catholic  Life–on the use of material things in worship. I was brought up in an independent Bible church in the USA, so my first visit to a Catholic church was a big culture shock, and it confirmed everything I was told about Catholics. There were racks of [Read More...]