Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 195

Let’s be Frank about Francis

In this article Samuel Gregg of the Acton Institute  and author of Tea Party Catholic: The Catholic Case for Limited Government, a Free Economy, and Human Flourishing gives a cogent, fair and informed critique of the economic content of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation. He shows how the Pope’s conclusions are well meaning, but naive and not [Read More...]

The Theology of Thanksgiving

Here’s an article I wrote for Crisis Magazine website a few years ago. I forgot that I’d written it, and it popped up on Catholic Exchange today. I suppose that’s one of the good things about writing on the Catholic faith. The articles don’t go out of date. The article explores the theological and historical [Read More...]

Holy Bones

Here is my latest article for Aleteia on the relics of St Peter which were presented to the world for veneration last weekend.  What about the relics of St. Peter that were displayed this weekend? The story of their discovery is a fascinating piece of detective work. We know that the great Basilica of St. [Read More...]

Is Pope Francis a Marxist?

And not Groucho. Karl. Not according to Heather Horn in this article at The Atlantic. Horn writes, Francis’s first Apostolic Exhortation, issued Tuesday, doesn’t quite suggest someone who would get “Marx” in an Internet-style “Which Economic Theorist Are You?” quiz. Granted, he wouldn’t exactly get Friedrich von Hayek or Ayn Rand, either. But you know whom he might plausibly [Read More...]

The Bombshell of Evangelii Gaudium in a Nutshell

Evangelii Gaudium is a bombshell of an exhortation. Here’s the whole thing in a nutshell: But this conviction has to be sustained by our own constantly renewed experience of savouring Christ’s friendship and his message. It is impossible to persevere in a fervent evangelization unless we are convinced from personal experience that it is not [Read More...]

Converted by a Crucifix

Following this post yesterday about my dislike of those “resurrection crucifixes” I received this delightful email from a reader: Fr. Longenecker: Like you I am a former Protestant minister who was received into the Church and am now a Catholic Priest. The crucifix was literally the precursor that led me to the faith. I was [Read More...]

Be Nice to Your Waitress

Fellow bloggers Elizabeth Scalia and Mark Shea believed the recent “no tip racist comment on the receipt” frauds. In case you haven’t picked up the story, unscrupulous waiting staff allegedly mark up one of their receipts with a nasty comment from a customer along with there being no tip. They then publicize the story. The [Read More...]

Blogging the Pope

Here’s something new for my blog readers: Today I’ll be blogging my way through Pope Francis’ new apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.  As I read I’ll post excerpts with my comments. When I do an update I’ll tweet and you can come back for little snippets so you can get a running summary. See how it works. [Read More...]

Upbeat Drummer Boy

Writing on music today – This is pretty cool and I f0und it moving. See what you think. H/T Kathy Schiffer. The group is called Pentatonix. You can buy and download their Christmas album it’s called PTXmas

10 Reasons Why Catholics Should Sing Good Hymns

Today a mega post on Why Catholics Should Sing Good Hymns: Here once again is a video of my favorite hymn, and here are the words by John Wesley: O Thou who camest from above, the pure celestial fire to impart kindle a flame of sacred love upon the mean altar of my heart. There [Read More...]