Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 200

The Practical Problems of the Pastoral Approach

With the survey on the family being issued by the Vatican pundits are proposing that this is some kind of democratization of the church which will bring in widespread laxity in church discipline. Here is my article of for Aleteia on the “pastoral approach” The “pastoral approach” is sometimes seen as code for a priest [Read More...]

The Synthesis of the Cross

My posts last week–here and here– on Cardinal Maradiaga’s speech on the New Evanglization prompted some pretty fierce comment from John Zmirak here and my own observations were mentioned by Ross Douthat in an extended piece in the New York Times here and Rod Dreher here. Douthat discusses the ongoing “civil war” in the Catholic [Read More...]

Pope’s New Cross

Caption Competition. Entries to the combox please.

First Things First

There has been some discontent from progressives about my post on Cardinal Maradiaga’s recent speech. This re-assures me that my haphazard progress through life is somehow right on course because only a short time ago the traditionalists were baying for blood. If both sides are mad at me I’m either doing everything wrong or everything right. [Read More...]

Be an Oak

All the leaves and acorns are falling from the oak outside my office, and as I was walking back up to church with some seventh graders from the parish school, I stopped to pick up an acorn and said, “Boys, look at this acorn. Then look at that oak tree. How could an oak tree grow [Read More...]

Comedy, Reality,Religion and Beer

There’s a thoughtful interview here with the young comedian Bo Burnham. He made his name through YouTube comedy routines and is now an international sensation. What I liked about the interview was his honesty and his realization that good comedy is based on Standing on Your Head. It’s subversive and if you’re going to be [Read More...]

Where Are the Catholic Bedroom Police?

Most of the couples who turn up in my office asking to be married in the Catholic Church are already living together. A large number of Catholics who come to Mass are in second or third marriages. Some of them have received nullity decrees, many have not. Soon same sex couples will come to Catholic [Read More...]

Medjugorje a Hoax?

Today’s big Catholic news is that the CDF have seemingly barred the faithful from participating in events which assume that the visions at Medjugorje are authentic. I went to to Medjugorge in the early 1980s and had astounding things happen, and credit that visit with being one of the boosts that brought me into the Catholic [Read More...]

The Mystery of Mercy

Yesterday’s post was about the Fear of God, but today spend a few moments meditating on the Mercy of God because God’s Mercy and his justice are never separated. They are two sides to the same coin. We often tend to think of God’s justice as his punishment for sin. If we’re not careful we [Read More...]

Fear God – Why Not?

“The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Says the Proverb. The critics of Christianity like to say, “Oh, I would rather choose to do good than be forced to do good out of the fear of hell.” That’s very nice, but what usually happens is that they don’t actually do much good because [Read More...]