Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 207

Pure and Powerful Peace

At Assisi the Holy Father knocks on the head any kind of sentimental, New Age or compromising peace. Franciscan peace is not something saccharine,” he said, “That is not the real Saint Francis! Nor is it a kind of pantheistic harmony with forces of the cosmos… That is not Franciscan either; it is a notion [Read More...]

Figuring Out Pope Francis

John Allen continues his excellent reporting from the Vatican with a bumper crop round up of what has turned out to be a wildly busy week with Pope Francis. There has been the meeting of the eight cardinals helping to reform the church, a Vatican bank scandal, the controversial interview with Scalfari and the intriguing [Read More...]

Welcoming Everyone…to Give Up Everything

Here is my piece for Aleteia today in which I comment on Franciscan poverty and the call for all of us to strip naked before God and get rid of all vanity and materialism that blinds us and puts idols in place of the everlasting love of God. In preparing my talk for the conference [Read More...]

Three Popes and the Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz is a pretty smart book because the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion show three traits we need to be complete. If you only had a head, a heart and courage. It occurred to me on my walk this morning that the three popes illustrate what we need, the [Read More...]

In Christ Alone – Watch This Video

Cut away from all the theology and church talk and watch this very moving and simple song and be amazed and touched by this young guy who sings all seven parts unaccompanied with passion and love. Bewdiful.

Hey Kalamazoo! See You Soon

I’m off to Kalamazoo tomorrow to speak at the Diocesan Catechist’s Conference. I’ll be keynote speaker on Words and Works in Evangelism and conducting a workshop on the Risk of Education. Y’all come if you’re in Michigan. See you on Saturday!

Evangelize or Proselytize?

Here is my article for Aleteia on the Evangelize-Proselytize question. The article affirms the necessity for love in action when it comes to Evangelization, but I will write in more detail later on the need to also positively summon men and women to be converted to Jesus Christ and to come into full communion with the [Read More...]

Norman Anderson on Church Donuts

Guest blogger Norman Anderson is married to Marjorie and is a Catholic father of high schoolers Kevin, Marybelle and Hazel. He works as a claims adjuster at Skinner’s Insurance Incorporated. He attends St Martha’s Catholic Church in Adam’s Falls, North Carolina. Norman is a suburban hermit. Marjorie has joined a group at St Martha’s which [Read More...]

Benedict and the Bible

Guest book reviewer Christian LeBlanc is a catechist at St Mary’s Church in Greenville. He is the author of The Bible Tells Me So–A Year of Catechizing Straight from Scripture –a top notch book for catechists to learn how to catechize from Scripture. Christian blogs about teaching kids about the faith at Smaller Manhattans. I have to admit [Read More...]

Evangelism – From One Beggar to Another

Joanne Mc Portland muses here on the difference between proselytizing and evangelizing. We are sent—missioned, all of us—to preach the Good News of salvation and to welcome those who hear and long for it. Nothing we do is more important than this—letting God’s children come to him, and not impeding them from that encounter. The [Read More...]