Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 27

And All Was For An Apple

          Sometimes my mind makes big jumps, and I think this might be one of the clues to why and how I write. My mind makes connections that surprise and usually delight me and sometimes disturb me and sometimes all three. A case in point was my tooling along in the [Read More...]

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New Year’s Day: Pagan or Christian?

Some atheists, Muslims and Christian fundamentalists like to grumble and gibe that the celebration of Christmas and Easter are “pagan.” They are right and they are wrong. They are right inasmuch as the wellsprings of our Western culture are deep in the pre-Christian cultures of Europe. They are wrong because the early Christians, like the [Read More...]

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Where Are All the Rigid Catholics?

The Holy Father’s favorite scold is against Catholics who are “rigid”. In this he is echoing Jesus and the gospels. Jesus’ big problems were the Scribes and Pharisees. Legalists without mercy, they famously sweated the small stuff–always taking the splinter out of someone else’s eye while ignoring the plank in their own. They burdened people [Read More...]

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Is My Dog a Better Catholic Than Me?

I came down the steps this morning and caught the dog jumping down from the sofa. Anna knows she is not allowed on the sofa. She was guilty and she looked it. She glanced over her shoulder at me and went scooting off to her bed. She was afraid of being punished. She knew she had [Read More...]

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Twelve Things to Remember About Confession

Catholics are expected to go to confession at least once a year. Maybe a good New  Years resolution we should resolve to do at least that, but also to try to attend more frequently. Here are – things to remember about making a good confession. Examine Your Conscience – The first thing to remember about [Read More...]

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Ten Types of Holy Innocents Today

Invariably the Memorial of Holy Innocents gets swamped with post-Christmas celebrations. We’ve got a house to clean up, kids to amuse, relatives to visit, gifts to return AND most of us are supposed to get back to work. Priests usually take a few days off. At our parish the office is closed this week and Father [Read More...]

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Christmas, Paganism and Frodo Baggins

  Will the atheist cynics and Protestant scoffers never cease with the old canard that Catholicism is simply old paganism in a new dress? These critics notice similarities between certain Roman Catholic customs and the old Roman religion and snipe that our faith is no more than paganism with a face lift. “Christmas!” they cry, [Read More...]

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Conservative or Liberal?

One of the websites I write for is The Imaginative Conservative, and if I have to take any kind of label, then it would be “conservative”. I’m conservative because, by instinct and upbringing I’d rather put my energies into conserving the best from the past rather than innovating for the future. Somebody has to do [Read More...]

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Racism: The Last Remaining Sin

I was thinking the other day about the secularists’ shock and horror at racism. I think I had just seen some progressives screaming about racism and accusing old white men (and everybody else they didn’t like) of being racist. It got me thinking about why this is such a big deal. Don’t get me wrong. [Read More...]

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Clericalism? Whazzat?

Pope Francis’ latest scold is against clericalism. You can read about it here. He makes good points and it is clear that he is addressing the situation in Latin America. However, there is another side to the coin. It is certainly easy to criticize priests who dominate the church and get all high and mighty. [Read More...]

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