Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 45

Why Everybody Loves Bernie….and Donald

All the innerleckshuls are consternated, frustrated, irritated, annoyed, befuddled, confused and amused by the popularity of the Donald and Bernie show. “Why are they so popular? What is the attraction? How can so many Americans be in love with an unrealistic, pie in the sky socialist on the one hand and a fake tan, fake [Read More...]

Getting At the Wildcat in Lent

My friend told me a story of the time they had a mother cat with a litter of kittens in the house. They came home and a stray dog walked through the door. He saw the storm coming and hurried the dog out the door, but not before it brushed against his wife’s leg. Momma [Read More...]

Should Catholics Apologize to Protestants?

In his homily on the annual ecumenical Vespers to close the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at St Paul’s Outside the Walls, Pope Francis apologized for the wrongs committed by Catholics against other Christians. Speaking as Bishop of Rome and leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis asked for mercy and forgiveness on account of [Read More...]

Strategies for Spiritual Warfare

My latest article at Those Catholic Men website discusses the right approach to spiritual warfare. I had to speak with Tom about his passion for spiritual warfare. His zeal was unquestioned, and his desire to fight the good fight was admirable. He had his warrior’s rosary, his prayer book, his holy water and his scapulas all in place. [Read More...]

Hobbits and Hermits

My latest blog post for National Catholic Register is here. Give me the hobbit’s life of adventure. I want to shrug on my backpack, pick up my stick and set off on the open road. I want to sleep rough with nothing but the freedom of the quest. Give me dragons to fight and giants [Read More...]

Does Ecumenism Demand Open Communion?

The optimistic ecumenist suggests that the Catholic practice of barring Protestants from receiving communion is an obstacle on the path to unity. A Lutheran pastor (who was a cradle Catholic) wrote to me the other day saying that he didn’t understand why anyone should be refused communion. The call to the Lord’s table, he opined, [Read More...]

From Trendy Zendy Architecture…

…good Lord deliver us. Have we not learned our lessons from the decaying, carpeted crashed flying saucer churches that litter our American suburbs? Here is an article that gushes lovingly over the designs for a new church in New Jersey by New York architect Carlo Enzo. Amenities include gallery and museum space to attract visitors [Read More...]

Anglicans, Africans and Future Church

My article this week for Aletia explores the impact the Anglican decision to suspend the Episcopalians has on the Catholic Church The center of gravity for worldwide Christianity is shifting away from Europe and North America to Africa, Asia and South America. This shift from North to South is cultural and demographic. Christians in the [Read More...]

Exorcism and Superstition

My latest blog post at National Catholic Register is here Exorcism movies are popular, but when you see one what is your reaction? Will you respond with superstition or supernaturalism? Superstition is any sort of belief or behavior which is magical. A magical understanding of religion is primitive, immature and dangerous. It involves sympathetic magic [Read More...]

The Mystery of Marriage

My homilies from Our Lady of the Rosary are now being recorded and are accessible on the website here. Here is my homily for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time. It outlines the different levels of meaning packed into John’s account of the wedding at Cana in Galilee. There is a theological, ecclesiological and liturgical [Read More...]