Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 77

Why the Catholic Mass Is the Center of All Things

Stop for a moment and consider the turmoil and trouble in the world. Violence, rage and anger abound. Ideologies clash and war threatens. Diplomacy and nice talk does not work with those who are driven by ideologies of hate. The ideologues gather in their tribes, ready to wage war and destroy the enemies they fear [Read More...]

Have the Mainstream Media Fallen Out of Love with Pope Francis?

Has anyone else noticed the remarkable silence in the mainstream media? Pope Francis–who was once their darling for saying about a person with same sex attraction, “Who Am I to Judge?”–is absent from the front pages this summer. When he went to Brazil for World Youth Day in 2013 it was big news. The crowds [Read More...]

How the Holy Rosary Could Heal the World

Today as I was praying the holy rosary I began to see why this simple devotion is so powerful. I began to see how the Holy Rosary might heal our common sickness and bring healing to the whole world. To understand how the healing works we first have to understand the sickness. I call the [Read More...]

Evangelizing with Joy

The other day I was at the meat counter in the supermarket and a young black guy with the name tag “Desmond” said “Hello Father!” He’s wearing a hair and beard net because he’s handling food. He’s bright and is cheerful, upbeat and helpful. Because he calls me “Father”, I ask, “So are you a [Read More...]

The Shroud and the High Speed Train

My latest article for National Catholic Register explains how the advance of technoscience has provided the means to move close than ever to authentification of the Shroud of Turin. The article was written on a high tech, high speed train whizzing through Italy from Rome to Turin…and it got me thinking. The shroud lay virtually unknown [Read More...]

Marriage? What’s That?

My latest article for Catholic World Report recognizes that marriage in any Christian sense of the word has disintegrated long ago in the USA, and recommends what we might do about it. Commentators blame the Supreme Court justices for “redefining marriage”, but we began to redefine marriage fifty years ago when we accepted artificial contraception, [Read More...]

Bad Queen Bess

This week’s article for the Imaginative Conservative explains the true character of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Was she “Good Queen Bess” the “Virgin Queen” or something much more vile? Confronted by these threats, Elizabeth’s men set up a harsh plan of counter-terrorism. If the pope and the Catholic monarchs were her enemies, then so [Read More...]

The Stars and Stripes of Freedom and Responsibility

When the children were at that delicate cusp between eighth grade and high school we had a conversation about freedom. There wasn’t anything particularly new or innovative about my ideas. In fact what I told them was as old as grandpa. I explained that as they entered high school and then college they would be [Read More...]

Twelve Things to Remember if the SCOTUS Decision Upsets You

The Supreme Court decision allowing gay “marriage” in the United States has upset all right minded Christians, and rightly so. It is pretty clear that the Supreme Court has rubber stamped a widespread rejection of Christian morality by a large segment of the American people. Not only has the Supreme Court ratified same sex “marriage” [Read More...]

Pope’s Message of Liberation

When people suspect Pope Francis of being a “liberation theologian” they have a point. However, he is not a liberation theologian in the classical Marxist sense. Instead, he quite rightly understands that liberation is part of the gospel message. At the opening of him ministry Jesus quoted from Isaiah that he had come to “set [Read More...]