Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 87

Did I Become Catholic Because I Hate Women?

In 1995 I resigned as a Vicar in the Church of England, and I and my family were received into full communion with the Catholic Church. I left the Church of England along with nearly 800 other priests. We joined the Catholic Church because the Church of England had voted to accept women as priests. Naturally [Read More...]

Is Catholic Anglican Ecumenism Over?

My latest essay for CRUX takes a new slant on the possibilities facing Anglican Roman Catholic ecumenism. Short story: never give up hope. Last week, the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) gathered in Rome for a further round of ecumenical discussion. Now that the Anglicans have female bishops, gay bishops, and are well along the path toward [Read More...]

Is Mary the Catholic Boy’s Pin Up?

About fifteen years ago I co-authored a dialogue book with Evangelical journalist John Martin. The book was called Challenging Catholics and it is now out of print. For Mary’s month of May I thought I’d publish here some of our dialogue about Mary. Here’s a particularly punchy passage: John: Let me spell out my three problems with [Read More...]

Infallible Me…

Non Catholic Christians often grumble about the Catholic doctrine of papal infallibility, but they miss the point that for any religion to be considered reliable somewhere along the line you have to have some sort of infallibility. To get what I mean we first have to understand what infallibility is. Infallibility is not sinless perfection. [Read More...]

Anti Catholic Spies Everywhere

As research for an exciting project I’m reading .The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I Stephen Alford’s excellent study of the spy network in Elizabethan England. He does a great job in portraying the reality of the Elizabethan police state. We have got used to the version of English history in which [Read More...]

Blind Benjamin Franklin

This week’s article at Imaginative Conservative offers a critique of Benjamin Franklin’s rationalism Like most Freemasons, Franklin had a spiritual blind spot. There was nothing wild and mystical in his life. Passion and romance in religion were alien to him. His creed was one of common sense, mild-mannered good works and human virtue. As such [Read More...]

The Challenge of Chastity

One of my wisecracks is, “I used to be chaste, but she caught me.” Sorry. Bad joke. Another one liner on the subject that has changed my life is Pope St John Paul’s observation, “Chastity is the work of a lifetime.” Think of it like this: chastity is the work of a lifetime because it [Read More...]

We Are All to Blame for the Marriage Meltdown

As the Supreme Court debates the issue of same sex marriage and Pope Francis prepares for the second round of what promises to be a bruising Synod on the Family we should all wake up to the fact that marriage is a mess. We should open our eyes and realize that the human race is [Read More...]

POTUS Candidates Reveal Two Catholic Churches

My article for Aleteia this week gives a sketch of the various Catholics who are, or may be, in the running for the White  House. There have never been as many Catholics stepping up for the top job and their backgrounds and opinions provide an accurate reflection of a diverse and divided American Catholic Church. [Read More...]

Screaming Kids and Urban Thugs

When the kids were little I remember Mrs Longenecker telling me that she was in the family van with a friend and their infant was in the back seat screaming his head off. The mom countered by opening a lollipop and giving it to junior. Mrs Longenecker observed in her usual down to earth way, [Read More...]