Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 98

Are Women Excluded from the Church?

Are women excluded from the Catholic Church? Sister Knucklerapper needs to correct you on that…. Over at CRUX Elizabetta Provoked has a gentle whine about women feeling left out in the Catholic Church. While Vatican correspondent Ines san Martin reports on a conference in Rome on the role of women in the church today. In [Read More...]

Fishy Friday

No meat today please. Does that mean you’ll be heading for Mickey D’s for a Filet O Fish sandwich? In my opinion that’s a Lenten penance for sure…. Did you know that the McDonald’s Filet O Fish sandwich was invented by a Catholic McDonald’s franchise owner because he recognized that sales dipped badly on Fridays [Read More...]

Can Catholics Stand United?

I remember when I first converted to the Catholic faith an old Irish priest said, “Ahh, you’ll find that the Catholic Church is just as divided as the Anglicans.” I disagreed with him for a reason I’ll come to later, but I certainly discovered that the Catholic Church was divided. In England, where I then [Read More...]

My Lent Parish Missions

I’m busy again this Lent doing traditional three day parish missions. I love getting out to visit other parishes and spending time with God’s people. It is so encouraging to see so many people who want to know more about their faith and learn to grow closer to God. Last evening I finished three days [Read More...]

The Pope and Money

This week’s article for Aleteia regards the pope’s attitude to money. Is it “the devil’s dung”? Finally, Catholic social teaching is not distinct from Catholic spiritual teaching. It is no mistake that Pope Francis called money “the devil’s dung” because what we do with our money is connected with what we do with our souls. [Read More...]

Help a Struggling Mom

My friend Katrina is the feisty blogger known as The Crescat. She’s a divorced single mom supporting her son and Mom in a grueling, low paid job. She’s also a good Catholic convert–doing everything she can to soldier on through her difficulties. Could you give her some help? Her old car is just about to [Read More...]

C.S.Lewis and the Death Penalty

This morning, in an unprecedented step four Catholic national publications have issued a joint editorial. National Catholic Register, National Catholic Reporter, America Magazine  and Our Sunday Visitor have all called for an end to the death penalty. You can read the editorial here. In an excellent essay called The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment Lewis enters the capital [Read More...]

FaithWorks! for Lent – 2

My weekly newsletter on the practical practice of the Catholic faith is published today. This is for the second week of Lent and we’re following a series on the precepts of the Church. Go here to read and share. Go here to subscribe.

Now It’s Sado Masochism for the Suburbs

Be warned that you may find some aspects of this blog post distressing. Now that we’ve learned to be all cheerful and wholesome about sodomy it’s time to turn to sado-masochism! Never mind that the rigors of anal sex destroy people’s bodies and lives, cause disease and damn souls, we’re supposed to overlook all those unpleasant facts. [Read More...]

Ten Catholic Answers to “Why Do You Call Your Priests ‘Father’”?

If you have encounters with non-Catholic Christians you might hope that they will ask you questions that really matter like, “Why do you trust church tradition in addition to the Bible?” or “Do you worship the Pope?” or “What is the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary?” Unfortunately one of the most common challenges is [Read More...]