Some time ago I read a blog post identifying the degradation of American Christianity into what was termed Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It’s given me much pause for thought and the analysis seems to me to be spot on. Today’s post is a further speculation on this analysis with a long contribution from a regular reader to the combox. I offer these thoughts not as any kind of dogma, but for speculation and something to ponder or readers. If you think... Read more
My fifteen year old son is the one who encourages me to see superhero and science fiction films. Really. So today on my day off we tootled off together to munch popcorn and enjoy Guardians of the Galaxy. Think Star Wars meets The Avengers. It was corny, but the corn popped. In other words it was salty and crunchy but not much more than puffed air and corn. I’ll leave others to give you the full review. Here’s Steve Greydanus... Read more
When I was a young Anglican minister I lived in an apartment with my younger brother. I complained to him one day that when I was a theology student I lived by faith. I really had no money and was living from hand to mouth with the little I could earn while I studied. Now that I had a job and a house and a salary it seemed boring. So he said, “Why don’t you give half of your money... Read more
One of the joys of being a Catholic is that we should be able to open up to the strength of many different Christian traditions. When somebody leaves the Catholic church looking for some other spiritual good we have failed them because all the good things in all the other religions and all the other Christian denominations can be found within Catholicism. So, for example, a friend of mine who was brought up as a Catholic and sent to the... Read more
This article from the New York Times reports on the growing gender confusion in the younger generation. To summarize L.G.B.T (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender) is not broad enough to express people’s sexual proclivities. At a student meeting at one college someone stood up to express their (you’re not allowed to say ‘his’ or ‘her’ anymore) frustrations. Santiago, a curly-haired freshman from Colombia, stood before the crowd. He and a friend had been pondering the limits of what he calls “L.G.B.T.Q. plus.”... Read more
“To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant” wrote Bl. John Henry Newman. As part of my research for a book on married priests I am reading Christian Cochini’s tome Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy. It’s a masterful piece of scholarship which examines the early church’s views on marriage for the clergy. As a fringe benefit I’m also getting a refresher in church history, and as we hop, skip and jump over the Christological heresies in the early church it’s... Read more
My combox this week has been filled this week with self righteous, negative and sour comments from a certain type of Catholic. How some people love to throw anathemas at the heretics, condemn people and take a lofty tone correcting everyone in sight. If you don’t believe me just jump over to the combox and browse through. Why all the vinegar? Do people actually think their self righteous imprecations do themselves any good? Do me any good? Do potential converts... Read more
Holy Deacon Kandra doesn’t appreciate pictures of severed heads, videos of murders and clips of Iraqis being herded off for extermination. He posts on Facebook One more time, for those who missed it: you post on Facebook pictures of decapitated heads, or videos of people being murdered, or the bloody aftermath of an execution, you will be unfriended. You may feel otherwise, but trust me: things like that are a violent and unwanted assault on me and my sensibilities; it... Read more
When Benedict XVI and John Paul II were pope the conservative Catholics loved to throw around the phrase “cafeteria Catholic” as a term of derision. It’s a name I used a fair bit to parody those Catholics who would pick and choose what bits of Catholicism they liked and rejected the bits they didn’t like. The “cafeteria Catholic” was a liberal who picked peace and justice issues but was silent on abortion. The “cafeteria Catholic” picked up on the fellowship... Read more
When I resigned from my position as an Anglican priest one of the ladies in the parish was very upset. She couldn’t figure out the point of my decision. “Surely!” she cried, “All that really matters is how much we love Jesus?” This is the response from many non-Catholics when faced with the doctrinal claims of the Catholic church. In some ways they are right. How much we love Jesus is the most important thing, but that’s where the discussion begins, not... Read more
Fr. Dwight Longenecker
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