Is Religion All in Your Head?

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 12:35 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

I remember how they wired up the visionaries at Medjugorje while they were experiencing their apparitions. The scientists wanted to study what was going on in their brains as they “saw” the Blessed Virgin. Religious experiences of the mystical kind occur throughout human experience and in most every kind of religion. But what is happening when visionaries see the Blessed Virgin, Hindu holy men go into a trance or charismatics speak in tongues? Are they experiencing something real or is... Read more

If You Summon Satan…

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 12:35 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

…don’t be surprised when he turns up. In C.S.Lewis’ final Narnia story The Last Battle the evil Rishda Tarkaan summons his demonic god Tash. The problem is–Tash turns up to devour him. So it is in our increasingly godless society. In many ways people summon Satan. Then they are surprised when he turns up. This article recounts the gruesome, straight from hell behaviors of a heavy metal rock band called Watain. It is said they threw pig’s blood all over their... Read more

Chesterton and the Charming Devil

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 12:36 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Tod Worner recounts a Chesterton story here. As a young student Chesterton was friends with a charming, well connected and well off young man. They debated and discussed most everything, and then the conversation went to morality and religion. Suddenly things went cold… But in spite of his intelligence, polish and facility with different topics and diverse people, there was something sinister about him. The conversation began when his friend asked Chesterton why he was “becoming orthodox” in his religious... Read more

Closing Churches Closes Faith

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 12:36 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Architect Michael Tamara comments here on the closure of historic churches in the Northern cities of the US. His main point is that the churches were built by our ancestors who were much poorer than we are, but who had faith, knew how to work hard, and above all–were willing to make great sacrifices to build a worthy house of worship. What kind of mindset built all the immigrant Catholic parishes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the Americas? Was... Read more

Benedict and Therese – Old Man and Princess

Last updated on: June 18, 2014 at 9:31 am By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Some of my work will start appearing at Catholic Exchange website. Instead of new articles they have asked to publish excerpts from my various books. Here is an excerpt from my book St Benedict and St Therese – The Little Rule and the Little Way. To study two saints together is to perceive three things: their unique personalities, their similarity to one another and the way their lives and teachings complement each other. When Saint Benedict and Saint Thérèse of... Read more

Fairy Tales Are Dangerous Mr Dawkins!

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 12:37 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

This smart essay at Imaginative Conservative is framed as a letter to British atheist Richard Dawkins–who criticized fairy tales recently because they aren’t really true… It never ceases to amaze me how a man as smart as Dawkins in science can be as dumb as a rock when it comes to literature and religion. The vast confusion of so many people about types, forms and uses of literature makes me wonder what on earth they are teaching in English classes... Read more

How to Recognize the Anti Christ

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 12:37 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

So much gossip on the internet is doom and gloom ridden talk about the Antichrist. That wise prophet Archbishop Fulton Sheen in Communism and the Conscience of the West discusses the Antichrist: The Antichrist will not be so called; otherwise he would have no followers. He will not wear red tights, nor vomit sulphur, nor carry a trident nor wave an arrowed tail as Mephistopheles in Faust. This masquerade has helped the Devil convince men that he does not exist. When... Read more

Do You Believe in the Talking Donkey?

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 12:37 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

One of the latest wisecracks about Christianity is that to be a Christian you have to believe in a talking snake and a talking donkey. Do you stutter and stammer and errrm and aahhhm about that challenge? The critic is referring to two stories in the Old Testament. The first is the story of the Garden of Eden where the serpent tempts Adam and Eve. So do you have to believe in a fairy tale talking snake? This first challenge... Read more

Nancy Pelosi: Venom Masquerading as Virtue

Last updated on: June 16, 2014 at 5:28 am By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

I have to hand it to Nancy Pelosi. The “Venom Masquerading as Virtue” line is a good one. I’m always a sucker for alliteration. That’s where my admiration ends. In this article Pope Pelosi, who last year received the Margaret Sanger Eugenicist of the Year Award, now presumes to correct Archbishop Salvator Cordileone for planning to attend the march in Washington to defend marriage. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took the lead this week in a high-profile lobbying effort to pressure San... Read more

Time, Eternity and the Holy Trinity

Last updated on: June 14, 2014 at 6:49 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

This Sunday everyone will hear that the Holy Trinity is a mystery, and I’ll be reminded of my definition of a mystery: “A mystery is something that can be experienced even if it cannot be explained.” Therefore I have always found it best to discuss the mystery of the Holy Trinity through aspects of life we experience and ponder. Take time, for example: We experience time in the present moment, but in that present moment the past is summarized and... Read more