“The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Says the Proverb. The critics of Christianity like to say, “Oh, I would rather choose to do good than be forced to do good out of the fear of hell.” That’s very nice, but what usually happens is that they don’t actually do much good because they don’t actually make that choice. It’s like the people who complain about the church spending money on fancy vestments instead of feeding the poor.... Read more
Here is my latest article for Aleteia–commenting on Pope Francis’ recent conference on human trafficking and sex slavery. The article also discusses the history of slavery and gives a summary of Biblical teaching and the development of the church’s position on slavery. Critics of the Christian tolerance of slavery should be informed that it was actually the insights of St. Paul in Galatians which first suggested that the idea of slavery was intolerable, stating that it went against the ideal of... Read more
The old debate still rages in which Catholics dispute with Protestants who say that salvation is by “faith alone.” Yes, we like to pick out the verse from the epistle of James which says that “faith without works is dead.” If we’re going to talk the talk we have to walk the walk. Action speak louder than words and the old saying of St Francis (not) that you should “preach the gospel at all times- use words if necessary.” While... Read more
Rocco Palma reports here on a speech given by Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga–a member of Pope Francis’ “Gang of Eight” –the cardinals who he has tasked to help him reform the church. Palma calls him Francis’ “Vice Pope” Cardinal Maradiaga gave a speech at a conference in Texas on October 25 on the New Evangelization which can be found here. (scroll down to the bottom of the post) The first read through sounds like the old “Spirit of Vatican II” stuff... Read more
The weird and shocking fact in Afghan culture is that in this strict Islamic country the practice of homosexual pedophilia is an open, widespread and growing sub culture. Afghan men “adopt” boys from poor families, dress them as women, make them dance and keep them as catamites. “Women are for babies. Boys are for pleasure” is the catchphrase. Demeaning and damaging, the widespread subculture of paedophilia in Afghanistan constitutes one of the most egregious ongoing violations of human rights in... Read more
This article highlights a recent speech by Bishop Fellay–the head of the Society of St Pius X–otherwise known as the Catholic sect the Lefebvrists. In the late 1970s I was a student at Bob Jones University–the fundamentalist school in Greenville, SC. Dr Bob Jones Jr. was the Chancellor of the university at the time and he and his son Dr Bob III would preach daily at our chapel services. So we got a hefty dose of hellfire and brimstone anti-Catholicism.... Read more
We used to sing the Sunday School song, “Zachaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he, he climbed up into a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see, and the Lord said, “Zachaeus! You come down!” There are a lot of nice details in the story–all of which bear a deeper meaning. Why did Zachaeus climb up the tree in the first place? Yes, to get a better view to see the Lord,... Read more
“You shall have no other Gods before me.” trumpets the Lord in the Old Testament. St Benedict puts it the other way, “Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.” Elizabeth Scalia is a daughter of St Benedict–a Benedictine oblate, writer, wife and mother. Blogging at The Anchoress she’s also one of the Patheosi–bloggers here from a variety of faith traditions who help millions of seeker after God. The Benedictine spirit is strong in young Skywalker Scalia…the book is the fruit of... Read more
A standing on my head insight from N.D.Wilson’s new book Death by Living – All ideas must put on flesh if they are to live well… …Atheism is an idea. Most often (thank God) it is an idea lived and told with blunt jumbo-crayon clumsiness. Some child of Christianity or Judaism dons and unbelieving Zorro costume and preens about the living room… Christianity is no good at all as an idea. Stop thinking hat an asserted proposition is the same thing as... Read more
Maybe it’s the Amish in me, but one of the problems I have with being a priest in America is that, after living abroad for twenty five years, suburban America seems like one big theme park. When you go to the Mall the shops are all little fake themed experiences. When you dine out you head down one of those commercial highways that every American town has and it’s like a trip to a theme park. Little themed restaurants everywhere.... Read more
Fr. Dwight Longenecker
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