Remembering that the New Testament is hidden in the old and the old is made manifest in the New, yesterday’s feast provides three powerful images from the past that converge at Pentecost: Wind, Fire and Witness. The mighty rushing wind connects back to the first day of creation where in the first verses of the Bible we are told that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and the... Read more
I’m in Indianapolis Indiana leading a parish mission this week, and in the meet and greet session afterwards, the most common conversation I have is with middle aged women who say, “Father, what can I do, my children have stopped practicing the faith!” or they tell me how their children have married Mormons or Methodists or Baptists and left the Catholic Church. What’s the problem? The problem is not now. The problem is back then. The problem is how we... Read more
Cut Off Catholicism vs. Continuous Catholicism In the midst of composing this series on what’s killing American Catholicism I am not only reading George Weigel’s Evangelical Catholicism and Sherrie Weddell’s Forming Intentional Disciples but on the flight out to Indianapolis read Russell Shaw’s American Church — The Remarkable Rise, Meteoric Fall and Uncertain Future of Catholicism in America. Shaw’s book is written in his usual readable and personal style–full of fascinating history and observation. It assesses the problems in the American church accurately–pinpointing... Read more
I have been very busy in my life as a parish priest the past week and not had time to blog very much. There has been nothing dramatic, but the usual mixture of celebrating the sacraments, administering a growing and busy parish and school, ministering and trying to find more time to spend with people. In addition, Mrs Longenecker has started her own business–which is taking off–so there are more family duties to share at home. The omnipresent mother-taxi driver... Read more
Sorry for the break from blogging, but parish and family life have been very busy this last week. What’s killing American Catholicism? This is the third part of a series. The problems all begin with the letter ‘C’. The first part was Cultural Catholicism. The problem when people are more cultural than Catholic. The Catholic faith transcends culture, and if it is linked too closely to culture, when the immigrant stops being Italian (or Irish or Polish) he stops being Catholic–or... Read more
I’m continuing a series on things that are destroying American Catholicism. They all begin with the letter ‘C’–as does the solution to the problem. You can use the ‘Categories’ tool to pull up the whole series as they are written. Here is a link to the first article in the series on Cultural Catholicism If you would like to copy these articles for publication in parish newsletters or bulletins or to re-publish elsewhere you are welcome. Please just email me... Read more
Reading Sherry Weddell’s excellent Forming Intentional Disciples is making me think about the American church and what ails her. Can anybody deny that there is a sickness in the body ecclesia? When 50% of Catholics vote for a man who stoutly defends same sex marriage and partial birth abortion can we say that Catholics in America are okay? I don’t think so. Thus a series of posts on what’s killing Catholicism. All the words begin with the letter ‘C’. I can’t help... Read more
Guest blogger Mantilla Amontillado is the founder of Veritas Vestments. She holds a degree in Ecclesiastical Haberdashery from Salamanca University. She has done the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella three times on horseback and is engaged to the famous matador, Senor Augusto Torquemada. Listen hon, you never going to believe this, but my friends in USA tell me that they have these women over there who say they are being ordained in the Catholic church. Then they send me a... Read more
Guest blogger, The Rev’d Humphrey Blytherington is Vicar of St Hilda’s, Little Snoring with All Saints, Great Snoring. He is a graduate of Plymouth University. He completed his studies for the ministry at Latimer Hall, Durham. He is married to Daphne and enjoys home brewing, model railroading and is an avid member of the Great Snoring Morris Dancers. Well, lads, I’m awfully sorry I wasn’t here for the Iron Lady’s send off, but I was enjoying a little post... Read more
What is the difference between real religion and Nazi zombies? It’s the difference between faith and an ideology. Here’s a clue: in The Imitation of Christ Thomas a Kempis wrote, “Why do you wish to change the world when you cannot change yourself?” An ideology tries to change the world. Real religion tries to change a person. Pope Francis has preached recently on the difference between real religion and ideologies…go here. “An ideology tries to change the world (or create an isolated... Read more
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Fr. Dwight Longenecker
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