Understanding Infallibility

Last updated on: May 22, 2012 at 8:32 am By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

There’s a delicious scene in Brideshead Re-visited where the spiritually illiterate Rex Mottram is being instructed in the Catholic faith and the priest asks, “If it were raining and the Holy Father said it was sunny, how would you then explain papal infallibility?” Rex ponders for a moment and says, “I suppose I would say that it must be spiritually sunny.” Similar incomprehension and ignorance surround the subject of papal infallibility amongst our separated brethren. Their problem with understanding this... Read more

Snake Handlers and the Holy Father

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 3:35 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Who are the “snake handlers” and where do they come from? “Snake handlers” are a small group of Pentecostal Christians–started in Appalachia during the Holiness revival movements and still operating today. They get all worked up and get “the anointing” which means they enter a trance like state through hyper emotionalism then they pass around live rattlesnakes. If you get bit you’re a sinner and deserve to die. If you are not bitten or are bitten and survive you’re a... Read more

I’ll Fly Away Oh Glory!

Last updated on: May 19, 2012 at 8:15 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Those who like fairy tales should love the story of the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven. Like Dorothy, who is swept up by a cyclone to Oz, Jesus floats up and disappears up into what must be a Technicolor heaven. Fantasy tales are full of this sort of thing. Peter Pan flies away to Neverland; Mary Poppins is whisked away when the wind changes, and the space ship comes to carry E.T. home to his peaceful planet. It is... Read more

A Jar, a Torch and a Sword for the Lord

Last updated on: May 19, 2012 at 11:35 am By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

I have always loved the second epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians. His vulnerability, weakness and helplessness without God pervades every chapter, and yet it is in his sorrows that he triumphs. It is in the midst of the weakness that he perseveres. In the fourth chapter he speaks of the light of Christ, and how it shines through our weakness. For what we preach is not ourselves,but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’... Read more

Sorrowful Mother and Co-Redeemer?

Last updated on: May 19, 2012 at 9:05 am By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

There are very few Catholic titles for the Blessed Virgin Mary more likely to get Evangelical Protestants upset than Mary Co-Redemptrix or Mary Mediatrix. Immediately the Bible Christian will quote I Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and Man–the man Christ Jesus.” For them it is a done deal. “The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.” So how do Catholics understand Mary’s participation in the redemptive work of Christ, and why... Read more

Mother of Sorrows

Last updated on: May 18, 2012 at 7:24 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

During this month of May I’m posting lots of stuff on the Blessed Virgin. Stop by tomorrow for a post on Mary- Mother of Sorrows. What does this mean? How is it Scriptural? How does in connect with Jesus Christ’s work of redemption on the cross. What is the connection with Catholics calling Mary “Co-Redeemer”? Read more

Help! There’s a Mennonite in Me

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 3:36 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

You have to understand that I have a Mennonite in me. I can’t help it. He lurks there in his black hat and chin beard watching me and nodding knowingly. He’s one of my ancestors. They were all Mennonites and Amish and various sorts of Pennsylvania Protestants. Go to Pennsylvania Dutch country today and see how many Longeneckers there are in the phone book. You’ll only find more in Zurich Switzerland where they all came from to start with. This... Read more

I Wannabe a Superhero

Last updated on: May 17, 2012 at 4:46 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

I tell the boys in school that they should be a priest because every boy wants to wear a cape and a cool hat and do amazing things, and what other profession is there today in which you can wear a cape (except being a French policeman) So capes and hats and feats of derring do is what I want, and what’s wrong with wanting to be a superhero? That is to say, I want to be a super- natural... Read more

Did Jesus Have Brothers and Sisters?

Last updated on: May 16, 2012 at 10:18 am By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

I was brought up as an Evangelical fundamentalist Christian and when we read the verses in the Bible that spoke of Jesus’ “brothers and sisters” we concluded that they were the other children of Joseph and Mary. What I didn’t know is that this idea was unheard of in the early church, and that even the Reformers–Martin Luther, John Calvin and the others did not hold to this view. The Catholic Church had always taught that the “brothers and sisters”... Read more

Nazi Zombies are Real

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 3:32 pm By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

The teenaged guys are down in the basement on X-box and when I go down I realize they are playing some horrible game where they have to slaughter everybody in sight. When I remonstrate they call out cheerfully, “It’s okay Dad. They’re Nazi Zombies.” Have you ever thought about the meaning behind horror movies and games? Why do we like to hate the Nazi Zombies? Why does Count Dracula turn into a blood sucking monster? Why do werewolves transmogrify? What... Read more

How many books in the Bible are classified as poetry?