Dear Nicholas, I hope you don’t mind if I comment on your reply to my fellow Catholic’s invitation to join us. I’m truly sorry you cannot make the step to full communion with the Catholic Church, and I think I understand your position. However, your very polite letter does raise questions in my own mind, and I hope you don’t mind if I put them to you in this forum. You say in passing, “I am already at home as... Read more

In a recent post I invited agonizing Anglicans to consider again the claims of the Catholic Church, and to climb aboard the great cruise ship Queen Mary (Captain Peter at the helm) rather than their own lifeboat solution. David Gustafson is the old friend (and very smart guy) with whom I wrote Mary–A Catholic Evangelical DebateDavid happens to be a member of the vestry at the Falls Church–one of the Episcopal Churches in suburban Washington DC who have recently voted... Read more

  The elephant in the chancel for our traditional Anglican brothers and sisters is the question of authority. Traditional Anglicans are agonizing over the issue of homosexuality in the Church, but many of them have not asked the more fundamental question of why their particular interpretation of Scripture should be right and their opponents wrong. The traditional Anglican takes a view that the Bible, tradition, and the Holy Spirit are on their side. They are convinced of this and are... Read more

The Longenecker Family: left to right: Benedict, Madeleine, Fr Dwight, Theodore, Mother Alison, Elias, Bishop Baker. Benedict was crucifer, Madeleine, Elias and Theo processed with my priest’s vestments. (This was the most amazingly wonderful sight!) Alison sat in the front row and just took it all in with a huge grin….and wet eyes. Read more

  I reported last week on the continuing problems in the worldwide Anglican communion. The Washington Times and New York Times have both picked up the story. The Falls Church Rector, John Yates, talks about the ship of the Anglican Church breaking up and how they are looking for lifeboats. What a shame conservative Evangelical Anglicans can’t see the great cruise liner the Barque of Peter steaming their way on a rescue mission. If these dear separated brethren, whom we... Read more

I went into school as a ‘Man in Black’ for the first time yesterday. The kids were enthusiastic. One sixteen year old girl squealed, ‘Doesn’t he look cute??!!’ A seventh grade boy had attended the ordination the night before and said, ‘Fr Dwight, that Mass was awesome! That part where you were on the floor and they were singing in Latin, that was like we were in heaven!!’ Don’t tell me ‘the young’ all want praise and worship music at... Read more

Deo Gratias! Read more

Thirty years ago I was a student at Bob Jones University. On Saturdays we were allowed to do part time work for residents of Greenville to earn extra money. We lined up on the pavement and cars pulled up with folks who needed odd jobs done. One morning I got in the front seat and met June Reynolds. June was in her sixties. She had lots of white hair and a radiant smile. She wanted me to dig a ditch... Read more

Thirteen years ago I stood at the altar as an Anglican priest in my beautiful medieval church not believing what I was doing. I had come to believe in the real presence of Our Lord’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist, but it was not present in my church, but in the chapel of the Benedictine Quarr Abbey. Put very simply, Jesus was there in a way that I did not believe he was present when I celebrated the Anglican... Read more

A friend pointed out recently that in terms of numbers, most good sized suburban Catholic parishes would qualify for ‘mega church’ status. With thousands of worshippers each week, they compare nicely with your run of the mill ‘mega church.’ But when you look at the Catholic Church globally and down through the ages it is the mega church to make all contemporary mega churches look dinky. Popes draw crowds in the millions. Here’s a church of a billion souls and... Read more