…Good Lord Deliver Us. My latest blog post over at National Catholic Register expresses my opinion about the attack on my friends and fellow converts Ross Douthat and Edward Pentin by a gang of elitist intellectual bullies. One of the things in which I rejoice is that the Catholic Church’s direction is determined by the successors of the apostles and not the successors of Rudolph Bultmann. For those of you not in the know Rudolph Bultmann is the grandfather of all liberal... Read more
Gay icon and martyr figure Oscar Wilde converted to the Catholic faith on his deathbed. You can read the fascinating story here. In 1900, Wilde developed cerebral meningitis and became very sick. When it became clear he might die, his friend and apparent homosexual lover Robbie Ross who was with him called for a Catholic priest. When the priest arrived, Wilde requested to be received into the Catholic Church. The priest later recounted how it happened: As the voiture [carriage] rolled through the dark streets that wintry... Read more
My latest article for National Catholic Register asks, “Loving Muslims? How Do I Do That?” It is a reminder of the document Nostra Aetate–on non Christian religions published fifty years ago today. C.S.Lewis comes into the equation with the story from The Last Battle–the last Narnia book. As usual, one of the best ways to come to understanding is not with theological argument or cultural debate, but with a story. The last book of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series sheds light... Read more
I invite you to join me for an exciting pilgrimage to Poland next April during the Year of Mercy. This is a wonderful pilgrimage to sites associated with Pope St John Paul the Great and St Faustina. We will be visiting all the holy sites and the shrines associated with them as well as the famous Marian shrines and sites associated with St Maximillian Kolbe including the prison camp of Auschwitz where he was martyred. Go here to view the... Read more
Catholics are often blamed for being obsessed with sex, and the ones who lay this charge are usually sex obsessed secularists. We are interested in sexuality however, because we believe that what we do with our bodies is connected with the destiny of our souls. This is because we believe the human body is not just a container for the soul, but that the soul is interfused with the body–as tea is infused into water. I got involved in an... Read more
Fr James Martin SJ is an engaging priest. With helpful books on God’s sense of humor and practical spirituality he has helped make Catholicism approachable for many people. However, he does seem to have some remarkable blind spots. In an article published over at CNN he asks, Why are Catholics so Afraid of Change? Fr Martin is good at expressing Catholic concepts to a wide audience in what seem to be simple and direct terms. So he explains, The Synod on... Read more
Guest blogger, The Rev’d Humphrey Blytherington is former 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 was, until retirement, an avid member of the Great Snoring Morris Dancers. He is now honorary assistant priest in the parish of Dagwood Bumstead in the Gloucester Diocese. I must say, I was... Read more
I have not read the final document from the synod on the family in full yet, but there are some conservative grumblings about the ambiguity of a couple of paragraphs. The document seems to encourage the resolution of second marriage issues with the use of the “internal forum”. This is a situation where the couple, guided by a priest comes to their own decision based on their own conscience on whether or not to receive communion. This article shows how Cardinal Nichols... Read more
My article for Aleteia this week is a profile of Marcus Grodi and the Coming Home Network Marcus Grodi’s pun for life could be “Done Roman” because when he was received into the Roman Catholic Church the former Protestant pastor had found his spiritual home and was finally “done roamin’.” Grodi was brought up in a nominally Christian home, trained as a chemical engineer and eventually, after a profound adult conversion experience, trained to be a Presbyterian pastor. However, his... Read more
OK. I know it sounds dumb, but I’ve always wanted to be a nun. You know what I mean? So when that Jenner guy decided to be a girl I says to myself, “What the heck! Go for it man!” Then when they made him “Woman of the Year” I just about choked on my stogie. “That does it.” I said to myself. “It’s time I made my dreams come true and become a nun.” So I went round to... Read more
Fr. Dwight Longenecker
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