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About Dwight Longenecker

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So far Dwight Longenecker has created 1849 blog entries.

Questioning Eden

2024-03-12T09:02:57-04:00March 12th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

One of the most common questions kids ask when I visit their religion classes is "Were there dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden?" Other questions about the first chapters of Genesis are "If Adam and Eve were the first people what about evolution?" or the classic, "If Adam and Eve were the first people where did [...]

Mission, Ministry and Maintenance

2024-03-06T14:28:32-04:00March 6th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

I have just finished reading Austen Ivereigh's biography of Pope Francis in order to review it alongside a new book assessing the Francis papacy called The Synodal Pope. One of the themes of Pope Francis' life that Ivereigh brings forward time and again is the need for the church to be involved in mission and evangelization. These are [...]

Why the African Church is Different

2024-03-05T10:28:57-04:00March 5th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

It is clear that Christianity in Africa is the Christianity of the twenty first century. The African Church is young, vibrant, growing and demographically dominant. Here are some statistics: With 171.9 million faithful, sub-Saharan Africa represents 16 percent of Catholics worldwide, a third the number in Europe and more than double that in the United States. [...]

The heresy of Size-ism

2024-03-04T16:45:05-04:00March 4th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

Over on X someone posted a quote from the media "scientist" Bill Nye that observes the seeming insignificance of human beings in relation to the vastness of space: ""We are just a speck, on a speck, orbiting a speck, in the corner of a speck, in the middle of nowhere." OK. This is elsewhere called the [...]

Why Are Young People Drawn to Traditional Catholic Worship?

2024-02-26T12:49:05-04:00February 26th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

Yesterday after our Solemn Mass at 10:30 an older couple visiting  from Pennsylvania stopped to talk with me. They were amazed at the packed church, the number of altar boys, the beautiful singing of the girls' choir, the reverence and focus on worship. "In our diocese" they said, "they are closing schools and merging parishes. The [...]

Reverence and Relevance

2024-02-12T14:24:51-04:00February 12th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

At Our Lady of the Rosary in Greenville the Mass is celebrated in a traditional style with the priest offering the sacrifice of the Mass facing the same direction as the people. The Novus Ordo Mass is enhanced with the Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Paternoster all in Latin and sung to Gregorian chant. The choir [...]

Understanding Pope Francis

2024-01-29T19:51:17-04:00January 29th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

I'm not concerned now, after more than ten years of a messy papacy, to "explain" Pope Francis. I am, however, interested in trying to understand his point of view. I think one of the ways to make sense of his opinions is that he is from Argentina and from an Italian immigrant family to Argentina. He [...]

Christian Unity and the Anglicans

2024-01-25T15:51:20-04:00January 25th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

This week during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Anglicans were not only invited to conduct Choral Evensong in St Peter's Basilica, but the Archbishop of Canterbury celebrated a communion service in a Catholic Church in Rome. While these gestures are diplomatic, they don't mean much more than window dressing for what is now a [...]

The Conversion of St Paul and the Magi

2024-01-25T09:41:53-04:00January 25th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

The Essenes were a monastic group who observed celibacy, maintained strict religious rules and were intrigued by apocalyptic and Messianic prophecies. Because they were persecuted by the other Jews, the Essenes were scattered across Judea. “Josephus said the Essenes lived in ‘large numbers in every town.’ and had a network to support members when they travelled.”  [...]

Altar Rails: Why Do We Do That?

2024-01-24T11:02:31-04:00January 24th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts on Traditional Catholic Worship One of the marks of traditional Catholic worship is kneeling to receive communion on the tongue. This started to become the norm in our parish in Greenville pretty much on its own. We found that as we emphasized reverence in worship an [...]

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