SPIRITED THINKING SINCE 1888
Fr Dwight Longenecker

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Half of US Catholics think the Eucharist is only symbolic. How did this happen?
August 01, 2019
A news item last week reminded me of a story about the writer Flannery O’Connor. In one of her letters collected in The Habit of Being she described how she was present at a swanky literary gathering in New York where the author Mary McCarthy was a fellow guest. O’Connor was intimidated by the literati
What every Catholic should know about the Eucharist
August 01, 2019
What does the Catechism of the Catholic Church teach? It teaches that it is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. What did the first Christians believe? St Ambrose (340-397) writes: “Be convinced that … the power of the blessing prevails over
Fr Dwight Longenecker: Laugh if you like, but I believe
March 29, 2018
I must have been a college student when I had to memorise a sonnet by John Donne for my English class. I chose Sonnet 10, “Death Be Not Proud” and although so well known, it is worth reading again: Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not
A royal burial in North Carolina
March 01, 2018
I was travelling south on Interstate 85 last weekend, returning to my home in South Carolina from speaking at a men’s conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, when I noticed the northbound side of the highway was empty. I suspected engineering works were to blame. Then I noticed there were emergency vehicles on the bridge over
Evangelicals are rejecting sacramental unity with the Catholic Church. Good for them.
January 31, 2018
As a Catholic priest and former Evangelical, I support the statement from members of the World Evangelical Alliance
Revealed: the true identity of the Magi
January 06, 2018
When I investigated the story of the Three Wise Men, I found something more profound than the popular legend
Revealed: the true identity of the Magi
December 21, 2017
At Epiphany you may hear a homily about the symbolism of the gifts the Magi presented to the Christ Child: gold for his royal status, frankincense for his divine status and myrrh which foreshadows his sacrificial death. You may also hear about how the coming of the Magi fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah or how
A relic for a scientific age
August 03, 2017
A verse in the epistle to the Hebrews asserts that faith is “the substance of things hoped for – the evidence of things not seen.” The resurrection of Jesus Christ is an event forever hoped for, but it is also an event unseen. Believers in the Shroud of Turin, however, insist that the Shroud is
Turin Shroud: the latest evidence will challenge the sceptics
August 03, 2017
Sceptics may dismiss the Turin Shroud, but there is good evidence the relic is authentic
A chunk of Rome lands in the Bible Belt
November 09, 2015
Why build a Romanesque church in the 21st century? Because it looks Catholic
English Catholics have forgotten their history
August 20, 2015
It is a shame that England does not celebrate its historical Catholic treasures more
The men who could be pope: Cardinal Timothy Dolan
March 07, 2013
A happy warrior who fights with bravery and bonhomie
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