Author Archive: Fr. Dwight Longenecker
Fr. Dwight Longenecker is an American who has spent most of his life living and working in England. Fr Dwight was brought up in an Evangelical home in Pennsylvania. After graduating from the fundamentalist Bob Jones University with a degree in Speech and English, he went to study theology at Oxford University. He was eventually ordained as an Anglican priest and served as a curate, a school chaplain in Cambridge and a country parson.
Realizing that he and the Anglican Church were on divergent paths, in 1995 Fr. Dwight and his family were received into the Catholic Church. He spent the next ten years working as a freelance Catholic writer, contributing to over twenty-five magazines, papers and journals in Britain, Ireland and the USA.
Fr. Dwight is the editor of a best-selling book of English conversion stories called The Path to Rome - Modern Journeys to the Catholic Faith. He has written Listen My Son - a daily Benedictine devotional book which applies the Rule of St Benedict to the task of modern parenting. St Benedict and St Thérèse is a study of the lives and thought of two of the most popular saints.
In the field of Catholic apologetics, Fr. Dwight wrote Challenging Catholics with John Martin, the former editor of the Church of England Newspaper. More Christianity is a straightforward and popular explanation of the Catholic faith for Evangelical Christians. Friendly and non-confrontational, it invites the reader to move from 'Mere Christianity' to 'More Christianity'. Mary-A Catholic Evangelical Debate is a debate with an old Bob Jones friend David Gustafson who is now an Evangelical Episcopalian.
Fr. Dwight’s Adventures in Orthodoxy is described as ‘a Chestertonian romp through the Apostles’ Creed.’ He wrote Christianity Pure&Simple which was published by the Catholic Truth Society in England and Sophia Institute Press in the USA. He has also published How to Be an Ordinary Hero and his book Praying the Rosary for Inner Healing was published by Our Sunday Visitor in May 2008. His latest books are, The Gargoyle Code - a book in the tradition of Screwtape Letters and a book of poems called A Sudden Certainty. Adventures in Orthodoxy is to be re-published this Fall in a new edition and the sequel, The Romance of Religion will be published soon after.
Fr. Dwight has contributed a chapter to the third volume of the best selling Surprised by Truth series and is a regular contributor to Crisis Magazine, St Austin Review, This Rock, Our Sunday Visitor and National Catholic Register. Fr. Dwight has also written a couple of children’s books, had three of his screenplays produced, and is finishing his first novel. He’s working on a book on angels and his autobiography: There and Back Again.
In 2006 Fr. Dwight accepted a post as Chaplain to St Joseph’s Catholic School in Greenville, South Carolina. This brought him and his family back, not only to his hometown, but also to the American Bible belt, and hometown of Bob Jones University. In December 2006 he was ordained as a Catholic priest under the special pastoral provision for married former Anglican clergy. He is the Administrator of Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Greenville, South Carolina, and an oblate of Belmont Abbey.
Fr. Dwight enjoys movies, blogging, books, and visiting Benedictine monasteries. He’s married to Alison. They have four children, named Benedict, Madeleine, Theodore and Elias. They live in Greenville, South Carolina with a black Labrador named Anna, a chocolate lab called Felicity, cat named James and various other pets.
Naked Evil and the Boston Bombings
When trying to make sense of the recent bombing in Boston or the tragedies of Sandy Hook and the Aurora massacres, we are faced with mindless violence – an absurd, howling kind of insane violence. It seems like the devil himself is stalking the streets – seeking whom he may devour. An exorcist told me [...]
On the Question of Suffering
When my nephew Michael was getting ready for college he told me he was expected to write a paper in his first week entitled, “How do I know I exist?” After discussing the matter for some time he concluded that the best thing to do was to punch his professor in the nose. The resulting [...]
Why Pope Benedict Matters to Me
In all the drama of Thursday’s farewell to Pope Benedict XVI, and amidst all the high level comment, intellectual analysis and historical accounting of his legacy, here are the very personal reasons why Benedict mattered to me. He granted the dispensation from the vow of celibacy that opened the door for my ordination as a [...]
Jigsaw Puzzle Spirituality
I remember as a young priest I was visiting an older woman we’ll call Veronica whose life was in chaos. She was grieving over a broken marriage. Her children were a disappointment. She had health problems and money worries. She had emotional and relational difficulties. In addition to this she talked too much. The poor [...]
St. Benedict for Beginners – The Twelfth Step to Humility
This is the eighteeth in a series on St. Benedict for Beginners. – The Editors The Twelfth Step to Humility ‘The twelfth step of humility is not only that the monk should be humble of heart, but also that in his appearance his humility should be apparent.’ There is a saying in monasteries that “the habit [...]
“Isn’t That Just Vain Repetition?” A Former Evangelical Learns to Love the Rosary
I was brought up in a devout Protestant, Evangelical home in Pennsylvania. We weren’t exactly anti-Catholic, but we thought Catholics needed to “get saved.” After college in South Carolina, I moved to England and became an Anglican priest. It was my habit to make my annual retreat at the Benedictine Abbey of Quarr on the [...]
Communicating Catholicism
A cynical person has written, “It is impossible to communicate without being misunderstood.” That’s going a bit far, but I know what he means! If it is difficult to communicate about every day, ordinary things, how much harder it is to communicate abstract ideas about the Catholic faith! C. S. Lewis wrote an essay in [...]
St. Benedict for Beginners – The Eleventh Step to Humility
This is the seventeeth in a series on St. Benedict for Beginners. – The Editors The Eleventh Step to Humility ‘The eleventh step of humility is that the monks quietly and with a few words for “the wise man is known for his few words.’ A monk is the original strong, silent type. Benedict echoes the [...]
Faith Works – A Weekly Newsletter from Fr. Longenecker
Fr. Dwight Longenecker is launching a newsletter that will provide short, practical advice on living the Integrated Catholic Life™. - The Editors Someone has said, “The longest journey is from the head to the heart.” I’ve often added, “It’s an even longer journey from the head to the heart to the hands!” In other words, it [...]
St. Benedict for Beginners – The Tenth Step to Humility
This is the sixteenth in a series on St. Benedict for Beginners. – The Editors The Tenth Step to Humility ‘The tenth step of humility is that he should not be ready and quick to laughter, for it is written, “The fool raises his voice in laughter.’ St. Benedict is not against laughter and joy. He [...]
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