Friday, March 29, AD 2024 5:18am

Bravo Father Longenecker!

Father Longenecker

 

Father Dwight Longenecker has an appeal to the Pope in Crisis magazine:

 

I have heard the words of my Holy Father and taken them to heart. I sincerely want to be that kind of priest.

 

However, I can only do this if the timeless truths of the Catholic faith are firmly defined and defended. The dogmas, doctrines and disciplines of the Catholic faith are the tools of my trade. They provide the rules for engagement, the playbook for the game, the map for the journey and the content for the mercy and compassion I wish to display. The historic teachings of the Catholic faith, founded on the teachings of Christ the Lord, revealed by divine inspiration and developed through the magisterium of the Catholic Church provide the method for my mercy, the content for my compassion and the only saving truths I have to share.

 

This is teamwork Holy Father. I can only do the job you want me to do if you do the job you have been called to do. With the greatest respect and love, please don’t feel that it is your job to tinker with the timeless truths. If my job is to be the compassionate pastor for those in the pew and beyond, then your job is to be the primary definer and defender of the faith. I can’t do my job if you don’t do yours.

Yes, I know you want to inspire us to be that kind of compassionate pastor, but to be honest, I find that inspiration elsewhere. I remember meeting Mother Teresa of Calcutta and being inspired by her compassion. I am inspired by St Damien of Molokai, St Maximillian Kolbe, St Isaac Jogues and a host of other valiant and radiant souls. While your example of compassion, humility and simplicity is stunning and attractive, your most important work is to define and defend the teachings of the Catholic Church so that together we can all proclaim it and live it with the compassion, mercy and forgiveness we all agree is necessary.

I know the Synod on the Family is an attempt to make the church more compassionate and caring, but with respect, this is not best done at the Vatican or diocesan level but on the parish level. I was taught that subsidiarity is a Catholic principle: that solutions to problems and ideas for initiatives are best taken within the local community. Compassion, mercy and the struggle with family issues happens every day at the parish level. You know that from your own work at the front line as a priest and bishop. At the Vatican level the discussion is theoretical and theological as it should be. If you try to tinker with these matters at the global level it doesn’t help. It makes life more confusing and frustrating for us at the local level.

Here is an example: twice in the last week I have had to deal with Catholics in irregular marriages. One woman married outside the church and told me that she thought it was now okay for her to come to communion because, “The pope has changed all those old rules.” Another man has divorced his wife and is living with another woman. He also assured me very confidently that it was now fine for him to come to communion because, “Pope Francis has changed the rules.” I know you mean well Holy Father, and I admire and like you, but this process on which you have led us is not helping.

Go here to read the rest.  It is easy for a layman like me to speak out.  It is much harder for a priest to do so.  I bow to your courage Father Longenecker, and your zeal for the Truth.

 

 

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Paul W Primavera
Wednesday, October 15, AD 2014 6:48am

Father Longeneker was heroic to have written this letter.

Phillip
Phillip
Wednesday, October 15, AD 2014 7:43am

“One woman married outside the church and told me that she thought it was now okay for her to come to communion because, ‘The pope has changed all those old rules.’ Another man has divorced his wife and is living with another woman. He also assured me very confidently that it was now fine for him to come to communion because, ‘Pope Francis has changed the rules.’”

I too have seem similar effects in my own profession. Catholic doctors who were on the fence about oral contraceptives and reluctant to give to patients now gladly prescribe knowing that the Church has “changed.”

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Wednesday, October 15, AD 2014 8:05am

“. . . ‘Pope Francis has changed the rules.’”

Here’s the problem in fine. For far too long, the liberal (both inside and outside the Church) trope has been that doctrine/objective truth/Church Teachings are merely personal opinions of Pope ABC or of Bishop XYZ. Nothing (I could be wrong) could be further from the Truth.

Stephen E. Dalton
Stephen E. Dalton
Wednesday, October 15, AD 2014 8:33am

Well, one good thing about this current train wreck, it’s forcing priests to take sides instead of sitting on the fence.

Mary De Voe
Wednesday, October 15, AD 2014 12:18pm

AMEN

Jeffrey Bowen
Jeffrey Bowen
Thursday, October 16, AD 2014 1:11pm

Very well said, I am amazed that knowing that the secular media will attempt to twist and turn ANYTHING said by our Pope and bishops, that the Church is not more careful to be absolutely clear in everything they say. Instead we see church leaders striving to covey “likeability and kindness” at the expense of truth. Please Lord, let those you have placed into positions of authority have the strength to stand firm againt a world sliding into perdition, even when it means ruffling someone’s feathers. in order to save their soul.

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