The Beatification of Cardinal Newman

by Steve Wood & Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Pope Benedict XVI's trip to England to beatify Cardinal Newman served several important purposes for the Church. In one visit, the Pope:

•   Honored Cardinal Newman, the convert of the 19th century — a great man of faith and courage who is a model for our own time

•   Addressed the crisis of moral relativism

•   Encouraged the growing minority of Catholics in England

•   Warmly extended a hand of friendship to Anglicans, many of whom are thinking about coming into the Church through the Anglican ordinariate established by the Pope

•   Met personally with victims of the priest sex scandal to listen to and pray with them as Jesus would have done

•   Demonstrated heroic courage and charity in the face of vicious and obscene attacks, including a terrorist plot against his life

•   Initiated a discussion about religion and morality in a country that has become  irreligious and amoral

Before the Pope’s visit, Steve Wood did a radio interview with one of the most remarkable priests you’ll ever meet, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, to get his thoughts about Cardinal Newman and the Pope’s visit to England. Steve picked Fr. Longenecker because he has an unusual conversion story that’s in many ways similar to Cardinal Newman’s.

There are lots of unexpected twists and turns in Fr. Longenecker’s story. Here’s what happened.

Dwight Longenecker was raised in Pennsylvania in a Mennonite family. Because of his Fundamentalist Protestant beliefs, he attended Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. During his college days, he never imagined that he would become Catholic. This was unthinkable because the Fundamentalists at Bob Jones University believed that Catholics needed to be “saved.”

Dwight graduated from Bob Jones with a degree in literature. He was especially fond of C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton, and that’s how he fell head over heels in love with England. He discovered the English church, became ordained as an Anglican priest, and lived in England for the next 25 years. And he fulfilled his dream to be a country pastor in England. He served a small church on the Isle of Wight with his wife and four children.

Father Longenecker had to sacrifice this idyllic life to become Catholic. Ironically, he and his family moved back to Greenville, where he was ordained as a Catholic priest with a dispensation from the celibacy requirement.

In this audio interview, Fr. Longenecker and Steve discuss Cardinal Newman in a wider historical context going back to the English revolt against Rome. You'll learn surprising details about the life of Newman, but also about the history of Catholicisim in England.