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Fr. Dwight Longenecker is an American
who has spent most of his life living and working in England.
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 apology for Catholicism as the fullest and freshest
version of the Christian faith, and 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 has just finished The
Healing Rosary.
Fr. Dwight has contributed a chapter
to the third volume of the best selling Surprised by
Truth series and is a regular contributor
to 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 researching a play about Elizabeth Barton a feisty
Catholic nun from the English Reformation, and is researching
a double biography of C.S.Lewis and T.S.Eliot called Reluctant
Allies.
In 2005 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.
He is a candidate for Catholic priesthood under the special
pastoral provision for married former Anglican clergy, and
will minister at St Joseph’s, and in the parish of St
Mary’s, Greenville.
Fr. Dwight enjoys movies, books, and
visiting Benedictine monasteries. He’s married to Alison.
They have four children, named Benedict, Madeleine, Theodore
and Elias. They live in Greenville,
and are learning quickly about American suburban life, Wal-Mart
and how to survive fast food.
Click here to Contact Fr. Dwight
Read Fr. Dwight's Blog, Standing on My Head
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