Fr. Dwight Longenecker: Countering Cotton Candy Catholicism

By Fr. Dwight Longenecker, July 9th, 2019

One of the advantages of being a Catholic is that, if you go to Mass regularly, you will hear so much of Sacred Scripture being read.

This is also one of the disadvantages.

It is not a disadvantage because you hear Sacred Scripture, but because you hear it in small chunks. What is lacking in the experience of most Catholics is an overall view of the whole of Sacred Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

Compared to Bible Christians, most Catholics are woefully inadequate in their understanding. They don’t know how the whole sacred story fits together. They can’t tell the difference between Galatians or Genesis, Numbers or Nehemiah and they probably think Philippians was written to Catholics in the Philippines.

Most of all, there seems to be a terrible lack of understanding of the gospel itself. When I read Catholic authors and listen to homilies and read what is put out on the internet it seems that Catholic authors, theologians and preachers have read only the parts of the gospel that they like or that make them feel warm, sweet and fuzzy.

This is cotton candy Catholicism. ….