Catholic Connection – Jan 19, 2024 – Hr 1

Best of “Catholic Connection” with Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Dr. Marcel van der Watt and Mark Middendorf.

 

 

Segment 1 – There and Back Again: A Somewhat Religious Odyssey
“This story of one man’s amazing journey from Protestant fundamentalism through the Church of England to the Catholic priesthood offers an inspiring tale of God’s providence, and the truth that “all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.”  Fr. Longenecker joins us.  (Originally aired August 22, 2023)

Father Dwight Longenecker, raised in an Evangelical Protestant home, attended Bob Jones University, pursued further studies in theology at Oxford, and was ordained an Anglican minister. In 1995, he was received into the Catholic Church in England, and eleven years later he returned to his native United States to be ordained as a Catholic priest. He now serves as pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Greenville, South Carolina.

 

Segment 2 & 3 – Is there a deceptively simple way sex trafficking can end?
(Originally aired January 16, 2024)

Marcel van der Watt (Ph.D.) is the Director of the Research Institute at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation in Washington, D.C. He is an internationally accoladed investigative and research professional with more than 20 years of experience in combating the interspersing criminal economies of organized crime, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation. His cumulative experience as a former police investigator, hostage and suicide negotiator, and human trafficking case consultant continues to inform his work. Marcel is also a Research Fellow at the Free State Centre for Human Rights, University of the Free State (South Africa), and serves on the Executive Committee of the Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars (GAHTS).

Segment 4 – Mary’s Marines – An adoration initiative at Ave Maria University
“The Marines have landed at Ave Maria University in Florida — Mary’s Marines, that is. Nearly 500 students of this praying force formally commit to spending 15 to 60 minutes each day before the Blessed Sacrament in the university’s eight chapels, whether in the Martha J. Burke Perpetual Adoration Chapel or the chapel in every dorm.”  Read more here.  (Originally aired January 12, 2024)

Mark Middendorf is President of Ave Maria University. He followed a special call to found Lighthouse Catholic Media (LCM), a lay apostolate that became the largest producer of Catholic audio talks on the planet before merging with Augustine Institute in 2015. Middendorf served as Executive Vice President For Mission Expansion at Augustine Institute.