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The Deacon's Bench

Liz Lemon would be impressed.   The New York Times is helping to put the Anglican conversion story in context, by warning our Separated Brothers and Sisters that they might want to thInk twice before jumping the Tiber — and suggesting that, when it comes to some issues, well, “that’s a deal-breaker”:  When the Catholic…

The Catholic League’s William Donohue thinks so:  Bill Donohue says he’s okay with “gentle fun” being poked at his faith. But the Catholic watchdog says The Simpsons went too far on Sunday when they cracked wise about the Eucharist. At issue is this year’s installment of the annual Halloween episode. One of the three stories…

George Weigel has now weighed in on the Anglican situation. From the Washington Post’s On Faith blog:   The first wave of reactions to the October 20 Vatican announcement of a new arrangement for receiving into the Catholic Church groups of Anglican clergy and laity who would retain distinctive elements of their spiritual and liturgical…

I’d like to cut this poor girl a little slack, but look at this clip and you’ll have to agree: this is really beyond dumb. Based on my experience, here’s what I think happened. This was probably written by an associate producer at MSNBC (who probably makes $11 a hour, not 10) and who is…

That seems to be the conclusion of some observers here in the United States:  The Vatican’s invitation to disaffected Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church won’t have much effect in the United States, clergy members and theologians predict. American Anglicans still have substantial theological differences with the Catholic Church, Anglican leaders point out. Plus,…

If you want to know where the Catholic Church in the United States is headed, you might want to look south. The Latino presence is strong, and growing. And as part of its series on Latino America, CNN takes a look at the Hispanic influence on the American Church: “I’ll take two chili, uh…” a…

One American diocese is having what sounds like the world’s biggest church garage sale:  The scattering of sacred and religious artifacts from parishes closed by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese is under way. The diocese’s online liquidator is advertising hundreds of items for sale: Baptismal fonts where generations of area Catholics entered the church. Ornate altars…

At least one member of the country’s highest court is a little miffed at all the attention being paid to the court’s Catholic majority. From the AP: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito voiced frustration Tuesday over what he called persistent questions about the court’s Roman Catholic majority. Alito aired the topic in a speech…

Not everyone is  enthralled with the remarkable new bridge that Rome has built across the Tiber. Deacon Eric Stoltz notes: The Vatican proposal appears to closely follow the old practice of “uniatism,” which is not–or up to this point, was not–considered the proper approach to ecumenism. “Uniatism” is a method despised by the Orthodox, who…

“If this reconnection is well-facilitated, we may see the entire African arm of the Church of England (which is currently its most vibrantly-growing branch) cross the Tiber, and that will be a very interesting development, especially as Catholics are exposed to the Anglican-use liturgy, which will remind many of everything they loved about the Latin mass, but in…
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