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The Deacon's Bench

Everywhere.  But there are a few places that seem to be especially successful at growing them.  The top greenhouses are written up right here.  Fascinating reading. 

A man who may be testing the waters for a 2012 run for the White House has a few thoughts on what he considers to be serious challenges facing Christians in general — and Catholics in particular. Here’s former Senator Rick Santorum, in the Philadelphia Inquirer this morning: What do liberal proposals in Congress and…

My siblings in Catholic communications, Catholic TV in Boston, have produced an iPhone app.  Not only that, they’ve also produced a mischievously clever ad for it, below.

Any church that can accommodate both Michael Moore and Sean Hannity — not to mention their monumental egos — is pretty darn huge.  (And pretty darn forgiving, too.)   You can read about their little chat here.   Meantime, a snip, from Hannity’s show last night:     UPDATE: There’s an interesting observation, and a video, focusing…

A missionary priest offers this beautiful glimpse at one part of the priestly life — and bearing witness to a precious sacrament, in two very different settings:   I had been away from Tanzania for one month enjoying a vacation with family at home.  The highlight of the vacation was presiding at the marriage ceremony…

Dallas is mourning the death of a man who had three distinct callings: The Rev. Paul F. Gray had a ministry that spanned more than 40 years and included service as a chaplain for the armed forces, the Dallas Police Department and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. He was first ordained as an Episcopal priest,…

After a few months of simmering tension, the Catholic bishops have offered Jewish leaders an olive branch:  U.S. Catholic bishops have tried to reassure Jewish leaders that interfaith dialogue will never be used as a means of proselytism or a “disguised invitation to baptism,” after months of interfaith tension. The overture from the U.S. Conference…

The world has lost a remarkable and spirited warrior in the fight for charity and justice — and attention must be paid:  The Rev. Aengus Finucane, a Roman Catholic missionary and Irish aid pioneer who braved civil wars and learned he must “fight like hell to do any good,” died Tuesday, his charity announced. He…

A diocese in Delaware is about to gain a new batch of deacons (just in time for All Saint’s Day — and the Advent-Christmas rush that will follow!) Details: Fifteen men from throughout Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore will soon become permanent deacons in the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington. The Most Rev. W. Francis Malooly,…

Well, that notion fits in nicely with those who seem to think of the new president as some sort of messiah: Barack Obama’s election as the first African-American President of the United States could be interpreted as a “divine sign,” according to a senior African prelate, suggesting that in God’s plan for salvation history, 500…
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