Inspiration Faith & Prayer Health & Wellness Entertainment Love & Family
Newsletters Special Offers

The Deacon's Bench

I got a nice e-mail a short time ago, announcing the winners of the Catholic New Media Awards. No, I didn’t win. But I did come in second. A very, very, very distant second in the category for “Best Blog by A Cleric.” Check out the rest of the winners at the link. My thanks…

As if the warm words he’s getting from the Vatican newspaper weren’t enough, President Obama now has a prominent cardinal and former papal theologian in his corner. John Allen has details: In the run-up to President Barack Obama’s much-anticipated July 10 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, an influential cardinal and Vatican adviser has praised Obama’s…

A deacon sent this along, from a Presbyterian elder who works with him in ministry at an assisted living facility. “It’s from the ‘Church Wellness Report,’,” he wrote, “and I really think it ought to be read by every priest and deacon in our church as well. There is a lot of wisdom here.” I…

Two weeks ago, they ordained what the local paper has dubbed a “bumper crop” of deacons in Pensacola-Tallahassee. From Florida Catholic: God blessed the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee abundantly with a bumper crop of new permanent deacons June 20 when Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, ordained 17 men during Mass at St. Paul Parish. Coming from…

This is a busy travel weekend, but people passing through many airports across the country can find a quiet corner to stop and reflect and pray. (No, I’m not talking about Cinnabon or Hudson News.) Meet the priest who ministers to the flying flock at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport: In a small room above the crowds…

The Pres met the press today. Barack Obama sat down with several members of the Catholic media — Your Humble Blogger, I should note, was inexplicably not on the guest list — in advance of next week’s trip to Italy, where he’ll meet the pontiff. The National Catholic Register is a complete write up. Fr.…

Lino Rulli catches up with Ed Wilkinson, the editor of our diocesan newspaper, the Tablet. Watch the scoop here.

This post on one priest’s busy day off generated some comments and e-mails, including the one below, from Fr. Austin Murphy, an FOB who runs the always-engaging blog Jesus Goes to Disney World. (He has posted the e-mail there, along with a few more thoughts on the topic. Check it out.) But take a look…

A regular reader and FOB (Friend of The Bench), Msgr. Thomas Welbers from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles offers a few thoughts on the subject in this week’s issue of LA’s The Tidings: There is no law, either ecclesiastical or civil, either requiring or explicitly forbidding the flag in a church. So we have to…

I mentioned this video here. But take 10 minutes out of your day, and see it for yourself. I guarantee: you’ll feel a little bit better about vocations and, just maybe, the state of the world in general. A grateful wave of the deacon’s stole to The Anchoress.
archives most recent
search this blog
More from Beliefnet and our partners