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The Deacon's Bench

“For the foreseeable future, the institution of the church will continue to shrink, and the number of priests and sisters will become steadily smaller. Even as new forms of lay ministry expand, the reconfiguration of the institutions and agencies of the church will have to be accomplished cooperatively. For their part, lay people are eager…

For those who may have missed it, here’s Carrie Prejean and Matt Lauer, chatting on TODAY: Ms. PREJEAN: I knew at that moment after I had answered the question, I knew that I was not going to win because of my answer. LAUER: Because you had spoken from your heart. Ms. PREJEAN: Because I had…

It was a common Catholic practice for generations, but it may be on its way back. American Papist Tom Peters takes note of one small step in that direction from the bishop of Steubenville, who is “inviting” his flock to give up meat on Fridays for the unborn. N.B.: This move is not binding by…

A new report offers some surprising — and troubling — insight into why a lot of young men had second or third thoughts about the priesthood: Conversations around the kitchen table may be more responsible for the shortage of Roman Catholic priests in the U.S. than influences from American culture, a new study suggests. Almost…

Reading over this latest bit of news, I’m thinking, “Um, no.”

Your Humble Blogger, babbling about blogging. Doesn’t this guy ever shut up? 

“You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to pray every day that I love the people of this new archdiocese. I hope that’s the kind of archbishop you want, because that’s the kind of archbishop I am.” — Soon-to-be Archbishop of St. Louis, Robert J. Carlson, meeting his new flock.  You can read…

The God Googler, Mike Hayes, posted this snip from a mass, featuring a sung eucharistic prayer, and asked “What do you think of this?” Well? On the one hand, I like a chanted eucharistic prayer very much; it’s not done often in the U.S., and it takes a certain facility with music to pull it…

Have you hugged your planet lately? Maybe you should. This little item seems to generating some buzz: an ambitious effort by the Catholic Church to take better care of the earth, beginning on Earth Day. From US News and World Report: Catholics worldwide will be heeding a new call beginning on Earth Day – one…

The roots for this development may have less to do with piety than with poverty. The Catholic News Service has the scoop: Many Irish parishes have reported an increase in Mass attendance in recent months, with some parishes reporting increases of up to 30 percent. Bishop Joseph Duffy of Clogher, Northern Ireland, said it is…
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