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The Deacon's Bench

That seems to be the big news waiting to break, via Brit blogger Damian Thompson: The Pope’s press officer, Fr Federico Lombardi, is to resign after Benedict XVI’s visit to the Holy Land, according to Italian and German press reports. Hat tip: Catholic Church Conservation, a traditionalist blog run by Chris Gillibrand in Brussels. Fr…

Ever since Cardinal Egan’s eyebrow-raising remarks on celibacy earlier this month, there’s been more discussion about a married priesthood. (Shameless plug: Part of that discussion will take part Sunday night on The NET, on a program I produce called “In the Arena,” where we’ll talk to a married priest from Connecticut and hear — surprisingly…

Okay, well, not exactly. But on the NET series “City of Churches” last week, they visited and toured my old parish in Astoria, Queens, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The neighborhood has the greatest concentration of Greeks outside of Athens. Take a look below. The guide is pastor Msgr. Sean Ogle, a terrific and much-loved…

We know newsrooms are laying off staff and there is even word now that some broadcast outlets may outsource their sports coverage. But then you see something like this and think: “Last one out of the newsroom, please turn off the lights.” As someone who toiled long and hard in the trenches of broadcast journalism,…

Just when I needed a good laugh, along came this: During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet of white flowers “on behalf of the American people,” after asking who painted the famous image. The…

“I find the invitation very disappointing. Though I can understand the desire by a university to have the prestige of a commencement address by the President of the United States, the fundamental moral issue of the inestimable worth of the human person from concepetion to natural death is a principle that soaks all our lives…

With a lot of attention and ink being devoted to the “Domers” at Notre Dame, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at another Catholic university, and another dome, where a long-awaited architecture project may finally be coming to completion. From the Washington Post: Two freshman architecture students at Catholic University have…

A brother deacon from the Diocese of Brooklyn sent this link my way, with the note, “Let’s get civil and teach about the real problem.” Here’s an excerpt, from the National Catholic Reporter piece. It’s by Dr. Thomas Patrick Melady, former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, writing about what he calls the “politicizing” of communion:…

Take a look at the video below: It depicts Baptist pastor Walter Hoye protesting outside an abortion clinic in California, while clinic escorts attempt to block his sign with blank pieces of cardboard. Hoye was arrested and his now in jail, according to the National Catholic Register: Sometimes, it’s very hard not to think the…

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has a new deacon — and he probably has one of the more unusual resumes in the chancery: Fire Chief James Clack aims to keep us out of blazes – in Baltimore and in the hereafter. The city fire chief just became a deacon in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, so he…
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