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The Deacon's Bench

A true story: a few years ago, I was serving as a Eucharistic Minister on Ash Wednesday, and I stood over there during communion, holding the chalice filled with the Precious Blood. A man came up to me, and I was about to offer him the cup when he waved it away. “I just have…

A priest (and homiletics instructor) sent this my way, and it’s well worth pondering — one man’s reflections on the art of preaching: Listening to sermons at Mass, one often thinks, like the professor in the Narnia Chronicles, “What do they teach in school?” Not that the sermons are necessarily all that bad, but they…

Another reader, reacting to this post about a perceived slight by the new Archbishop of New York, dropped me a line, with a great story about Archbishop Dolan: [I’m] discerning a vocation to the permanent diaconate in a diocese that does not embrace the ministry. A couple of years ago, out of frustration, I contacted…

As we get ready for another Ash Wednesday, and another 40-day sojourn into the desert, the Arkansas Catholic has this intriguing item reminding us that Lent is not just a Catholic thing anymore: Beginning Ash Wednesday, Catholics enter the 40-day penitential season of Lent, but they are not the only Christians to do so. In…

One FOB (Friend of the Bench) visits MCPF (My Close Personal Friend) Stephen Colbert. Enjoy. The Colbert ReportMon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Turning to Religion – Jim Martin Colbert Report Full EpisodesFunny Political News Christian Bale ParodyJoke of the Day

A reader, trying to be helpful, suggested I join twitter. It would be a great way for people to keep up with your blog, he said. Okay. I did. But now whenever I visit my blog — or, very often, when others visit — a little box drops down and demands a twitter name and…

Two shepherds. At St. Patrick’s this morning. PHOTO:  from The New York Times.

A deacon writes: Deacon Greg: I fully realize from all the testimony that Archbishop Dolan is a good man. However, (and this may be my own shortcoming) he gets off on the wrong foot with me by no acknowlegement of his deacons in his first statement. He loves his priests and religious, though. Well, I…

“Part of our job here is to challenge guys to make sure they are not floating into the priesthood, to make sure they are asking the tough questions. So sometimes we say—as much as we hate to see a guy leave—when a guy leaves the seminary thoughtfully and prayerfully, you rejoice. If the seminarian has…

Courtesy the Loggia-Whisperer, the text of Archbishop Dolan’s remarks this morning to his new flock: Thank you, Cardinal Egan, for your gracious words of welcome. To know you are and will be at my side is a genuine blessing indeed. Thank you, members of the media, and so many listening and watching with us this…
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