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The Deacon's Bench

That’s the premise of this intriguing piece from the New York Times — and they make a pretty persuasive argument: The comment from the photographer at Sears was typical. “Are these all yours?” she asked, surveying Kim Gunnip’s 12 children. “No,” Mrs. Gunnip replied, “I picked some up at the food court.” But it was…

The Archdiocese of Atlanta ordained a fresh batch this weekend, and if you visit Padre Vic’s blog, you can see a nifty slide show of the whole event. Above, the boys before vesting. Visit the link to see the “ontological change” — which included a change in wardrobe. (Nice dalmatics, guys.) Ad multos annos! God…

Several weeks back, I got a nice e-mail from Deacon James Keating, Director of Theological Formation for the Institute of Priestly Formation at Creighton University, asking if I’d like to give a listen to a couple of CDs that he’s produced, one on prayer, another on marriage. I’m a sucker for free stuff, so said,…

The venerable John Allen speculates that Barack Obama and Pope Benedict, while poles apart on some important issues, still share some common ground: The prevailing view in the Vatican leadership, even among Benedict and his conservative supporters, seems to be cautious optimism. These leaders seem to think they have more in common with the new…

“I have school debts and credit cards, and even living in New York, it’s one of the most expensive places to live. “So, when money started dwindling, I started doing a little bit of research on what I could be doing to pick myself back up. I talked about it with one of my girlfriends,…

Last week I posted this interesting item on deacons who serve as military chaplains in Canada. Now Roman Catholic Vocations has a follow up, with more details from the United States. The item below comes from the AMS (Archdiocese for the Military Services) website: The Archdiocese for the Military Services (AMS) does not provide a…

The economic downturn is hitting some churches in their most sensitive area: the collection plate. From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: For weeks now, Matt McCarron has been unable to muster the strength to go to Sunday Mass. A lifelong Catholic, he’s often found solace in prayer. And though young, he tries to give faithfully for the…

That would be the young actress depicted below, Camilla Belle, who is slated to star in a new film on Mary called “Mary, the Mother of the Christ,” written by Barbara Nicolosi and Benedict Fitzgerald (who also wrote “The Passion of the Christ”). You can read more at Barb’s blog, which has the following, from…

There’s quite a storm brewing out in Illinois, involving allegations of sex abuse, lawyers, the bishop and, it seems, the media: Catholic Bishop Daniel Jenky is lashing out at the news media and Illinois courts over the handling of sexual abuse allegations made against priests. In a letter dated for distribution this weekend to Catholic…

February 8th marks World Marriage Day, sponsored by Worldwide Marriage Encounter. At my parish’s 11:30 mass, we’ll have a renewal of wedding vows. This is my homily for the occasion. When Msgr. Funaro asked me to preach for today, World Marriage Day, I took a look at the readings and was delighted to see the…
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