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The Deacon's Bench

That big fat stimulus bill evidently won’t include money for contraceptive programs. From CNA: A $200 million provision for contraception programs is being dropped from the $825 billion stimulus package following criticism from pro-lifers and Republican congressmen. President Barack Obama personally called House Democratic leaders to ask them to remove the provision, an Obama aide…

I’ve received no less than three e-mails today with this image (you can click to enlarge). It comes from the blog Creative Minority Report:

Those controversial remarks by SSPX’s Bishop Richard Williamson have prompted this response from fellow SSPXer (and his superior), Bishop Bernard Fellay: The affirmations of Bishop Williamson do not reflect in any sense the position of our Fraternity. For this reason I have prohibited him, pending any new orders, from taking any public positions on political…

Anyone curious about what SSPX thinks about the Pope’s recent decision to lift their bishops’ excommunication should take a glance at the SSPX literature. They contend they were… a) never really excommunicated. b) not really in schism. But wait, there’s more. They are looking forward to “talks” (yes, really, the scare quotes are theirs) in…

The other day, I posted about this “pledge” video. Finally, someone has responded. Here’s an idea we can all get behind! A grateful h/t to good old Fr. Austin Murphy.

But he has a clear idea who is: Bishop Robert Hermann, administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, says that the election of President Barack Obama would not have occurred without the support of lax Catholics. “If at this stage our anger is directed at President Obama, our anger is misdirected,” Bishop Hermann writes. “Obama…

The pope offered a few words recently to a group of Catholic journalists, and they’re worth reading and pondering: Benedict XVI has sent a message to participants in the national congress of the Italian Catholic Press Union (UCSI). The congress, held last week, commemorated the institution’s fiftieth anniversary. “Half a century after the foundation of…

“The Church was a billowing desert tent, once so tiny it held but a single man, wearing the simple clothing of the people of his time. It was now a vast tent, cobbled onto, ripped asunder, patched so many times in so many places, its poles bending in the wind, yet not breaking. A tent…

It’s an old problem, but it bears repeating: when it comes to public relations, the Catholic Church is a disaster. The debacle over SSPX and Bishop Williamson is only the latest case in point. (And it’s not just the Vatican. Local dioceses, understaffed and overwhelmed, are often ill-equipped to confront the realities of the 21st…

Do yourself a favor. Wander over to The Anchoress, where she’s posted this charming, irresistable, smile-inducing short film. You’ll be glad you did. Really.
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