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The Deacon's Bench

A couple days ago, I posted an amusing photograph from my parish’s Thanksgiving Day mass. To my amazement, it unleashed a tiny firestorm of comment and debate on the subject of girls serving on the altar. One veteran of my parish altar server society, who is now in college, was particularly upset by the reaction,…

It’s not even December (barely) and I have been avoiding digging out the Christmas decorations, but that hasn’t stopped some hardy souls in Ohio, who are getting into the spirit with some novel views of the Nativity. From CNA: A Catholic university in Dayton, Ohio is displaying a unique Nativity scene complete with wise men,…

I have the weekend off, homily-wise, but I read this reflection over at Rocco’s and just had to link. It’s part of a new weekly series he’s beginning, devoted to particularly good homilies. This one comes from Msgr. James P. Moroney, of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Worcester, Mass. I read this over and had one…

It’s deja vu all over again. Yet another priest is telling his flock to make a trip to the confessional if they voted for Obama. From the Modesto (Calif.) Bee: Parishioners of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Modesto have been told they should consider going to confession if they voted for Barack Obama, because of…

While spending a lazy Saturday surfing through iTunes, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Kristen Chenoweth has a Christmas album. My wife and I first discovered Chenoweth a few years ago, in a revival of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” We were instantly smitten. A couple years ago, for our anniversary, we went…

From the In My Own Backyard Desk comes this heartening report about a novel fundraising event at a church in Brooklyn. From the New York Daily News: On Dec. 6 spotlights will crisscross the Brooklyn night sky. Avenue T between Van Sicklen St. and Lake St. will be closed off by police from the 62nd…

A parishioner sent this to me: a snapshot from the Living Rosary that we prayed outside my church last month (the month of the rosary). The plates served as our “beads” — blue for the Hail Mary, white for the Our Father. The young woman to my right, pretending not to know me, is The…

As I mentioned several weeks ago, I’ve embarked on a new chapter of my professional life, as News Director for our diocesan cable channel. On December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, (and the feast day of our diocese) what has been known for over 40 years as The Prayer Channel will be reborn…

A couple of readers sent this my way, and I have to say: this is unbelievably cool. It’s an Advent app for your iPhone. As the good people at Mac describe it: Advent is a time of preparation and anticipation for the birth of Jesus. Advent is a time of sobriety in the face of…

One of my last projects at CBS was working on a pilot for a proposed series that would consist of great animal clips from YouTube. The clip below was one of the best I saw. Now it’s getting some airplay on Yahoo!. A friend discovered it, was deeply moved, and sent it my way this…
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