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The Deacon's Bench

You gotta wonder.

A parishioner sent me the photo below, from our Thanksgiving Day mass. I’m one of the guys up behind the altar. I think the photo may have been snapped on a cell phone. I especially like that the photographer caught the altar server up front, scratching. Heh.

Some sad news today, that playwright William Gibson has died, at the ripe age of 94. He will forever be remembered as the man who gave us one of the most powerful and inspiring testaments to hope and perseverance: “The Miracle Worker.” The story — how the deaf and blind Helen Keller came to discover…

Can you believe Advent is almost here? Neither can I. To better brace ourselves for the weeks ahead, the Catholic Spirit newspaper (from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis) has this terrific and practical primer on how to give Advent meaning and keep its flame burning: There’s no way Christmas can sneak up on…

This is the entrance hymn for our parish mass this morning: Come, ye thankful people come, Raise the song of harvest home: All is safely gathered in, Ere the winter storms begin. God, our Maker, doth provide For our wants to be supplied: Come to God’s own temple, come, Raise the song of harvest home.…

Before there was “High School Musical 3,” there was this musical staple of so many high schools (including my own) “Godspell.” Here’s a little curiosity for Thanksgiving Day that will either bring back fond memories of the early ’70s, or drive you screaming from the room. Personally, I always loved the song. This movie, not…

It’s more than just a threat to the unborn, as Melinda Henneberger suggests in this piece from Slate: Though it’s often referred to as a mere codification of Roe, FOCA, as currently drafted, actually goes well beyond that: According to the Senate sponsor of the bill, Barbara Boxer, in a statement on her Web site,…

A priest I know likes to say that Thanksgiving is one of his favorite holidays, and not just because of the food. The church is always filled, he says, and the great thing is that people come to mass today not because they have to…but because they want to. He makes a beautiful point. There…

A plucky penguin gives us all a lesson in perseverance. Happy Thanksgiving, little guy.
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