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The Deacon's Bench

Scholarly skeptics who have doubted that King Solomon ever existed are being told: “Not so fast.” New archeological discoveries are casting new light on the ancient culture of the Middle East: A massive copper smelting plant in the biblical land of Edom is at least three centuries older than researchers previously believed, placing it firmly…

Whatever happened to fidelity? You have to wonder. And this analysis from the New York Times doesn’t provide any easy answers: A handful of new studies suggest surprising changes in the marital landscape. Infidelity appears to be on the rise, particularly among older men and young couples. Notably, women appear to be closing the adultery…

A few weeks back, I posted on the multiplying voter guides for Catholics that are blossoming this autumn. And now CNS is wondering if they’re just leaving people scratching their heads: If a group of Catholics were to sit down to read four or five of the “Catholic voter guides” in circulation before Election Day,…

Here’s a real eyebrow-raiser: the author of the Encyclopedia of Catholicism, Dr. Frank Finn, says that on the subject of abortion and church teaching, Joe Biden has a point: Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden is telling the Catholics in his audiences that St. Thomas Aquinas had a different teaching on abortion than the current…

The video I posted right here last month remains as potent and important today. In fact, it’s more necessary to watch it now.

When John Paul penned his “Theology of the Body,” I’m not sure he had this anatomical notion in mind: Bill Roth, president of the Catholic Democrats political action committee, recently spoke about pro-life Catholics who strongly oppose the idea that voting for Barack Obama is a viable Catholic option, describing them as followers of “pelvic…

Is it possible to run the Catholic Church like a corporation? Take a look at what this author thinks. He’s Thomas A. Szyszkiewicz, co-founder and president of Catholic Radio International. He offered these thoughts in Business Week: Catholic bishops are having a hard time finding candidates who can manage as well as they preach, but…

A reader sent me this link, to a fascinating interview with Matthew Weiner, the genius behind my latest obsession, “Mad Men”. (After last night’s pitch-perfect season finale, I can’t believe I now to have to wait nine months for the next season to start. Argh. The episode was set during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and…

A couple years ago, I had a strange experience while giving out communion at mass: one of the congregants came up wearing a tee shirt from Hooters. Some people, of course, will wear anything to church. Which brings me to political buttons. Shortly after Labor Day, I began to notice a few people coming up…

“Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or willful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution,…
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