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The Deacon's Bench

That would be my choice for ending the mass, but Benedict has some other suggestions. A report from Rome indicates the pope has okayed new ways of ending the mass — though this story from Zenit inaccurately says the final words are spoken by the priest. (Three guesses who does it, and the first two…

Longtime readers may remember a deacon by the name of Tom Stonecipher; last year, I posted an item on him and his remarkable journey to the Catholic Church and the diaconate. Yesterday, the diaconate grapevine passed along news that Deacon Tom has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. I dropped him an e-mail, and this is…

I know of at least one saint who is married: my wife. (She has to be a saint, being married to me. Really.) But the official communion of saints doesn’t, otherwise, include a lot of people who shared a marriage bed — a truly peculiar oversight. An overwhelming number are nuns, priests, monks or long-suffering…

Two guys in white tie, and some guy wearing red, at the Al Smith Dinner last night in New York City. Full report and video right here. Rocco has his write-up here. Enjoy. Photo: by Damon Winter, New York Times

Back during Benedict’s visit to the United States, I wondered about the deacons serving beside the pope. Did anyone know who they were? Now, I have at least one answer, from the Catholic Standard — and his story is really quite wonderful: In the spring of 1999, Joseph Curtis Jr. reflected to a reporter about…

A thoughtful reader by the name of John Vaskov sent along the pictures below with the following note: Last week we had the privilege of traveling to Rome for the diaconate ordination of 25 men from the Pontifical North American College, including my nephew (Nicholas Vaskov) who is in formation for the Diocese of Pittsburgh.…

Seems somebody tried to sue the Almighty. But it didn’t work. Take a look: A judge has thrown out a Nebraska legislator’s lawsuit against God, saying the Almighty wasn’t properly served due to his unlisted home address. State Sen. Ernie Chambers filed the lawsuit last year seeking a permanent injunction against God. He said God…

I speak, of course, of abortion. It finally came up during last night’s debate — very deftly moderated, I thought, by Bob Schieffer, who showed how an old hand does these things — and Michael Paulson has a summary at his blog: For the first time in a presidential debate, Sens. John McCain and Barack…

Is that sort of prayer, well…kosher? A writer at Time magazine decided to ask religious leaders in a position to know: Prayer is humanity’s conversation with God. And very often the prayer is a plea. It seems safe to say that in the face of last week’s Wall Street drop, more Americans have fallen to…

A new survey is out about Catholics and the upcoming election — and this one may of particular interest because it was sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. From USA TODAY: U.S. Catholic voters are split on the issues of abortion and same-sex marriage between those who attend church at least twice a month and…
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