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The Deacon's Bench

“St. Francis of Assisi at Prayer”by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1645. Many people mistakenly think that St. Francis of Assisi must have been a priest. Nope. He was a deacon. On this, his feast, we are reminded of his spirit of diakonia in these beautiful words, from one of his letters: We must not be wise…

A lot of us have heard of them. Now, the Today Show has profiled them. They are the Laser Monks, Cistercians in Wisconsin who have turned their ancient way of life into a rich resource for everything from coffee to computer supplies. Take a look. And a grateful Trappist bow to the Bloggin’ Salesian, Fr.…

The trailer for “The Soloist.” It looks mighty impressive — and sustains Robert Downey, Jr.’s remarkable comeback that began this summer with “The Iron Man” and continued with “Tropic Thunder.” Take a look:

Well, now for something completely different. From Florida comes this unusual story about a priest who has his head in the clouds: There is a variation of a well-known proverb that reads: “If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.” Obviously Father Gerard Critch, parochial vicar at Epiphany Cathedral, was unaware of…

This has been making the rounds for a while, but with the feast of St. Francis of Assisi coming up this weekend, now seems a good time to revisit, reflect, and enjoy.  

Well, this really hit home. Over at The Anchoress, the venerable A herself has knocked one out of the park on the subject of prayer and fasting: I’m thinking we’re in the middle of a mystery, that this whole, odd, unpredictable and too-long election season has been run along one of those threads connecting things…

I wasn’t aware that this best-selling author is Catholic — but he’s making no secret of it, and discusses his faith, and how he’s using his success to give something back, with the Arkansas Catholic newspaper: Catholic novelist Nicholas Sparks will speak at the Embassy Suites in Rogers Saturday, Oct. 11 as part of A…

A retired CBS News executive (and a Catholic), on learning of my career change, sent me the following e-mail: Hi Greg! Congratulations on this bold move. 26 years is PLENTY. I’m sure you can get the Church to fill in if you find yourself missing the gastro-intestinal pressure that CBS News generates. Best of good…

What the candidates think about one of the defining issues of our day. Watch CBS Videos Online

Not long ago, I stumbled upon a letter from Thomas Merton, who offered this advice to a man who was thinking about a career change: I would say there is one basic idea that should be kept in mind in all the changes we make in life, whether of career or anything else. We should…
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