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The Deacon's Bench

A number of thoughtful and carefully prepared resources are now available online to help Catholics discern which lever to pull this November. The folks at EWTN have added another page to their expansive website: a link to resources on voter education. It includes audio, video, programming from the channel, along with links to books, including…

…but first, a little compline, courtesy The Anchoress. By this time, in a monastery, the Great Silence has commenced. A few retreatants may be in the guest house dining room, one solitary light flickering, as they pour another cup of decaf from the bottomless pot and whisper confidences or share impressions and wonder aloud if…

One year after the pope mandated a “freeing up” of the Latin rite, some of its most strident supporters still aren’t happy. (Anyone who has ever sat on a parish committee or attended a PTA meeting or organized a car wash for the CYO — or even run a blog — will not be surprised…

A lot of Catholic voters are finding themselves torn by the issues involved in this presidential election — abortion being only one of them — and the New York Times offers this snapshot of people in the pews in Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton: Scranton, a city dominated by the kind of white working-class Catholics…

A story out of Massachusetts offers a poignant new take on the priest shortage. Reuters reports: The sign outside St. James Church in the affluent Boston suburb of Wellesley sums up Catholicism’s deepening struggles in the United States. “Still searching for a priest,” it reads. Another sign affixed to its thick doors pleads: “Save St.…

A few days ago I posted the moving story of the father who died while trying to save his disabled son. Yesterday, the father’s funeral mass was celebrated, attended by some 70 priests, one of whom — another son — preached the homily. Click right here for the Washington Post account. Keep a Kleenex handy.

One of the best contemporary writers on the subject of monastic spirituality is now addressing one vexxing part of the spiritual life in a new book called “Acedia & Me.” She’s Kathleen Norris, and if the name sounds familiar, you may know her from her classic “The Cloister Walk,” one of my all-time favorites, and…

A man many American Catholics may not have heard of — but whose work shed new light on their lives and practices — passed away over the weekend. From the National Catholic Reporter: Dean Hoge, an unparalleled figure in the field of sociology of religion who spent decades studying American Catholics, especially the priesthood, died…

Anticipating the pope’s visit, a French newspaper last week published this interview with a young (30) French priest, offering his thoughts on the Church in his homeland, and on his vocation: Yellow banners boasting the smiling face of Benedict XVI, his hand raised in blessing, run down the imposing facade of the Saint-Lambert de Vaugirard…

That is exactly what this striking facility seems to represent. An article in Church Executive Magazine outlines how the building came to be, from the merger of six parishes in Wisconsin. Could this be the shape of things to come? Take a look: Holy Family Catholic Community in Fond du Lac, WI, has the remarkable…
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