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The Deacon's Bench

It didn’t get much attention, but Wednesday night the Bishop of Orlando, Thomas Wenski, delivered a prayer at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Take a look at what he had to say:

Better late than never: Nancy Pelosi’s archbishop has finally weighed in with his response to her controversial and much-criticized appearance on “Meet the Press.” Near the end of his long statement, after pointing out the mistakes, misstatements and outright falsehoods the Speaker of the House proclaimed on national television, Archbishop George Niederauer adds another wrinkle…

Here’s a charming and uplifting piece, courtesty Roman Catholic Vocations, about a parish priest beginning his new assignment in Akron, Ohio: Catherine Paparella nudged her college buddy more than 20 years ago during a Mass and told him he had the perfect personality to be a priest. ”We were listening to a seminarian who was…

Here and there, we’ve been hearing indications of an uptick in vocations. Now comes word that one of the most influential seminaries in Rome is welcoming its biggest class in more than a generation: The Pontifical North American College welcomed its largest incoming class in 40 years Aug. 28 when 61 seminarians arrived. While classes…

“The unborn child, who is alive and is a member of the human family, cannot defend himself or herself. Good law defends the defenseless. Our present laws permit unborn children to be privately killed. Laws that place unborn children outside the protection of law destroy both the children killed and the common good, which is…

Pope Benedict is about to release his third encyclical — and it might be time to consider these as comprising a Blessed Trinity, dealing as they do with Love, Hope and Truth. Amazon has a listing for the new letter — and Ignatius Press has a glimpse at the cover and a brief description of…

The legendary animator who helped bring this beautiful moment to life died today: Bill Melendez. Bless him. (I spoke about this particular Christmas memory during my Midnight Mass homily last year.)

This writer knows whereof she speaks: “Palin’s friends should be less immediately worried about what the Obama campaign will do to her than what the McCain campaign will do. This is a woman who’s tough enough to work her way up and through, and to say yes to a historic opportunity, but she will know…

I couldn’t let the day slip by without a prayerful salute to my patron: St. Gregory the Great. Deacon, monk, writer, musician, pope. Among other things, he was the one who coined the phrase “servant of the servants of God” to describe the pontiff. And, he was quite an innovator: Saint Gregory was, above all…

Regular readers will recall that is Katie Couric’s nickname for this dashing TV priest and moral theologian, Fr. Thomas Williams, who works as a Vatican consultant for CBS News. The good father has a new book out, “Greater Than You Think,” an extended argument against atheism. And Elizabeth Scalia has a review of it over…
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