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The Deacon's Bench

The Democrats open their national convention in Denver tonight. This is a good opportunity to look back at another Democratic convention, where a Catholic archbishop appeared before the delegates, and prayed. Thanks to Curt Jester, I was able to dig up the following, from Cardinal Roger Mahony’s invocation at the opening of the Democratic National…

Over the last few days, the absence of Archbishop Charles Chaput from the Democratic Convention roster has gotten a lot of attention, but has a Catholic bishop ever been invited to speak or pray at a Democratic convention? Was Cardinal Egan invited when the gathering was held in New York in 2004? Or Cardinal Mahony,…

Over at MSNBC, they have the only comprehensive account I’ve read so far about how Joe Biden spent the morning after his selection to be Barack Obama’s running mate. He went to mass: One day after debuting as Barack Obama’s vice presidential pick, Joe Biden plans to spend a quiet day at home, with his…

He only served for 33 days, but he is being remembered as “the other Pope John Paul,” on the 30th anniversary of his election. From CNS: Thirty years ago Aug. 26, a conclave of 111 cardinals elected Italian Cardinal Albino Luciani as Pope John Paul I, the “smiling pope” who served only 34 days before…

Some who have left comments here may have noticed that their comments have been deleted. I don’t like doing that, but I have to draw the line somewhere, and a few observations have crossed that line. I refer you to the statement in my “Welcome” remarks, in the column on the right: If you choose…

If you aren’t already sitting down, I suggest you pull up a chair for this bit of news: An Italian priest and theologian said Sunday he is organizing an online beauty pageant for nuns to give them more visibility within the Catholic Church and to fight the stereotype that they are all old and dour.…

As you might expect, there’s a lot of attention now being focused on Joe Biden’s religion. You can get a good sampling of ideas below: David Gibson has his thoughts over at his Pontifications blog. He points out the interesting fact that his pro-choice rating from NARAL is so low, they chose not to endorse…

Remember the astonishing (and later debunked) story of The Pact? The teenage girls of Gloucester, Massachusetts who pledged together to get pregnant and have babies? The high school principal who first spoke to the media about that has a new job — with the Catholic Church: Four days after retiring as a public school administrator,…

A Michigan paper this weekend offered this very informative piece about the deacons of Detroit: More than two decades ago, John Connors heard God’s voice calling. “There was a little voice inside that said, ‘I have something more for you,'” he said. Connors, already an active Catholic, found that something when he entered training to…

If you talk to people who are converts to the faith, many will give different reasons for joining the Catholic Church. Sometimes it’s marriage. Sometimes it’s more mysterious – a kind of subliminal pull they can’t explain. Sometimes, it’s something very simple. Not long ago, I was talking with a friend of ours who joined…
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