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The Deacon's Bench

The Vatican has decided to crack down on one seemingly inoffensive word that crops up in some popular hymns — and it could soon change what we hear at mass. From CNS: In the not-too-distant future, songs such as “You Are Near,” “I Will Bless Yahweh” and “Rise, O Yahweh” will no longer be part…

It’s Opus. While The Anchoress is leading her little retreat, here’s another happy reminder of why we all need to take a breath — and take a break. God bless Opus. Dare I say…Opus Dei?

…her online retreat is going gangbusters, and she’s just posted a heart-stirring meditation on energy: There are things seen, and unseen. Energy is seen and unseen, and all around us. God is all around us, too – seen amongst us in each other, and unseen, too. Our state of being – our mindset, our peace,…

This is a pretty amazing piece of news, especially coming from a secular newspaper in Texas: an entire Episcopalian diocese may be preparing to become Catholic. From The Dallas Morning News: A delegation of Episcopal priests from Fort Worth paid a visit to Catholic Bishop Kevin Vann earlier this summer, asking for guidance on how…

A couple months back, I blogged about the new movie “Henry Poole Is Here“, and posted the very cool movie trailer. The movie is opening Friday — perhaps, not coincidentally, the Feast of the Assumption — and reviews are trickling in. Here, from Deacon Keith Fournier: We find out in the opening scene that he…

Call it the Energizer Vocation. With the shrinking number of priests, more men are being encouraged to keep working…and working…and working. My own pastor is 72. It’s not uncommon to find others in their mid-70s. And it’s rare to find a priest in my diocese under the age of 60. And Florida — where there…

A deacon from Illinois wanted me to know they’ve been busy ordaining more men in Belleville — and no, they aren’t priests. From the Belleville Messenger: Seven men were ordained permanent deacons July 26 at St. Peter Cathedral in Belleville in a more than two and a half hour event that filled the cathedral not…

Just in time for an important Marian feast — the Assumption — a large group of soldiers is on the march, headed toward a famous shrine devoted to Mary. Amazingly, most of the Americans on this little pilgrimage aren’t even Catholic. From the International Herald Tribune: Hundreds of soldiers in camouflage set off Tuesday on…

A deacon friend sent me this startling story, about a priest who took part in a ceremony ordaining a woman — and even delivered the homily: Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois, long associated with the cause of Christian non-violence and attempts to close the international school for military training at Fort Benning, Ga., today staked his…

It just may be the most famous — or infamous — parish in Missouri, known far beyond the borders of its own archdiocese. And this week, the local paper takes a look at life at St. Stanislaus Kostka — and puts a sharp focus on the man hired to lead it: It was just before…
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