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The Deacon's Bench

This news will likely be raising some eyebrows, since the man in question is one of the most prominent, outspoken and uncompromising voices working as an advocate for victims of clerical sex abuse: Saying Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle had “failed to represent [clients] properly or effectively” in the church court in St. Louis, Archbishop Raymond…

Benedict and the St. Bernard. And I always thought he was a cat person …

Some New Yorkers, from the Rockville Center diocese, are now weighing in on the Rudy-Egan flap. Newsday has some reaction: Heading into the noon Mass at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre Tuesday, Anne-Marie Patton said she had no doubts Rudy Giuliani was out of line when he received Holy Communion at a papal Mass…

The controversy swirling around Rudy Giuliani receiving communion at St. Patrick’s just won’t stop. The latest to weigh in is Phil Lawler at CWN, who notes: In his public rebuke to Rudy Giuliani for improperly receiving Communion during Pope Benedict’s visit to New York, Cardinal Edward Egan raised two subtle but very interesting points. First,…

Die-hard Mel Gibson Catholic fans — you know who you are — might be interested in this item from Variety: Mel Gibson has committed to star in “Edge of Darkness,” marking his first starring role in a feature film since he headlined “Signs” and “We Were Soldiers” in 2002. Martin Campbell will direct the feature…

Do you know your bible? It turns out, a lot of Americans do — and we’re faring better than people in other countries, according to this report: Americans are among the world’s most ‘Bible-literate’ people and Spaniards, French and Italians are among the most ignorant about what the “good book” says, according to a new…

“Life is hard. After all, it kills you.” — Katharine Hepburn

Well, this bit of news is interesting — and it will be even more interesting to see how it plays out over the next few days: Moments ago, Edward Cardinal Egan issued a statement saying he deeply regrets former mayor Rudy Giuliani received communion during Pope Benedict XVI mass at Saint Patrick’s. This came out…

I got a nice e-mail early today from Ireland — where, wonder of wonders, there is a group of Cistercian nuns maintaining their beautiful and holy way of life. And they are tiptoeing into the 21st century. They have a lovely website devoted to their abbey, St. Mary’s. And their vocations director, Sister Eleanor, has…

The photograph above shows two pages of the extraordinary book that was presented to Pope Benedict, containing the names of victims of sexual abuse. The Boston Globe has a riveting account of how the book was created, with the story of the woman behind it: The book has no title, no author, no explanatory words…
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