The Deacon's Bench

The Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet in England gave his last sermon as an Anglican yesterday, and, as one report described it,”laid aside his crozier and mitre at the feet of Our Lady.” The final words from his sermon: If leaving well is calling to mind what one will miss, then I am…

Maybe.  Get a load of this striking ad for Silestone kitchen countertops, and read all about it.

A classic Advent scene, from out of a time capsule: the opening moments of the movie “Godspell,” from 1973, featuring a very young Victor Garber, long before he was on the Titanic.

That would be Philip Johnson, a seminarian from Raleigh, North Carolina, whose battle with brain cancer has sparked headlines: The Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge is requesting prayers for one of our seminarians, Philip Johnson. Philip just completed his first year of Pre-Theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. A graduate of the U.S.…

The video below has been circulating for a while — YouTube says it was first posted three years ago — but I hadn’t seen it until now. It’s comedian Steve Harvey’s “Introduction to Jesus,” (a man, as he notes, who needs no introduction). It seems a fitting piece to post at the start of Advent.…

From the In My Backyard Desk…an inspiring story of evangelization: What I found while teaching a Called & Gifted workshop in Brooklyn last week is absolutely unique. I’ve worked in hundreds of Catholic parishes in 100 dioceses on 5 continents and I have NEVER met Catholics who is doing what Most Precious Blood parish is…

Anyone looking for interesting holiday recipes may have stumbled on a new word that has entered the American lexicon: “Cherpumple.” It’s a desert, created last year by Los Angeles writer Charles Phoenix – a diet-destroying, gut-busting feat of cooking that seems guaranteed to induce sugar shock. It’s three different pies, stacked one on top of…

The answer to that may depend on whom you ask — though an informal poll afterward evidently found Hitchens to be more persuasive.  The BBC was there and offers some highlights: It felt like the event of the season. Organisers said tickets were selling for inflated prices, and the 2,700 seat Roy Thomson Hall in…

Seminarians spend part of their formation practicing just how to do the sacraments — everything from consecrating the eucharist to reconciliation. Recently, Long Island Catholic dropped in on one unusual rehearsal that actually involved a large number of parishioners: It looked just like a wedding — a beaming bride and groom exchanged vows before a…

It’s something most of us aren’t even aware of, but it is done in countless churches around the world this time of year — and the Concord Pastor reflects on its meaning: This weekend I will observe a little ritual which it’s been my pleasure to carry out now for some 37 years. I will…

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