The Deacon's Bench 
I can’t: a hamburger stuffed with Reese’s peanut butter cups. This, from a restaurant chain in Canada. Details here. This cannot possibly end well. Read more
Pew Research Center: Most U.S. Catholics disagree with Church teaching on what is sinful, want changes in Communion rules
October 27, 2015 By Deacon Greg Kandra
Details: Most U.S. Catholics (62%) think the church should allow Catholics who have been divorced and remarried without an annulment to receive Communion, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. And only about a third of American Catholics (35%) say they personally think getting remarried after a divorce without an annulment is sinful, compared with half (49%) who say it is not a sin. Only 21% of Catholics say simply getting a divorce is sinful, while 61% say it is not. These… Read more
Who becomes a nun in 2015?
October 26, 2015 By Deacon Greg Kandra
A writer with Pacific Standard asked that question—and found some answers: The number of Catholic sisters in the U.S. has steadily declined from a peak in 1965 of 181,421, to about 49,883, according to a 2014 report by researchers at Georgetown University. By 2009, just one percent of sisters were under the age of 40. In fact, there are more sisters over the age of 90 than there are under 60. Those one percent of under-40 nuns appear to be clustered in… Read more
Things you should know about Catholic weddings—but probably don’t
October 26, 2015 By Deacon Greg Kandra
Marking her anniversary yesterday (congrats!), Simcha Fisher today calls up some memories of her own nuptials, and points to this very good piece at the USCCB website, which shatters a few popular myths about Roman Catholic weddings: In some traditions, at the conclusion of the procession into the Church, the presiding minister may ask, “Who gives this woman to be married?” And the father of the bride will be expected to respond that he, or he and his wife, do…. Read more
Meet a deacon walking in the footsteps of Martin Luther King, Jr.
October 26, 2015 By Deacon Greg Kandra
An inspiring portrait of a deacon from The Hartford Courant: Earlier this month, Deacon Art Miller got himself arrested. He knelt down in the intersection of Bloomfield and Albany avenues in Hartford, one of about a dozen protesters purposefully breaking the law by blocking traffic as part of an effort to raise awareness that “black lives matter.” It wasn’t where you’d expect to find the 70-year-old director of the Office for Black Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of Hartford, a… Read more
Father knows best—and wears a bullet-proof vest
October 26, 2015 By Deacon Greg Kandra
A Massachusetts reader sent this item my way. Evidently, the new priest at his parish, Fr. Sinisa Ubiparipovic, wanted to ride along with the local cops in Hingham, MA. He got the full “Cops” treatment, too—captured in the video below. Read more
The deacon who announces the Good News—and sports scores
October 25, 2015 By Deacon Greg Kandra
From The National Catholic Register: Dan Borné is a deacon at St. Jean Vianney parish in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, La. He is one of a growing number of deacons serving the Church. He is also the public-address announcer for Louisiana State University’s football and basketball games and president of the Louisiana Chemical Association, which represents 66 chemical-manufacturing companies in the Bayou State. He recently spoke with Register correspondent Kelly King Alexander about his love of the diaconate and witnessing to Christ in… Read more
Notre Dame becomes first Catholic university in U.S. to offer regular Byzantine liturgy on campus
October 25, 2015 By Deacon Greg Kandra
How cool is this? From Aleteia: Students and faculty at the University of Notre Dame who go to the university’s chapel on Sundays may be hearing something different from the usual Mass opening of “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” “Blessed is the kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always and forever and ever,” Father Khaled Anatolios recently chanted, as he made the sign of the cross with the book… Read more
Ordination update: 3 new deacons for Portland
October 25, 2015 By Deacon Greg Kandra
And one of the new deacons is the father of a monsignor. From the Catholic Sentinel: At October’s ordination to the permanent diaconate at St. Mary’s Cathedral, the front pews were filled with the wives, children and grandchildren of the three men being ordained — a lively and attentive group. On the altar, among the priests, was yet another son of one of the men: Msgr. John Cihac, who had flown back from his post at the Vatican, at Pope… Read more
Final Synod report urges “accompaniment”
October 24, 2015 By Deacon Greg Kandra
View image | gettyimages.com From CNS: While not specifically mentioning the controversial proposal of a path toward full reconciliation and Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried, members of the Synod of Bishops on the family handed Pope Francis a report emphasizing an obligation to recognize that not all Catholics in such a situation bear the same amount of blame. The 94-paragraph report approved Oct. 24, the last working day of the three-week synod, highlighted the role of pastors in… Read more
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