And they include a former C of E minister and the mother superior. Details, from the Catholic Herald: Eleven Anglican Sisters will be received into the Catholic Church via the ordinariate, it emerged this week. The Sisters, from the Community of St Mary the Virgin in Wantage, Oxfordshire, will be received into the Church by Mgr Keith Newton, leader of the ordinariate in England and Wales, on New Year’s Day. The group, which ranges in age from 45 to 83, includes... Read more
From the Archdiocese of Seattle website, some guidelines that I suspect will soon be appearing in other parts of the country, too: With voters’ approval of Referendum 74, same-sex marriage is legal in Washington state beginning Dec. 6. Archbishop J. Peter Sartain responded to the passage of R-74 in an archdiocesan “policy refresher” sent to parishes Nov. 29. The archbishop wrote that he was “disappointed that so many voters failed to recognize marriage between a man and a woman as... Read more
That’s the terrific message in this terrific video from the good folks at Google: a year-end summary of what people were searching for in 2012. What a world. Enjoy. Read more
From the Associated Press: Former Bishop Walter F. Sullivan, a progressive leader in the U.S. Roman Catholic church and the longest-serving head of the Richmond diocese, died Tuesday. He was 84. Sullivan, who had been diagnosed with liver cancer, died at home, said Judy Lindfors, assistant editor of The Catholic Virginian. He spent the majority of his life serving the church, including 29 years as bishop of the sprawling Richmond diocese and 21 years before that as a priest. As... Read more
With those two words, Pope Benedict officially entered the Twitterverse, sending out his first papal tweet. From Vatican Radio: Pope Benedict XVI sent out his first-ever message via Twitter under his personal Twitter handle: @pontifex, on Wednesday. “Dear friends,” wrote the Holy Father, “I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.” The Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Mons. Paul Tighe,... Read more
Given items like this one, you would think so. But it turns out the word “Christmas” hasn’t appeared in a White House Christmas card for years. A website devoted to White House Christmas cards has some context: During their first year in the executive mansion, the President and First Lady Michelle Obama’s selection of their White House Christmas card caused some controversy in that there was no mention of the word “Christmas” anywhere on the front or inside of their... Read more
That’s the snap-to-attention opening line of Elizabeth Scalia’s latest posting at First Things. I meant to link to it earlier today, but got sidetracked. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a moment and ponder the wisdom and grace of an examined, painfully honest life. Elizabeth takes herself to task (and a lot of us will recognize ourselves in her words, too) and draws a sharp line between loving and labeling: When we label anyone, we immediately do them an... Read more
More than a few people have mentioned the striking Christian allegory of Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy. Now Nolan is about to bring us (as producer, not director) another pulpy comic book hero with characteristics that appear not only startlingly Christ-like, but downright Messianic. Check out the new trailer for next summer’s “Man of Steel” and see what you think. Read more
This morning, I got an e-mail from the young man who oversees our parish youth group and altar servers. He’s a graduate student at Fordham, working on his doctorate, and arranged an Advent Prayer Service for the teenagers. He wanted to tell me what happened: We had placed candles around that table and placed in the center a lantern. I’d chosen the lantern to be a key symbol for our group because of a story that was told to me... Read more
Here’s a mind-bending, gravity-defying twist on Rube Goldberg, done with magnets. Behold and be amazed. Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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