A California deacon is making a splash, and spreading a lot of light: More than 30,000 people are expected to visit Deacon Dave’s “Casa del Pomba” Christmas lights display in Livermore. This year’s theme is “Elfland,” and features 345,300 Christmas lights, making it one of the largest displays in the Bay Area. Casa del Pomba is located at 352 Hillcrest Avenue, in Livermore. . This year also marks the 30th anniversary of Rezendes’s ordination as a deacon in the Catholic... Read more
Details: A post-primary teacher, a bakery manager and a tool designer were among six men ordained as permanent deacons in Sligo on Saturday, a Catholic ministry which permits them to preside at funerals, celebrate Baptism and officiate at marriages. The new deacons, all married and in permanent employment, were ordained at Sligo cathedral by the Bishop of Elphin, Christopher Jones. He described the occasion as “truly joyous” and historic, pointing out that it was almost 1,500 years “almost back to... Read more
A moment of silence, please, for the plastic box that redefined recorded sound: In early 2013, Sony will stop producing its three remaining models of handheld cassette recorders, meaning first the Walkman and now its cousins are on their final march to death. The models that are soon to be antiquated are the TCM-400, TCM-410 and TCM-450, but lucky for anyone who still uses cassettes and is still into that whole “carry a huge device on my shoulder” thing from... Read more
A friend mentioned this in a Facebook post, and it turns out to be true: A Caganer (Catalan pronunciation: [kəɣəˈne], Western Catalan: [kaɣaˈne]) is a figurine depicted in the act of defecation appearing in nativity scenes in Catalonia and neighbouring areas with Catalan culture such as Andorra, Valencia, Northern Catalonia (in southern France) and the Balearic Islands. It is most popular and widespread in these areas, but can also be found in other areas of Spain (Murcia), Portugal and southern Italy (Naples).... Read more
The fiendishly clever, and relentlessly inventive illusionist Yann Frisch is seen here doing some wondrous slight of hand. Enjoy. Feel free to oooh, aaah and cheer. Clapping optional. Read more
I suspect most fans won’t be aware of this—and it’s probably not the sort of thing franchise owners would publicize—but the folks changing the name of the New Orleans Hornets to the New Orleans Pelicans are giving the team a profoundly Catholic, even Eucharistic, name. I first posted on this over the summer, referring to the prominent figure on the Louisiana state flag: According to legend, in a time of famine a mother pelican would draw blood from her own chest and give the... Read more
[Click here for readings.] Last week, the music world lost a giant: jazz legend Dave Brubeck. He died Wednesday, the day before his 92nd birthday. He was the first jazz artist to sell a million records; he was only the second one, after Louis Armstrong, to make the cover of TIME magazine. He was also a man of faith. In 1980, Dave Brubeck was baptized into the Catholic Church. He didn’t like to call himself a convert, since that implies... Read more
It’s just been released from OSV: Most expectant parents spend many hours discussing possible names for their newest family member. Trying to hone in on a name that is both personal and unique can exacerbate the process. Now Our Sunday Visitor has an app for this. Saint Names for Your Baby is a handy iPhone app that allows for searching a huge database of over 1,000 saints by sex, patronage, feast day, and country of origin. The entries also include... Read more
CNS uncovered this just posted on its blog: The Gerontology Research Group announced this week that 115-year-old Dina Manfredini is the oldest person in the world. She is Catholic and a longtime parishioner of Sacred Heart Parish in West Des Moines, Iowa. She inherited the title when 116-year-old Besse Cooper of Georgia died Dec. 4. Here’s a profile from last year, in the Catholic Mirror, the newspaper for the Diocese of Des Moines: Dina was born and raised in Sant’Andrea,... Read more
[Click here for readings.] In his new book about the infancy of Jesus, Pope Benedict mentions one powerful detail in the gospel we just heard—and it’s something that I have to agree is striking. It is Mary’s aloneness. The pope wrote: “I consider it important to focus on the final sentence of Luke’s Annunciation narrative: ‘And the angel departed from her.’ The great hour of Mary’s encounter with God’s messenger–in which her whole life is changed–comes to an end, and... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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