Instead of spotlighting a group like, say, these sisters, (who just knocked “50 Shades of Gray” off the top of the Billboard classical chart), the New York Times has decided to go in another direction in writing about Catholic music this holiday season. The result is below. Details: When Kathy Sherman was in college during the final years of the Vietnam War, she played the guitar with friends in her dorm room and sang folk and protest songs over bowls... Read more
It is all about diakonia. As Rocco described it: Released by surprise at Roman Noon this Saturday, the following is the Vatican’s official English translation of a motu proprio letter of Benedict XVI on the Catholic identity and ecclesial oversight of the church’s charitable efforts. Initially published in Latin by the Holy See, the text is entitled Intima Ecclesiae natura – in English, “The Church’s Deepest Nature,” with a subhead “De Caritate Ministranda”; that is, “On the Service of Charity.” The document begins: “The Church’s... Read more
Another sign of the times, from Associated Press: Cadet Chapel, the landmark Gothic church that is a center for spiritual life at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, hosted its first same-sex wedding Saturday. Penelope Gnesin and Brenda Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate, exchanged vows in the regal church in an afternoon ceremony, attended by about 250 guests and conducted by a senior Army chaplain. The two have been together for 17 years. They had a civil commitment... Read more
From AFP: Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday held a private audience for several thousand circus artists, urging them to continue offering “healthy entertainment” despite difficulties posed by the craft. “Thanks to the variety of your professions and the originality of your shows, you know how to surprise, elicit wonder and offer opportunities… for healthy entertainment,” the pontiff told the circus artists from around Europe and the United States in the Vatican’s audience hall. The 85-year-old pontiff hailed the “traditional values”... Read more
[Click here for readings.] If you wanted to sum up the meaning of Advent, this beautiful and haunting season of waiting, you could do it with just one question: What are you waiting for? Most people, I suspect, would say, very simply, we’re waiting for Christmas, the birth of Jesus. But the gospel this Sunday that begins our Advent season suggests that that answer isn’t really accurate. What Advent is really about is something greater and deeper than what you... Read more
[Click here for readings.] If you wanted to sum up the meaning of Advent, this beautiful and haunting season of waiting, you could do it with just one question: What are you waiting for? Most people, I suspect, would say, very simply, we’re waiting for Christmas, the birth of Jesus. But the gospel this Sunday that begins our Advent season suggests that that answer isn’t really accurate. What Advent is really about is something greater and deeper than what you... Read more
This should be interesting: Think The Real Housewives of Atlanta – the men, the fashion, the drama. Now, just add church. Premiering on Jan. 1, TLC‘s The Sisterhood takes viewers behind the pews and into the lives of some of Atlanta’s “first ladies,” as preacher’s wives are often known in the evangelical community. The view from inside their world, their world, as they support their husbands and churches, is a radical and candid rendering of how most people might view their role. They argue, get... Read more
And this is a good idea…why?? Huh? From the Hollywood Reporter: NBC is redoing the classic musical The Sound of Music in a live broadcast, casting Carrie Underwood as Maria von Trapp. To shepherd the live three-hour event, which will air during next year’s holiday season, NBC is re-teaming with Smash producersCraig Zadan and Neil Meron(Chicago, Hairspray), who have also been tapped to produce the 85th annual Academy Awards in February. “Speaking for everyone at NBC, we couldn’t be happier to have the gifted Carrie Underwood take up... Read more
From Religion News Service: The Rev. Larry Gipson was dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham from 1982-94 and rector at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, where his parishioners included former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, from 1994-2008. Last month, Gipson was accepted as a Catholic into the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a structure set up by Pope Benedict XVI to accept former Anglicans into the Catholic Church. “The... Read more
Details (and thanks to the great deacon’s wifve, Kathy Schiffer!) from the Des Moines Register: As the Des Moines police officer handcuffed him Monday night, Quan Tong was so nervous that he forgot his adopted language. The officer told him he was being arrested for a revoked license. “Revoked?” Tong recalls saying. “What does ‘revoked’ mean? Am I going to prison for ‘revoked’?” He didn’t go to prison. He went to the Polk County Jail. But it turns out he... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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