Elizabeth Scalia, astonishing as ever, finds a spark of the divine in the most surprising places—even on a postage stamp: At the absolute baseline of the life of faith we are asked a question: do you trust me? We are creatures who, since Eden, have willfully embraced the illusion that we are in control of everything, when in fact, the only thing within our control is our decision to trust or to doubt; to be open or to be closed; to believe or... Read more
Happily, someone was able to isolate the Cardinal’s remarks and posted this clip this morning on YouTube. I imagine a text will be posted later on his blog. This was a fitting and inspiring end to the evening, and deserves wider circulation. Take a look. Read more
Here they are, below, for those who missed it. It hasn’t popped up on YouTube yet, but if you go to this C-Span link and skip ahead to about the 26-minute mark, you’ll catch Cardinal Dolan’s great closing comments and benediction. Read more
From Michigan Catholic: Archbishop Allen Vigneron told the 2012 ordination class of permanent deacons that they were being consecrated particularly to the work of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. “The ordinary minister of the Gospel (at Mass) is the deacon,” the archbishop said in his homily at the Oct. 6 ordination. And he bade the nine men being ordained to remember, “It’s not your word, it’s not the bishop’s word, it’s not the pope’s word — it is the Word... Read more
As someone who makes his living in a world populated by paper, ink and staples, I found the Newsweek news both significant and unsurprising. The death of the print edition was considered inevitable; it wasn’t a question of if, but when. Now, people are dissecting the cadaver. Jeremy Lott notes: With today’s news that Newsweek will officially quit printing at the end of the year, many many critics will pile on to editor Tina Brown, blaming her for the newsweekly’s demise.... Read more
Bookmark this page. That’s the Year of Faith page for Patheos, and it can drive you nuts trying to find it in the dense and challenging mountain of Patheos columns, blogs, resources, videos, essays and ads. But once you have found it, it’s a veritable treasure trove. There’s gold in them thar hills! Elizabeth Scalia has rounded up a team of All Stars to contribute; aside from the usual Patheos Catholic crew, she’s elicited great contributions from (so far) Bishop... Read more
This seems like something you’d find in the Weekly World News at the supermarket checkout. But this is just remarkable—and inspiring. I might even call it miraculous. From Huffington Post: Seven months after receiving the most comprehensive face transplant in history, 37-year-old Richard Lee Norris is now able to come out of the shadows. “For the past 15 years I lived as a recluse hiding behind a surgical mask and doing most of my shopping at night when less people were around,” Norris... Read more
You can, from your living room. A sharp-eyed reader noted that the dinner is listed on the C-SPAN (1) schedule, for 9 pm ET tonight. Remember: it’s white tie. Dress accordingly. Read more
Writer David Alexander takes a long and pretty exhaustive look at the question of women deacons, and offers these conclusions: Pending sufficient review of the historical and theological evidence at the official level, where its implications may be fully considered, it seems premature to anticipate any canonical framework whereby an office of deaconess would be established in the Catholic Church. The CLSA report spoke at length of the graces of the sacrament of Holy Orders ostensibly bestowed upon the woman... Read more
Details: Following a vocations boom at Valley of Our Lady Monastery near Madison, Wis., an architecture firm is designing a new monastery complex for the community of Cistercian nuns, the only one in the English-speaking world. “It’s very exciting to see this happening, very providential, the fact that this comes out of so many young women seeking this monastery out for this life,” Matthew Alderman of Cram and Ferguson Architects told EWTN News on Oct. 16. The planned monastery is... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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