This may be a first: The Catholic Diocese of Tyler has announced Reverend Monsignor Joseph Strickland as its fourth bishop via Twitter, ahead of a planned press conference Saturday. The following tweet was posted around 6 a.m. Saturday: “The Holy Father has named our very own Msgr. Joseph Strickland as the fourth Bishop of Tyler! Laudetur Jesus Christus!” The press conference, to be held at 10 a.m. at the Catholic Chancery of Tyler, will publicly name a replacement for the... Read more
[Click here for readings] In the gospel we just heard, we encounter a word and a subject that many people these days don’t want to hear, and don’t want to talk about. It’s a word that rarely leaves our lips, because it makes people uncomfortable. The word is “Sin.” As much as we don’t like to talk about it outside the walls of this church, sin is something that shouldn’t be kept quiet. Read the papers, and you can understand... Read more
A friend posted this on his Facebook page, and I found it both fascinating and beautiful: a brief excerpt from the ordination of a deacon in the Russian Orthodox Church. Read more
This appeared in the current issue of Vogue: Read more
The good people at AMERICA magazine asked me to write a few hundred words on how I thought the Second Vatican Council was continuing to impact the Church, and I decided to write about deacons: A date most Catholics do not know may be one of the most important anniversaries on the church calendar: June 18, 1967. That was the day Pope Paul VI, following the recommendations of the Second Vatican Council, issued “Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem,” which laid out... Read more
That would be sermons. A group of scholars gathered at Harvard recently for a conference on “Preaching the Saints,” which offered a fascinating glimpse into the art of preaching from the Middle Ages. From the Harvard Gazette: Theological and moral messages delivered centuries ago also help today’s scholars investigate the social content of the Middle Ages, including politics, trade, marriage, the lives of women, and, of course, the business of religious devotion. Some sermons, delivered to monks and nuns in... Read more
Details from Religion News Service: President Obama’s support among Catholic voters has surged since June, according to a new poll, despite a summer that included the Catholic bishops’ religious freedom campaign and the naming of Rep. Paul Ryan, a Catholic, as the GOP’s vice-presidential candidate. On June 17, Obama held a slight edge over Mitt Romney among Catholics (49-47 percent), according to the Pew Research Center. Since then, Obama has surged ahead, and now leads 54-39 percent, according to a... Read more
From the Boston Pilot: Standing before their wives, children, friends and parishioners, 10 men were ordained permanent deacons by Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley on Sept. 22 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. “The Church is blessed to have these 10 fine men answer the call of God,” Cardinal O’Malley said in his homily. Those ordained are Deacons Robert C. Balzarini, Vincent Gatto, James T. Hinkle, Michael C. Joens, Jonathan Jones, Brian K. Kean, Thomas O’Shea, Louis J. Piazza, William... Read more
From the Boston Pilot: Standing before their wives, children, friends and parishioners, 10 men were ordained permanent deacons by Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley on Sept. 22 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. “The Church is blessed to have these 10 fine men answer the call of God,” Cardinal O’Malley said in his homily. Those ordained are Deacons Robert C. Balzarini, Vincent Gatto, James T. Hinkle, Michael C. Joens, Jonathan Jones, Brian K. Kean, Thomas O’Shea, Louis J. Piazza, William... Read more
The good people at AMERICA magazine asked me to write a few hundred words on how I thought the Second Vatican Council was continuing to impact the Church, and I decided to write about deacons: A date most Catholics do not know may be one of the most important anniversaries on the church calendar: June 18, 1967. That was the day Pope Paul VI, following the recommendations of the Second Vatican Council, issued “Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem,” which laid out... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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