Specifically, Muslims and Sikhs. Details: In early August, a mosque in Joplin, Mo., burned to the ground. It was the second fire that damaged the facility this summer — the first, determined to be arson. In light of this attack and others like it across the country — including the heinous shooting at a Sikh gurudwara outside of Milwaukee that killed six worshippers —Sojourners called on our community to help us get the word out that we are called to love our... Read more
From David Gibson at Religion News Service: The light, clear tones of young women’s voices filled the chapel, their chanted prayers drifting across the wooden altar screen that shielded the sisters from the full view of those sitting in the pews. It was five o’clock on a hot August afternoon, and vespers, the traditional evening prayer of monastic life for centuries, had begun in this Catholic convent located in this leafy suburb west of St. Louis. The 16 sisters, novices... Read more
This year, the Diocese of Cheyenne ordained a record number of deacons — and, in a rare exception, one of the youngest in the country. From the Billings Gazette: As the faithful in St. Mary’s Cathedral knelt in their pews, Michael Martinson was facedown before the altar. Martinson lay, and the faithful prayed, all through the singing of the Litany of the Saints. To Catholics, lying prostrate symbolizes the unworthiness for the office of deacon and the candidate’s dependence upon... Read more
This year, the Diocese of Cheyenne ordained a record number of deacons — and, in a rare exception, one of the youngest in the country. From the Billings Gazette: As the faithful in St. Mary’s Cathedral knelt in their pews, Michael Martinson was facedown before the altar. Martinson lay, and the faithful prayed, all through the singing of the Litany of the Saints. To Catholics, lying prostrate symbolizes the unworthiness for the office of deacon and the candidate’s dependence upon... Read more
An interesting—and rare— case, from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: A Milwaukee-area Catholic priest sanctioned this year for indirectly violating the seal of the confessional now faces excommunication after launching a new parish with a breakaway diocese a few miles away. Father David Verhasselt, once a popular priest at St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish in Oconomowoc, was named pastor this month at the newly founded Holy Name of Jesus Evangelical Catholic Church in nearby Ashippun, taking at least some of his former... Read more
Details: Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan will give the benediction at the Republican National Convention on the night Mitt Romney accepts the presidential nomination. The cardinal’s spokesman said the appearance was not an endorsement. Dolan is the New York archbishop and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Romney announced Dolan’s appearance in an interview with Raymond Arroyo’s “The World Over Live” on EWTN Catholic network. The archdiocese is one of more than 40 Catholic groups suing President Barack... Read more
It’s a vicious cycle, evidently. People stop having children because they can’t afford them in a recession, and that just makes things worse. Details: Debra Mollen, 41, a psychology professor in Denton, Texas, said she and her husband don’t plan to have children as they strive to pay down their mortgage and save for retirement. “Children are really expensive,” Mollen said, and the 2008 financial crisis shows the importance of building a nest egg. “Retirement is not an option for... Read more
A trend in biblical epics continues: Deadline reports that Warner Brothers has purchased a script called Pontias Pilate from Woman on Top writer Vera Blasi, a new take on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as told through the eyes of the man who ordered it to happen. The film will follow Pilate’s journey as a soldier who gains power under the Roman Emperor Tiberius, but screws up along the way and finds himself desperate for public approval when the time comes to make the choice... Read more
Just in time for Labor Day comes this portrait of “labor priests,” from Catholic San Francisco: In the 1891 encyclical “Rerum Novarum,” or “On the New Things,” Pope Leo XIII supported the rights of labor to form unions, and called for ameliorating “the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class.” In 1919, the U.S. Catholic bishops offered President Woodrow Wilson their ideas about re-ordering American society following the Great War. It was called the... Read more
And their superstar, evidently, is Tim Tebow. Clearly, to the Times, this is an aberration that defies logic and deserves closer scrutiny. Details: Trinity Laurel moved to Manhattan at 21 to pursue a modeling career. Raised in a Christian home, Laurel was a virgin when she reached the city, and says she has “remained pure” while living here since. Not all of her friends can relate. “They’re like, ‘How do you do that?’ ” Laurel, now 28, said. “People are almost... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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