I suspect it’s The King’s King James version, don’t you? Details from the BBC: A bible which once belonged to Elvis Presley is expected to fetch more than £20,000 when it is auctioned in Greater Manchester next month. The book was given to the legendary singer by his Uncle Vester and Aunt Clettes for his first Christmas at his Graceland home in 1957. Its 1,600 pages contain annotations by Presley, who died on 16 August 1977. One note reads: “To... Read more
A helpful primer, courtesy Religion News Service via the Washington Post: For the first time in U.S. history, both sides of the ballot include Roman Catholics: Democrats’ Vice President Joe Biden, and Republicans’ newly named vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. Ryan, 42, still belongs to the Catholic parish, St. John Vianney in Janesville, Wis., where he was an altar boy. Biden, 69, the first Catholic vice president in U.S. history, attends Mass at St. Patrick’s Parish and St. Joseph on... Read more
How’s this for a picture worth a thousand words? The story behind it: It was Oct. 20, 2010, about eight months after Ms. Brown’s husband of 51 years, David Brown, had died. Ms. Brown, who died on Monday at age 90, had donated $1 million to the Cardinal Hayes foundation, endowing a slew of student scholarships and establishing a permanent fund for the school’s annual play in honor of her husband, a longtime producer for Hollywood and Broadway. Ms. Brown, Archbishop Dolan,... Read more
As you can tell from the image above, attendance isn’t exactly S.R.O. Details: Our first reading Saturday comes from the Book of Kings, with an angel nudging an exhausted and distraught Elijah, telling him to get up and leave. The Rev. Tom Sanford and his congregation have done just that. Sanford left the Catholic priesthood more than a quarter-century ago. But now he’s back behind the altar. He’s pastor of a new spiritual community, born out of his frustration with... Read more
Welcome to Houston. Details: Little by little, Allison Cogburn embroidered her classroom walls with bold, bright letters in shocks of red, green, blue and yellow, with posters reiterating punctuation rules and parts of speech. On a shelf by the windows, rows of books beckoned, a reminder of the learning to come. On a table near the door, rosary beads symbolized the faith at the center of the school. As Cogburn decorated her room at Corpus Christi Catholic School on Monday, the halls of the... Read more
[Click here for readings] Last weekend, I was talking with someone in the sacristy and said that that, in my opinion, this is the best time of year to be in New York. The last two weeks of August may be hot, humid, mobbed with tourists. But: during rush hour, you can always get a seat on the subway. Most New Yorkers have fled the city, traveling or staying out of town. And coincidentally, the gospel today begins with a... Read more
A keeper from the Cardinal, answering his critics: How can you justify inviting the President? Let me try to explain. For one, an invitation to the Al Smith Dinner is not an award, or the provision of a platform to expound views at odds with the Church. It is an occasion of conversation; it is personal, not partisan. Two, the purpose of the Al Smith Dinner is to show both our country and our Church at their best: people of faith gathered in an evening... Read more
They had to make room for him and some Secret Service agents, too. Details: Greeting early morning worshippers at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Chuch in Charlotte on Sunday, Rev. Andre Mangango noticed the strangers with dark glasses and ear phones. Then he realized the reason they were there: A Secret Service contingent escorting Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s newly named running mate. Ryan went to the south Charlotte church before he and Romney headed off by bus for rallies in Mooresville... Read more
With tomorrow marking the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the great feasts in the Christian calendar, a writer at L’Osservatore Romano looks at one depiction of this event in iconography: In the Byzantine tradition the first great celebration in the liturgical cycle is the Nativity of the Mother of God on 8 September, and it ends with her Dormition, and her being taken up into Heaven on 15 August. This almost intends to stress... Read more
Sound familiar? Details: Nearly all Muslims can agree on the basic beliefs of Islam: There is one God, Muhammad is God’s prophet, Muslims should fast during the holy month of Ramadan and give alms to the poor. Yet beyond these central pillars of the faith, Muslims worldwide vastly differ as religious convictions are shaped by cultural and social contexts, according to a new report by thePew Forum on Religion & Public Life. “The World’s Muslims: Unity and Diversity” draws on... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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