From the Valley Catholic: Eight men were ordained deacons, seven of them to be Permanent Deacons and one transitional deacon, on May 12, at St. Joseph Cathedral Basilica, with Bishop Patrick J. McGrath presiding. The one transitional deacon is Antonio Alvernaz Silveira who had been in formation for the Permanent Diaconate and whose wife of 33 years died in early 2011. He has applied to study for the priesthood and will continue his formation at St. Patrick Seminary and University... Read more
Saw this on FB and couldn’t resist: Read more
From the Canadian magazine The Walrus comes this profile of Fr. Thomas Rosica, the guiding force behind the Catholic television network Salt + Light: Born in Rochester, New York, Thomas Rosica received his BA in French and Italian language and literature at St. John Fisher College in nearby Pittsford, and went on to earn advanced degrees in theology and sacred Scripture in Toronto, Rome, and Jerusalem. Before discovering his inner entrepreneur, he was well into a career teaching Scripture at... Read more
Details, from the Salt Lake Tribune: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio credits his short-lived time as a Mormon for providing a moral compass in his youth, though he also discloses for the first time his family’s struggles with the constraints of the faith and his eventual return to the Catholic fold. In his new autobiography, An American Son, available Tuesday, the Florida Republican candidly discusses the three years he spent as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day... Read more
Sorry. I couldn’t resist. Welcome to the neighborhood, kiddo! RELATED: Awesome: Patheos atheist blogger to become Catholic Read more
It’s a subject Vatican-watchers never tire of — and John Allen in NCR has another name to add to the list, Fernando Filoni, who now heads the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples but who also served as nuncio in Iraq as the 2003 war began : Filoni may not be a media star, but he does understand how the communication business works. Among other things, one of his degrees is from Rome’s Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali, a prestigious... Read more
I’m not sure what brand of Christianity these folks practice, but it’s utterly alien to me. Below, the trailer for a new documentary on some Christians who think it’s cool to climb into a cage and slug it out for Jesus. Ouch. Read more
A big Catholic welcome to the “geeky atheist” Leah Libresco, who chronicles some of her journey here: I decided to take a little time to make sure I really believed what I thought I believed, before telling my friends, family, and, now, all of you. That left me with the question of what to do about my atheism blog. My solution was to just not write anything I disagreed with. Enough of my friends had accused me of writing in a... Read more
That is how the LCWR described its recent meeting at the Vatican, in a statement posted this morning. CNS reports: Top officials of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious said their meeting at the Vatican in mid-June “was difficult because of the differing perspectives” they and the leaders of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have. Franciscan Sister Pat Farrell, LCWR president, and St. Joseph Sister Janet Mock, executive director, met with U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect... Read more
That’s how former editor Bill Keller starts his column this morning: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Bill Donohue is right. Donohue, the chronically peeved president of the Catholic League, and I rarely see eye to eye, but he is right about one very big thing: how to resolve the crisis in Catholicism. My endorsement may horrify him as much as it surprises me. Lest anyone think Keller has undergone a conversion experience — or reversion, since he’s a lapsed... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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