The Deacon's Bench
Well, you can now do that in Japan. I have two questions. 1. Where’s the bathroom? 2. Don’t you need a lot of Windex? Check out more pictures here. Read more
Well, you can now do that in Japan. I have two questions. 1. Where’s the bathroom? 2. Don’t you need a lot of Windex? Check out more pictures here. Read more
The following comment appeared in response to the posting on Fr. Thomas Williams. I think it deserves a wider audience, so I’m posting it here separately. +++ “As a priest, I am terribly saddened by reading most, if not all of these comments. These comments only mirror the lived experience the majority of priests face on a daily basis from many of their parishioners, especially if a parish school is attached to it. (After all, we excel at telling people... Read more
Details: Today Fr. Thomas Williams, LC, ThD has released a brief statement in which he admits to having a relationship with a woman and fathering a child. He will be taking a year away from public ministry. This is the statement in full: “A number of years ago I had a relationship with a woman and fathered her child. I am deeply sorry for this transgression and have tried to make amends. My superiors and I have decided it would be best... Read more
I have to wonder how many other times this has happened. Details: He was the spitting image of the killer, had the same first name and was near the scene of the crime at the fateful hour: Carlos DeLuna paid the ultimate price and was executed in place of someone else in Texas in 1989, a report out Tuesday found. Even “all the relatives of both Carloses mistook them,” and DeLuna was sentenced to death and executed based only on eyewitness accounts despite a... Read more
From the YouTube description: Our eight-year-old blind-autistic son Jacob enjoying some fine acoustic guitar by a musician in downtown Lawrence, Kansas on May 13, 2012. Tyler … Thank you so much for letting Jacob feel the music! “Tyler” is bluegrass musician Tyler Gregory. Take two minutes and watch something charming and inexpressably sweet. Read more
You may remember the controversial ads that popped up around the world a few months back (you can find them at this link, and read about them here). The company behind them, Benetton, has now apologized: This morning a note from the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., was issued on the conclusion of the legal conflict between the Holy See and the Benetton Group, due to its unlawful use of Pope Benedict XVI’s image... Read more
Elizabeth Scalia — briefly picking up her pen while still on hiatus from her cell — has an utterly different take on marriage that is well worth pondering: If all proclaiming Christ are accepted to baptism, one might wonder, then why not all to marriage? I think it comes down to offices, and the equality to be found therein. We talk about vocations and “one’s state in life,” but I wonder if we would not better serve both clarity and... Read more
Ten thousand of them, in fact. Below is a snapshot from the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe in Orlando, which every year celebrates both Mary and all mothers will memorial roses on Mother’s Day. They often stay in bloom and in place for two or three weeks after the holiday. (H/T to my Florida amigo Fernando for the picture!) Read more
If you somehow missed Mother’s Day, it’s not too late to say “Thank you, Mom.” Check out how these New Yorkers did it. Read more
Details: Dozens of demonstrators dashed into the Loop building housing President Barack Obama‘s campaign headquarters this morning, slipping past security guards and running up escalators as they kicked off what they called a “Week Without Capitalism.” Eight protesters were led out in handcuffs about half an hour later after they refused to clear the lobby. They were cheered by other demonstrators who began dancing and singing folk and gospel songs. The demonstration, organized by the Catholic Worker movement. began with about... Read more
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