The Deacon's Bench
“Let the wild rumpus start!” — Maurice Sendak, “Where the Wild Things Are” The celebrated author died today after a stroke. He was 83. RIP. Read more
“Let the wild rumpus start!” — Maurice Sendak, “Where the Wild Things Are” The celebrated author died today after a stroke. He was 83. RIP. Read more
Seminarians! Lots of ’em! Read on: Bishop James D. Conley of Denver said the news of rising seminarian numbers across the United States has delighted Pope Benedict XVI. “He was very happy to receive that information,” Bishop Conley told CNA on May 4 after meeting the Pope at the Vatican. “He said he had heard that vocations were going up in the United States and he said this is very positive news and, in fact, he had a big smile on his... Read more
It seems that the ancient art of spiritual direction is going mainstream. (H/T Concord Pastor) Details: Natalie Weaver, a 25-year-old musician who lives in Roxbury, does not go to church. But every three weeks or so, she visits a white vinyl-sided building on Dorchester Avenue, a former convent, to meet with her spiritual director. For about an hour, she sits with a gentle, bearded man in a quiet room with gleaming oak floors and talks about the experiences that most... Read more
From a friend’s Facebook page. Read more
Here’s something the original authors of sacred scripture never had to think about: Later this spring, an entire Bible in Inuktitut, the language of Inuit people and the most widely spoken aboriginal tongue in Canada’s Arctic, will be dedicated at an igloo-shaped church in Nunavut, an autonomous region carved out of the Northwest Territories in 1999. Begun in 1978, the massive task marks the first time in Canada that a translation of the whole Bible was accomplished entirely by native speakers... Read more
That’s how the local paper characterizes the shifting religious landscape in what was once a staunch Catholic stronghold, Buffalo, New York. Details: Nearly half the residents in the Buffalo Niagara region are considered “unclaimed” by a religious group — a stunning change from just a decade ago, when the percentage of the population affiliated with a faith tradition was higher here than in any other metropolitan area in the country. Catholicism, most mainline Protestant denominations, Judaism and some evangelical denominations... Read more
Some provocative insight on the state of marriage from the church in Australia: Women should marry earlier and not be too picky to avoid an Aussie man drought, the Catholic Church has warned. Australia is experiencing a huge decline in the number of available men, with the church telling women they should also forget about living with their partners before tying the knot. Statistics have revealed that there are dramatically fewer eligible blokes than single women aged 25 to 34.... Read more
And the rest is history. Check out this intriguing video from CNS, featuring an interview with the blessed pope’s secretary. Read more
He addressed a timely issue during today’s remarks to American bishops: Pope Benedict XVI called on America’s Catholic colleges and universities to reaffirm their Catholic identity by ensuring orthodoxy in theological studies and accepting the oversight of bishops. The pope made his remarks May 5 to U.S. bishops from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Wyoming, who were making their periodic “ad limina” visits to the Vatican. While he acknowledged recent efforts by America’s Catholic institutions of higher education to “reaffirm... Read more
Surely, the classiest and most elegant flash mob ever. A thing of surprising joy and wonder, too. This happened on a train in Copenhagen. And I just loved it. I think you will, too. Read more
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