Now he’s defending the accused in this year’s most sensational murder case: Attorney Mark O’Mara will have the eyes of the world upon him as he takes on the position of defense lawyer for George Zimmerman, the man charged with second degree murder of Trayvon Martin, a minor, in Florida. When asked why he took this case, despite the unpopularity of Zimmerman’s side of the story, O’Mara told AP, “It’s what I do. “I’ve done it for a long, long time.... Read more
My blogging neighbor, Father Dwight Longenecker, is one, and has a few words of advice for anyone who thinks he might be called: I am now receiving a good number of phone calls from men all over the world who wish to also be a “married Catholic priest.” There are, however, certain rules of eligibility so after I have listened to their conversion story I stop and ask them these questions. If you’re thinking that you want to be a... Read more
Details: “Heroic Catholicism, not casual Catholicism” is required to confront state and federal threats to religious liberty and the church’s public ministries, Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, told more than 500 Catholic men who marched through the downtown Peoria in a steady rain April 14 in a public defense of the faith. “We can no longer be Catholics by accident, but instead be Catholics by conviction,” said Bishop Jenky. He warned participants in the “A Call to Catholic Men of... Read more
Here’s a remarkable account of a church leaving a legacy — and sending part of it to another parish in need: The purpose of any parish is for mission, and since 1876, the community of St. Ann Parish has fulfilled its mission by taking care of those in need. In days long gone, the parish operated an orphanage as well as a school for grades 1 to 8. These days, a clinic in the former school provides medical and dental... Read more
A friend recently noted that, for all his greatness, Blessed John Paul was not necessarily the best judge of character or ability when it came to appointing bishops. This piece from Vatican Insider/La Stampa may help to explain why; it also points out what his successor is doing differently: Not many are aware of the fact that a great deal of Benedict XVI’s time and effort is spent on mysterious work which does not and should not attract the media’s attention... Read more
This is the sort of thing that gives you hope for the next generation: Andrew Domini’s feet were blistered and bloodied. He could barely walk by the time he finally made it to a pink marble church and crawled the last 90 feet to a quiet shrine tucked into the corner. As he paused a couple of weeks ago in front of the wooden coffin that held the remains of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin and prayed, the 19-year-old said he... Read more
It’s just gone on display, for the first time in decades: Over the next four weeks, around a million German Christians will be travelling to Trier to admire the “Heiliger Rock”, or the Holy Robe: one of the most important relics in German Christendom, that Jesus supposedly wore before being crucified. Stephan Ackermann, the Bishop of Trier – Karl Marx’s home city – has decided that the robe will be put on display for the eighteenth time in its history,... Read more
I thought the new header for the blog, shown above, looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then it came to me: it’s an awful lot like the title card from a favorite afternoon TV show from my youth: I hadn’t thought about that in years. Curious, I did a little Googling and found, to my amazement, that Jonathan Frid (a.k.a. Barnabas Collins) is alive and well and living in Canada, where he operates his very own... Read more
A clinical psychologist writes in the New York Times: At 32, one of my clients (I’ll call her Jennifer) had a lavish wine-country wedding. By then, Jennifer and her boyfriend had lived together for more than four years. The event was attended by the couple’s friends, families and two dogs. When Jennifer started therapy with me less than a year later, she was looking for a divorce lawyer. “I spent more time planning my wedding than I spent happily married,”... Read more
We’re tweaking, but let’s drop in on one of our bloggers, who is working with the design team to update her page… Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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