[Click here for readings.] Below is something from the vault: my homily from 2008. When I was growing up, like a lot of families, mine had one of those small, cheap Kodak Instamatic cameras. You used those flash bulbs that looked like ice cubes…and got these little square pictures back from the drug store when you had them developed. My dad must have taken hundreds, if not thousands of pictures with that camera. I never appreciated them until years later,... Read more
A great story about spiritual discovery, and how a couple is learning more about the world’s faiths, including their own: Frederic and Anne-Laure Pascal are devout Roman Catholics who built their lives around their religion. When she lost her job last year, the young couple decided on an unlikely expression of their religious commitment: a worldwide “interfaith pilgrimage” to places where peace has won out over dueling dogmas. Since October, the French couple has visited 11 nations from Iraq to... Read more
This is an issue in my own diocese, as well. Details: The harvest is plentiful in the Diocese of Salt Lake City, which is seeking laborers in the form of deacons to minister to the Spanish-speaking flock. “It was a request of the pastors, that they need deacons who speak Spanish because that is where the highest need is right now,” said Father Eleazar Silva, parochial vicar of the Cathedral of the Madeleine, who will serve as director of academics... Read more
[Click here for readings.] Below is something from the vault: my homily from 2008. When I was growing up, like a lot of families, mine had one of those small, cheap Kodak Instamatic cameras. You used those flash bulbs that looked like ice cubes…and got these little square pictures back from the drug store when you had them developed. My dad must have taken hundreds, if not thousands of pictures with that camera. I never appreciated them until years later,... Read more
It’s an ambitious undertaking that will be launched in Germany next year — and will take decades to complete. Details: What did a medieval stonemason do when heavy rainfall interrupted his work? Umbrellas are impractical at construction sites. Gore-Tex jackets weren’t yet invented, nor were plastic rain jackets. “He donned a jacket made of felted loden cloth,” says Bert Geurten, the man who plans to build an authentic monastery town the old-fashioned way. Felted loden jackets will also be present... Read more
This is getting wide circulation, thanks to Fr. James Martin, who posted it on his Facebook page. Cardinal Timothy Dolan quoted this in his homily for the Archdiocese of New York’s Chrism Mass earlier in the week. It’s known as the “Letter to the Church,” by Italian spiritual master Carlo Carretto (1910-1988). The Concord Pastor has it up, and it’s worth sharing: How much I must criticize you, my church, and yet how much I love you! You have made... Read more
Big news from Christ’s homeland: For pastoral reasons, the Catholic Church in the Holy Land plans in future to celebrate Easter according to the Orthodox calendar. The reason is consideration of the many inter-church families, said the Franciscan Custos Pierbattista Pizzaballa. In ecumenical dialogue, the date of Easter is one of the major hurdles. The alternative date for Easter in Catholic communities could probably be introduced next year, said Pizzaballa, who is one of the higher leaders of the Catholic... Read more
Details: NBC has completed its investigation into the mishandling of the police dispatcher’s conversation with George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case. And the process ends with a finding of error, plus an apology. Here is the statement just issued by the network: During our investigation it became evident that there was an error made in the production process that we deeply regret. We will be taking the necessary steps to prevent this from happening in the future and apologize... Read more
And it’s causing a predictable outcry: Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre and other religious and political leaders are criticizing an announcement by a state university that from now on it will hold classes on major Jewish and Christian holidays. In a March 26 statement, Bishop Murphy responded to the decision by Stony Brook University, part of the State University of New York system, to hold classes on such religious holidays as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and have... Read more
…and update your status with God. Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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