2016-09-30T17:24:13-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:24 pm   By

Over at his little corner of the blogosphere, Tony Rossi has announced the winners of this year’s Christopher Awards: A young adventurer risks his life to reunite trafficked children with their families; African-American maids in the South reclaim their dignity through sharing their stories; a priest travels around the world to explore the history of the Catholic Church. These stories and more are told in the 22 feature films, TV/Cable programs, and books for adults and young people being honored... Read more

2016-09-30T17:24:13-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:24 pm   By

Yesterday would have been Fred Rogers (a.k.a. “Mr. Rogers”) 84th birthday. The Christian Post notes that one significant aspect of the celebrated TV star (who died in 2003) was his early life as a minister: He left behind a lasting imprint on children’s televisionwith his series “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” but many may not know that he was also an ordained minister who used the show as a form of ministry. Rogers built an empire around his TV show, which sought to... Read more

2016-09-30T17:24:13-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:24 pm   By

Someone dropped me a Facebook message, asking if I’d found a version that you can download. You can find everything at this website. There’s a pdf of the music, as well. For your listening pleasure, here: [audio:http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/deaconsbench/files/2012/03/REVEXSULTET.mp3|titles=REVEXSULTET] If you need it, here’s the chant for the candle at the beginning of the Vigil: [audio:http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/deaconsbench/files/2012/03/firebless.mp3|titles=firebless] And last, but not least: the exposition of the cross for Good Friday: [audio:http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/deaconsbench/files/2012/03/behold2.mp3|titles=behold2] By the way: never in a million years would I ever sound... Read more

2016-09-30T17:24:13-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:24 pm   By

Details: A Catholic priest buried at the Jesuit Center at Wernersville cleared the first hurdle on the road to sainthood Monday, the Allentown Diocese announced. The Rev. Walter J. Ciszek, a native of Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, attended St. Casimir’s Roman Catholic Church and school in Shenandoah before becoming a celebrated Jesuit priest who was held in a Russian prison for 15 years. He died in 1984. Since 1989, after a mandatory five-year waiting period, his life has been under investigation... Read more

2016-09-30T17:24:13-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:24 pm   By

An interesting look at an area of the candidate’s life that has gone largely unexplored: In January 2002, prominent Catholics from around the world gathered in Rome to celebrate the Spanish priest who founded one of the church’s most conservative and devout groups, Opus Dei. The event drew cardinals, bishops and other powerful Vatican officials. And among those invited to speak was a future presidential candidate: Rick Santorum, whose faith had become so essential to his politics that on federal documents he... Read more

2016-09-30T17:24:13-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:24 pm   By

Over at his blog, Gerard Nadal makes a compelling argument that it started at the Last Supper: As Holy Week looms large on the horizon, I’m thinking out loud a question I have thought to myself for years: Were the Apostles really the first Deacons in the Church? Did the Apostles institute the Diaconate, or did Jesus at the Last Supper? I believe that a scriptural case may be made for the Apostles being the first deacons. To begin, we... Read more

2016-09-30T17:24:14-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:24 pm   By

How’s this for an unusual place to celebrate Mass: on a submarine. Details: As venues for religious services go, the Rev. Thomas Hoar says you could do worse than a submarine. Hoar, who presided over a Mass aboard the USS Missouri last Sunday, said there was a quiet calm to the sub as it surged through the Atlantic Ocean, and he was touched by the thanks from sailors who crowded into the officers’ ward room to pray. “When I started... Read more

2016-09-30T17:24:14-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:24 pm   By

What does it take to prepare for a papal visit?  More than you may think: One hundred fifty-thousand communion wafers? Check. Campsites for 350,000? Check. Three hand-embroidered papal souvenir sombreros? Check. Official song? Check. It takes a lot to prepare for the coming of the pope and the 3 million people the host Archdiocese of Leon says he is expected to draw. Facades must be spiffed; campgrounds must be sprayed for dengue-bearing mosquitoes. The visit of Pope Benedict XVI, his... Read more

2016-09-30T17:24:14-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:24 pm   By

Details: The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow a 43-foot-tall cross that serves as a war memorial to remain atop Mt. Soledad in San Diego, arguing that the cross has been there since 1954 and is not an endorsement of religion. The government should not be required “to tear down a cross that has stood without incident for 58 years as a highly venerated memorial to the nation’s fallen service members,” Solicitor Gen. Donald B. Verrilli Jr.... Read more

2016-09-30T17:24:14-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:24 pm   By

A couple years ago, I preached on St. Joseph during Advent and reflected on the image above, by James Tissot, “The Anxiety of St. Joseph.” We tend to think of Joseph the way we see him in the manger scene outside our church, or on the cards we send, or the pageants that are staged.   He is strong, stoic, patient – “righteous,” as Matthew describes him. But Tissot understood that the man betrothed to Mary was a man of worries, and... Read more

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