My friend Deacon Jim Hoegemeier sent this my way late last month, and I regret I’m only getting to it now. Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison recently ordained another deacon, Chris Schmelzer, for his diocese. The diaconate in Madison is very small; judging from the website, this brings to 19 the number of permanent deacons in the diocese. Details from Deacon Jim: The ordination took place at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Madison. Deacon Chris Schmelzer is from the Cathedral Parish... Read more
From CNS: The Archbishop of Boston said in an Aug. 10 statement that he has asked the rector of its main archdiocesan St. John Seminary to go on sabbatical leave immediately and is asking for an investigation of allegations made on social media about activities there “directly contrary to the moral standards and requirements of formation for the Catholic priesthood.” “At this time, I am not able to verify or disprove these allegations,” said Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley in... Read more
I had heard about this story a few days ago, and today received an email with the details: It is with great joy that we welcome Deacon Daniel Guerra to the Order of Deacon. Bishop Joe Vásquez ordained him a deacon for the Diocese of Austin on Aug. 4. Daniel was scheduled to be ordained with his class in March 2019; however, he was recently diagnosed with an aggressive and progressed form of cancer. During the ordination, Bishop Vásquez gave... Read more
From The New York Times: A. W. Richard Sipe, a researcher, psychotherapist and former priest who spent his life studying the roots of sex abuse within the Roman Catholic Church, becoming one of the subject’s leading experts, died on Wednesday in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego. He was 85. His wife, Marianne Benkert Sipe, said the cause was multiple organ failure. Mr. Sipe’s research into celibacy and sexuality within the clergy helped establish a foundation for those studying,... Read more
The American Church’s most visible evangelist, Bishop Robert Barron, weighs in: Permit me to say a few words about unhelpful strategies being bandied about. A first one is indiscriminate scapegoating. The great philosopher René Girard taught us that when communities enter into crisis, people typically commence desperately to cast about for someone or some group to blame. In the catharsis of this indiscriminate accusation, they find a kind of release, an ersatz peace. “All the bishops should resign!” “The priesthood... Read more
This is just beautiful: A group of 50 mums of kids with Down syndrome has created a Carpool Karaoke-style video to raise awareness of children with an extra chromosome. Mums who were part of the Facebook group “Designer Genes”, who all had a child with Down’s syndrome born in 2013/14, were inspired by a Singing Hands Carpool Karaoke video signed with Makaton, a simplified form of British Sign Language which is designed to help hearing people with learning or communication... Read more
Elizabeth Scalia has some clear-eyed, concrete ideas: We feel lost, but we mustn’t. God is in this moment, just as surely as he was in the moment of Christ’s arrest, and Peter’s denial, and the Crucifixion, and Judas’ death. Consider this: awful, untenable things have happened and time is a construct. To all of the unjust, horrific, and bloody tortures of those days of fear and passion in Jerusalem are merged our present troubles. Eventually, but not in three days,... Read more
A very good observation this morning from Dawn Eden Goldstein: Something very important is missing from every statement issued by US bishops thus far in the wake of the allegations against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. It is something needed not only for the restoration of the bishops’ credibility but also, and more importantly, for the healing of the Church. Given that the bishops form a college in continuation of the Apostles’ own, they need to take the initiative in summoning themselves, as a body,... Read more
Encouraging news from the pope’s homeland: Argentina’s Senate on Thursday narrowly rejected a bill to legalize abortion, dealing a stinging defeat to a grass-roots movement that pushed reproductive rights to the top of the country’s legislative agenda and galvanized women’s groups throughout Latin America. The lead-up to the vote gripped the nation as opposing camps fought to sway undecided senators until the final hours. As senators debated the bill for more than 16 hours, thousands of advocates on both sides... Read more
Pope Francis chatted briefly with Sting after the General Audience on Wednesday — see the video above, courtesy Rome Reports — and the pop star had a lot to say to Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register recently about music, the Mass and faith: Born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1951, Sting rose to fame with ‘The Police’ from 1977 to 1986, before launching a solo career in 1985. Both led him to becoming one of the world’s... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In