I had the privilege of breaking bread with Jefferson City’s Bishop Shawn McKnight during our visit to New Orleans last month; he’s a great friend of deacons and loves the vocation. So I was heartened and moved to read this column tonight—a cri de coeur from a young bishop who has just been on the job for six months and is still trying to comprehend the incomprehensible: It is almost unbearable. How could a brother bishop disrespect with such callousness... Read more
From the Diocese of Santa Rosa comes this directive from Bishop Robert Vasa: In the Instruction on the Eucharist issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments on March 25, 2004, we read: It is necessary to avoid any sort of confusion between this type of gathering (Communion Service without Mass) and the celebration of the Eucharist. The diocesan Bishops, therefore, should prudently discern whether Holy Communion ought to be distributed in these gatherings. Likewise, especially if... Read more
Elizabeth Scalia notes some news out of Washington this morning — and says what a lot of us have been thinking: This morning comes breaking news out of NCR, that Washington DC’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl has proposed a “national panel” to investigate any serious allegation made against Bishops. And the panel would be comprised of, wait for it…bishops. To that I would respond, “Well, your Eminence, yes and no.” Yes, there should be a panel– there should be panels in every diocese... Read more
An important piece of history more people should know about, via CNS: Dachau, the notorious German concentration camp most associated with the genocide of thousands of Jews during World War II, also held more than 2,700 clergy – 2,400 of them Catholic priests. Amid the horrors of hunger, torture, medical experimentation and mass executions, faith and hope somehow managed to flicker – and often flourish – in this section of Dachau: Cell Block 26. One Catholic deacon was even ordained... Read more
Here’s a rapturous bilingual version of this contemporary classic, from the always-great University of Notre Dame Folk Choir. Sister Suzanne Toolan has written about the surprising way this hymn took off—and it’s now the stuff of legend. I’m sure a lot of parishes will be singing this this weekend. Enjoy the version below, from a 2018 fundraising concert at Notre Dame. Read more
From the press release: CARA, The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, has released results of a new survey of religious superiors, female and male, in the United States regarding the sacramental ordination of women as deacons. The survey sought to understand these superiors’ awareness of and attitudes about The Study Commission on the Women’s Diaconate. Pope Francis stated his intention to form this papal commission during a 2016 meeting with the International Union of Superiors... Read more
From The New York Times: When Nebraska lawmakers defied Gov. Pete Ricketts in 2015 by repealing the death penalty over his strong objections, the governor wouldn’t let the matter go. Mr. Ricketts, a Republican who is Roman Catholic, tapped his family fortune to help bankroll a referendum to reinstate capital punishment, a measure the state’s Catholic leadership vehemently opposed. After a contentious and emotional battle across this deep-red state, voters restored the death penalty the following year. Later this month,... Read more
Reaction has been varied. Here’s a sampling, below. “Already in the past, the church had expressed its aversion to the death penalty, but with words that did not exclude ambiguities. There seems to be also a desire to see the Catholic Church take an active role in the global abolitionist movement.” — Riccardo Noury, Amnesty Italia “Coming in the midst of the sex abuse revelations, the timing is curious… and more fury is not what the Church needs at this moment.”... Read more
Someone asks in this story, “What’s a priest going to do with an MBA in the church?” Read on to find out. This comes from U.C. Berkeley and the Berkeley News: With his horn-rimmed glasses, wool sweater and goatee, John Gribowich blends in with many of the buttoned-down professionals in the Berkeley MBA for Executives Program (EMBA) at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. But Gribowich, 39, is equally comfortable in a robe — as a priest who often leads... Read more
In the current edition of the catechism, the teaching on the death penalty reads: 2267 Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor. If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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