The Deacon's Bench
And now: a haunting ballad that addresses one of life’s burning questions. “Am I man or a Muppet?” The first official video from “The Muppets.” Heavy stuff. And Jim Parsons, to boot. Read more
And now: a haunting ballad that addresses one of life’s burning questions. “Am I man or a Muppet?” The first official video from “The Muppets.” Heavy stuff. And Jim Parsons, to boot. Read more
I’ve decided that it has little historical or theological meaning. No. Gazing at my naked reflection in the mirror this morning as I stepped out of the shower, I realized there are much more important reasons for wearing the alb. It covers a multitude of flubbery sins. Things like: the extra cannoli I had at the office Christmas party. Or the second slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream that I just had to have at Thanksgiving. It’s there to provide cover... Read more
It’s a view we don’t consider very often, but a new, ground-breaking book offers some intriguing food for thought: The New Testament is constantly being re-interpreted from a variety of perspectives. From feminists, to socialists, to traditionalists; there’s even a version as seen through the prism of Star Wars. Well now, you can add to the collection The Jewish Annotated New Testament by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler. Levine, a professor of New Testament and Jewish studies at Vanderbilt... Read more
Details: Jenni Lake gave birth to a baby boy the month before her 18th birthday, though she was not destined to become just another teenage mother. That much, she knew. While being admitted to the hospital, she pulled her nurse down to her at bed level and whispered into her ear. The nurse would later repeat the girl’s words to comfort her family, as their worst fears were realized a day after Jenni’s baby was born. “She told the nurse,... Read more
This: my vote for the best Christmas story this year. God bless Steve Hartman. And Scott Pelley, too. (A grateful diaconal bow to Aggie Catholics, btw, for finding this!) Read more
The Pope made the list, too — but in single digits. Details: President Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are the nation’s most-admired man and woman — again — in the annual USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. Each leads their category with 17% of votes in top 10 lists that favor the most familiar names in global politics, religion, entertainment and culture. Obama supplanted George W. Bush at No. 1 in 2008 but Bush continues in the No. 2 spot, according to the... Read more
A National Geographic special next month offers some educated guesses: Scholars of ancient writings from Mesopotamia (now Iraq) point to texts written thousands of years before the bible that describe a flood and say that the bible story comes from those stories. Others like archaeologist Jeff Rose say these pre-biblical stories have merit because the destructive forces of water in a once tropical region in Iraq, considered by some to have been the Garden of Eden, might have inspired the... Read more
…walk, that is, in the March for Life next month in Washington. The invitation was extended by Allison Howard of Concerned Women for America. Read about it here. And watch the video invitation below. Hey, you never know… Read more
While we are still steeped in the Christmas season — before the tree has been dragged to the curb and the forgotten toys carted down to the basement — here are some heartening words from Archbishop Robert Carlson, speaking about the meaning of Christmas and the ongoing “Catholics Come Home” initiative in the Archdiocese of St. Louis: The mystery of Christmas speaks to every human heart. To those who have no religious faith, it reveals God’s closeness, His intimacy. To those... Read more
And it can create quite a few complications. From the Washington Post: A cultural shift in thinking about parenting and gender roles has led to a surge in divorced couples agreeing to more detailed shared custody arrangements that increasingly spell out how they will practice and talk about their religious faith. Agreements of the past stuck largely to the question of where the kids would spend such holidays as Christmas, but today such accords can stipulate religion, denomination and doctrine.... Read more
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