The Deacon's Bench
From the brilliant Jim Meskimen — and dozens of his amazing voices. I dare you not to laugh. RELATED: “A is for Arnold…” Sheer genius: one man, dozens of celebrity voices, all doing Shakespeare Read more
From the brilliant Jim Meskimen — and dozens of his amazing voices. I dare you not to laugh. RELATED: “A is for Arnold…” Sheer genius: one man, dozens of celebrity voices, all doing Shakespeare Read more
Details: Tens of thousands of Dutch children were sexually abused by priests and other Roman Catholic religious figures in the last 65 years, but church officials failed to take adequate action or report problems to police, an independent commission said Friday. Many of the victims spent part of their childhood in Catholic institutions such as schools and orphanages, where the risk of abuse was twice as high as in the general population, the commission said. But complaints were often ignored... Read more
It turns out this dramatic display last week wasn’t an isolated incident. The pastor at St. Raymond’s in Downey, California has done this at least once before. (H/T to Diane at Te Deum). Below is an event from last summer. By way of comparison, it’s worth taking a look at another kind of “Eucharistic flash mob.” From Brooklyn’s Grassroots Films: below is a trailer for a short film they produced a few years ago, “God In The Streets of New... Read more
The billboard above, which I mentioned in this post, is literally coming under attack: A couple of hundred protesters are outside an Auckland Anglican church calling for a controversial Christmas billboard to be taken down. The group, which began gathering at 11am, were praying the Rosary and said the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding a pregnancy test kit was an attack on her fecundity. Catholic Action’s Arthur Skinner, from Whangarei, said they were protesting because the image was... Read more
It’s turned into a he said/they said, with some disagreement about what actually happened at a meeting Friday. Details: Gov. Pat Quinn apparently did not understand that when he met with Illinois’ Catholic bishops Friday, they were taking him out to the woodshed. Quinn said Saturday morning that the talk was “only a little bit” about his position at odds with Catholic teachings on abortion and gay couples’ right to adopt. The 10 bishops Quinn met with issued a news... Read more
Over at his blog, Deacon Bill Ditewig shares a timely and thought-provoking dream: The dream? The catholic — truly universal — people of God! Every person who is cut off from everything and everyone else, is WELCOMED by the catholic people of God. In a very real sense, the catholic people of God is the home for the homeless, the family for those who have been disowned and rejected by others, are the ones for whom this church is designed. ... Read more
[Click here for readings] Someone once told me that this event we have just heard in the gospel has been depicted in art more than any other in scripture, with the possible exception of the crucifixion. I’m not surprised. The Annunciation stirs the imagination in powerful ways – the human intersecting with the Divine in a moment unlike any other in history. It almost defies illustration. But countless artists have tried. Very often, you will see Annunciation in a painting... Read more
Sign at a swimming pool in Cincinnati: Read the story behind it here. Read more
An interesting take on the GOP frontrunner’s faith: Mr. Gingrich represents a new kind of Catholic, one very different from the Kennedys, who were Democrats, political liberals and cradle Catholics shaped by the Irish immigrant church. To a Kennedy-era Catholic, divorce was a sin, labor unions were a virtue and anti-Catholic bigotry was a staple in many Protestant circles. Mr. Gingrich is a culture wars Catholic for whom the church seems a logical home for conservative Republicans. Generations removed from... Read more
Last spring, I posted an item about an Anglican priest’s leap of faith — joining the Catholic Church and having no job prospects. A UK paper this weekend has an update: Father Ian Hellyer is a Roman Catholic priest – but far from being celibate, he’s a father. Not just to a couple of children, either: in true Roman Catholic fashion, Father Ian has lots of them – nine, in fact, ranging from 18-year-old Clare to seven-month-old Rose – taking... Read more
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