It will be on display at the cathedral in Los Angeles this week, according to The Tidings: The U.S. debut of “Haute Sphere,” a contemporary interpretation of the Nativity scene conceived by architect Sylvain Dubuisson and crafted by French porcelain manufacturer Bernardaud, will take place Dec. 7 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. A public presentation conducted by Archbishop José Gomez begins at 7 p.m. for “Haute Sphere,” which bears witness to the union of design and... Read more
From OSV and Eric Sammons comes this insightful primer on how to keep people in the pews who return over the holidays: As practicing Catholics, what can we and our parishes do to reach out to those who are estranged from or perhaps just uninterested in the Catholic Church? While this question has many possible answers, it will be helpful to review some basic principles that should form the foundation of any outreach to lapsed Catholics. The first principle we... Read more
Turns out, YouTube is good for more than just cat videos. Someone has discovered it also contains a lot of clips of people yucking it up. Below, compiled entirely from bits on YouTube, is a whimsical little tribute to one of the great characteristics that helps define our humanity: laughter. Read more
[After cobbling together this week’s homily — which is much shorter than usual, because the Mass will include the 15-minute-long Rite of Welcome in my parish — I realized that I also need to preach at another Mass Sunday morning. D’oh. I decided to revisit my original homily, revising and expanding it. The results are below.] I have to confess to a guilty pleasure: I love watching “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” If you’ve seen it, you know the basic premise:... Read more
Over at the National Catholic Register, Kathryn Jean Lopez caught up with Elizabeth Fiococelli, author a book for children that I mentioned some weeks back, “Where Do Deacons Come From?” Part of her interview: Can adults learn as much as children from this book? As with all my books for children, Where Do Deacons Come From? is written keeping in mind the parents or teachers that may be sharing the book with young people. I, myself, learned new things about... Read more
[Click here for the readings] “Prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!” That passage from Isaiah is one of the most gripping pieces of scripture that we hear during Advent – a call to get busy and start building. It foretells what sounds like a massive reconstruction project. But the work it involves is even more daunting than we may realize. In fact, I’d say it’s the most challenging work we... Read more
[After cobbling together this week’s homily — which is much shorter than usual, because the Mass will include the 15-minute-long Rite of Welcome in my parish — I realized that I also need to preach at another Mass Sunday morning. D’oh. I decided to revisit my original homily, revising and expanding it. The results are below.] I have to confess to a guilty pleasure: I love watching “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” If you’ve seen it, you know the basic premise:... Read more
[Click here for the readings] “Prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!” That passage from Isaiah is one of the most gripping pieces of scripture that we hear during Advent – a call to get busy and start building. It foretells what sounds like a massive reconstruction project. But the work it involves is even more daunting than we may realize. In fact, I’d say it’s the most challenging work we... Read more
Last year, a priest in Italy (pictured below) made headlines when he celebrated Mass using the iPad instead of a book. Now I know what it’s like. We did that today. At CNEWA, we have monthly Mass in the office boardroom, with about two dozen people, a couple of priests and (ahem) one deacon. Today, though, it was a little different. We didn’t have a copy of the new translation of the Roman Missal. What to do? The celebrant just... Read more
A deacon friend sent this my way. It belongs to a priest, who explains: A long time ago, this friend, Mary Ryan (RIP) made me a Ken doll with a full set of liturgical colored vestments – here he is in purple for Advent, and stands in my office as a reminder that Advent is a time for preparing the way of the Lord… he will come, just be patient! How about a Sister Barbie? Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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