Sister Mary Ann Walsh at the USCCB offers this eyebrow-raising overview of a story in yesterday’s Washington Post: The most memorable line since Richard Nixon’s “I am not a crook” has just come out of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Ta da: “ I’m not trying to get anyone off the hook here.” That telling quote comes from George Sheldon, acting assistant secretary for HHS’s Administration for Children and Families. Sheldon offered his defense to Washington... Read more
Performance painter David Garibaldi creates works that are wholly original — and this time, it’s a holy original. Just watch. Read more
How low can the secular media go? This low: A group of men with no real background in law or medicine, but blessed with a strong personal interest in women’s bodies, have quietly influenced all of the major anti-abortion legislation over the past several years. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops may be one of the quietest, yet most powerful lobbies on Capitol Hill, with political allies that have enabled them to roll back decades of law and precedent. Over... Read more
Details: After years of prayer and study, eight married men were prepared to be ordained permanent deacons Oct. 29 in Portland’s St. Mary Cathedral. Archbishop John Vlazny said the Archdiocese of Portland is “blessed with the presence of so many men who are stepping forward to offer themselves as servants of the gospel.” “All leadership in the church begins with service,” the archbishop told the congregation, which packed the cathedral. Permanent deacons, who will not become priests, are ordained with a... Read more
This Protestant pastor seems to have a flair for it: “Jesus himself tells the church to discipline those who refuse to repent of their sins and listen to him through the church. In obedience to his command, we are handing you over to Satan and his kingdom of darkness, in hopes that you will come to your senses, repent and return.” You can read the whole letter below. Source. Read more
“The fact is that no Muslim student at Catholic University has registered a complaint with the University about the exercise of their religion on campus. And today we learned from an article in the Washington Post that [lawyer John] Banzhaf himself has not received any complaints from our Muslim students . . . Contrary to the impression Mr. Banzhaf would like to create, the December 2010 Post article spoke in overwhelmingly positive terms about the experience of Muslim students at... Read more
Details: After years of prayer and study, eight married men were prepared to be ordained permanent deacons Oct. 29 in Portland’s St. Mary Cathedral. Archbishop John Vlazny said the Archdiocese of Portland is “blessed with the presence of so many men who are stepping forward to offer themselves as servants of the gospel.” “All leadership in the church begins with service,” the archbishop told the congregation, which packed the cathedral. Permanent deacons, who will not become priests, are ordained with a... Read more
“The fact is that no Muslim student at Catholic University has registered a complaint with the University about the exercise of their religion on campus. And today we learned from an article in the Washington Post that [lawyer John] Banzhaf himself has not received any complaints from our Muslim students . . . Contrary to the impression Mr. Banzhaf would like to create, the December 2010 Post article spoke in overwhelmingly positive terms about the experience of Muslim students at... Read more
That’s the beautiful truth that artist John Nava expresses while talking about his exquisite tapestries at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles (which I mentioned in my homily for All Saints Day.) Below, a video where he talks more about his work, his politics, and shows off more details of those tapestries. Read more
As we mark All Saints Day, I was surprised to learn how our brothers and sisters in the East honor their saints — and how they decide who becomes one. Among other things, they don’t celebrate this feast day; they have, instead, the Sunday of All Saints, the Sunday after Pentecost. I posted something on this, from Fr. Joseph Frawley of the Orthodox Church of America, over at the CNEWA blog ONE-TO-ONE: “While the glorification of a saint may be... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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