The Deacon’s Wife and I are going to see the new Broadway revival of “Godspell” Tuesday night (a rare night out for us — and on a work night!). While checking out the production’s website, I discovered the video below: a flash mob in Times Square that was staged a couple weeks ago to promote the production. Gimmicky, but effective — and when was the last time you heard someone singing these words in Times Square? Read more
Folks in Detroit may already know this, but it was news to me. The TV station is marking an anniversary today, and Kathy Schiffer gets the scoop: Not a huge fan of television, I would say “Who cares?” except for a little tidbit I heard on WWJ’s radio news this morning. According to FCC regulations, call letters for stations east of the Mississippi begin with the letter “W” and those west of the Mississippi begin with “K.” Every station’s call... Read more
Details from the AP: A memorial to 14 Jewish chaplains who died during active military service was dedicated Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, joining memorials to Protestant and Roman Catholic chaplains that had been in place for decades. Monday’s dedication service at the cemetery corrects an oversight that had more or less gone unnoticed until a few years ago, according to those who sponsored the memorial. “We have long awaited this day where we can recognize the crucial work and... Read more
You may remember this horrific video of a little girl run over by a van — and the bystanders who did nothing. An update, from the AP: Police formally arrested two drivers suspected of running over a toddler who died a week after she was struck on a busy market street in southern China and was ignored by passers-by, newspapers reported Sunday. The Beijing News and other outlets said Sunday police in the city of Foshan concluded their initial investigation... Read more
Details, from CNS: A Vatican document called for the gradual creation of a world political authority with broad powers to regulate financial markets and rein in the “inequalities and distortions of capitalist development.” The document said the current global financial crisis has revealed “selfishness, collective greed and the hoarding of goods on a great scale.” A supranational authority, it said, is needed to place the common good at the center of international economic activity. The 41-page text was titled, “Toward... Read more
The Associated Press looks at some of the religious voices being heard in this protest movement: Downtown Dewey Square is crammed with tents and tarps of Occupy Boston protesters, but organizers made sure from the start of this weeks-old encampment that there was room for the holy. No shoes are allowed in the “Sacred Space” tent here, but you can bring just about any faith or spiritual tradition. A day’s schedule finds people balancing their chakras, a “compassion meditation” and... Read more
That’s the audaciously clever premise behind one of the plays commissioned in London to mark the anniversary of the King James Bible. The New York Times has more: God’s terse first line in the Book of Genesis — “Let there be light” — was ready-made for the Twitter generation. If only the rest was as crisp, the British novelist Jeanette Winterson recalled thinking, as she began to reckon with that first book for a new theatrical project on the King... Read more
Discussing notions of what is beautiful in liturgy, Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin used his newspaper column recently to take aim at one popular church hymn: Beautiful can never be mistaken as an indicator of what pleases some majority of people somewhere. The fact that our parish likes to sing a particular song at the liturgy cannot, of itself, make that song beautiful. To be beautiful, indeed, is to be good and is to be true. As much as... Read more
In 1982, my first job out of college was as a Production Secretary for the CBS Evening News in Washington. I got up every morning and took the subway from Silver Spring to DuPont Circle, then walked a few blocks to the small, squat two-story building on M Street that was the home of the Washington bureau. I spent my days rolling wire copy, typing scripts on massive IBM Selectric typewriters, picking up lunch for the producers, and answering the... Read more
This seems a fitting followup to the image I posted yesterday. From the Washington Post: Kevin Schombert, a student with Down Syndrome, was crowned homecoming king this weekend at Urbana High School in Frederick County. Schombert is a manager for the school’s basketball team and a huge sports fan. “Kevin lives, breathes and bleeds Urbana Hawk Blue. Plus, he has a contagious smile!,” said senior Caitie Cyr, on a facebook page she created earlier this fall to rally support for... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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