What an amazing shot: the largest clerical ordination in the nine-year history of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. Photo by Mike Nelson of The Tidings. That’s from the recent ordination of 48 men as deacons for the Santa Barbara region of Los Angeles. Details: “This is a day of grace and joy for you, my brothers, and for all of your families,” the archbishop said with a smile as he looked upon the assembly... Read more
An unusual piece of prison history — and American Catholic art — is undergoing restoration. Details, from the New York Times: In 1955 a remorseful prisoner at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia started expressing his newfound Roman Catholic faith on the jailhouse walls. The inmate, Lester Smith, had been convicted of a string of armed robberies. At first, while in his prison cell, he painted portraits of saints. Then the Eastern State staff noticed his talent and invited him to... Read more
That’s the uplifting message at the end of this trailer for a remarkable new film hitting theaters later this month. It’s “Life in a Day,” produced by Ridley Scott, and collected from thousands of YouTube videos. You can read more about it here and here. But check out the trailer below. Read more
The economy is tanking, unemployment is climbing, America is bracing for a possible financial calamity that could slide us into a recession (or worse) … and yet, parents are spending up to tens of thousands of dollars for stuff like this. From the New York Times: Apart from the open bar by the swimming pool, the main attraction at parties held at the Houston home of John Schiller, an oil company executive, and his wife, Kristi, a Playboy model turned... Read more
You gotta love this. Residents of a retirement community in Michigan get into the swing of things with a little Michael Buble action. In the middle of a hot hot summer, this is the coolest of cool. Enjoy. Read more
She was a woman of our own times — and one who defies easy categorization. This morning, the good people at Huffington Post have just posted this reminiscence from writer and editor Robert Ellsberg: Despite all the sadness and suffering around her, she had an eye for the transcendent. There were always moments when it was possible to see beneath the surface. “Just look at that tree!” she would say. It might be an act of kindness, the sound of... Read more
Today would have been the trailblazing media analyst’s 100th birthday. Fr. Raymond de Souza takes note of a new biography, and takes note, as well, of McLuhan’s devout Catholicism: In the Internet age, his ideas appear more relevant than ever. The mark of a great idea is that it is obvious once stated. That how we think and act is shaped by the mode of communication itself is now obvious to all. “Printing, radio, movies, TV – they actually alter... Read more
He made news a few years back, when he gave up a lucrative professional soccer career for the priesthood. How’s he doing? The Washington Post has an update: Chase Hilgenbrinck looks back on his first few months at Mount St. Mary’s and wonders how he did it. His decision to leave behind a Major League Soccer career for the priesthood generated such enormous interest that between the interview requests and the speaking engagements, he hardly had any energy left for... Read more
I howled. This is really something. Actor/impressionist Jim Meskimen with three minutes of bedazzling ingenuity. Read more
Somehow I missed this when it made news a few years back. But blogger Kathy Schiffer, in looking back on the spirituality of space travel, mentions a remarkable communion service that took place in the heavens. This comes from a 2004 article in St. Anthony Messenger by astronaut Thomas Jones, describing one memorable moment on the space shuttle Endeavour: Just over a week into the mission, one of us realized it was Sunday again, two weeks after Easter. Our shifts... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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