With ordination season now in full swing, some great vocation stories are emerging — and this one, from Newark, is just one of them. Snip: Under the majestic gothic stone arches of a Newark cathedral on Saturday, a man from Hasbrouck Heights hugged a woman from Brooklyn. She thanked him again for saving her from death at the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks. He shook his head. “You saved me,” he said. Sometimes a chance encounter can change... Read more
To the love of my life, who said “I do” on May 24th, 1986. Thank you, Siobhain, for everything. Happy 25th anniversary! Ad multos annos! Read more
File this under: “What the — ?” Details from Reuters: A Roman Catholic order of priests sacked its leader in the Netherlands and disciplined another priest Monday after the two publicly defended pedophile sex, an issue haunting the worldwide Church in recent years. The scandal erupted over the weekend when RTL radio reported the priest, named only as Rev. Van B, had been a board member of a lobbying group advocating sex between adults and children. He told RTL that... Read more
To which I have to reply, of course: “And with your spirit!” Last weekend, the dreams of every “Star Wars” geek were fulfilled, when Disney unveiled a new iteration of its popular “Star Tours” ride. Orlando was crawling with would-be Jedis, eager to be among the first to take the ship for a spin. (I’m told George Lucas was there for the launch, along with Anthony Daniels, but they must hang out with a different crowd than I do. I never saw... Read more
From the New York Times comes this story about a family bracing for the Rapture on May 21: The Haddad children of Middletown, Md., have a lot on their minds: school projects, SATs, weekend parties. And parents who believe the earth will begin to self-destruct on Saturday. The three teenagers have been struggling to make sense of their shifting world, which started changing nearly two years ago when their mother, Abby Haddad Carson, left her job as a nurse to... Read more
I saw this for myself last weekend: Every year for Mother’s Day, people donate roses in honor of their mothers at the Basilica Shrine of Mary Queen of the Universe in Orlando, Florida. They had some 10,000 on display the last two weeks. The celebrant pictured above is the shrine’s rector, Fr. Paul Henry. If you find yourself in the area on vacation, make it a point to stop by the shrine. The church is beautiful, the liturgies are impeccable, and... Read more
Caught this one in a trailer the other day, and it just cracked me up… “Is the Popemobile Catholic?” — Tow Mater, in Pixar’s “Cars 2,” opening next month. Read more
Details: An assailant has sprayed a Roman Catholic priest with flammable liquid and set him alight during mass in a church in Lithuania, police in the Baltic state say. Father Remigijus Kuprys, 46, managed to extinguish the flames with the help of worshippers, but suffered facial burns. The attack occurred during the service on Thursday in the central Lithuanian town of Jonava, when a 42-year-old local resident sprayed Kuprys with the flammable liquid and set it ablaze with a cigarette... Read more
I was here: And here: Happy 4th anniversary, diaconate class of ’07. Ad multos annos! And a special prayer of love and gratitude to Jim. We miss you, brother. Read more
From my column this week “All Things New” … “Beyond the sacramental grace involved—and grace and prayer do play a big part, I think—it’s a lot of talking, and a lot of listening, and a lot of patience, and a lot of persistence. It’s wanting this little partnership to hold together, in spite of all the temptations and opportunities to make it rupture. It’s realizing, day after day and year after year, that the strange and beautiful “something” that drew... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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