From Canada, comes this great story about a deacon who gave up a high-paying executive position to work with the homeless as the chaplain of the Ottawa Mission. Details: We come upon the official chaplain, Tom Donohue, a Catholic deacon since 2003. He has an office right by the front door on Waller Street, where he keeps a row of model cars -GM muscle machines, mostly -and a picture on his computer of his baby, a 1971 Pontiac LeMans, two-door,... Read more
Here is just one story, out of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, that are emerging from the devastated rubble of Japan. From CTV in Canada: A Catholic priest from Quebec has been found among the dead in Japan after an earthquake and tsunami rocked the country. Father Andre Lachapelle, a 76-year-old missionary from Saint-Jacques-de-Montcalm, near Joliette, Que., died on Friday after the “intense motion” of the earthquake resulted in a heart attack, said Guy Charbonneau, superior general of the Quebec-based... Read more
That would be confession, or the Sacrament of Reconciliation. With Lent now upon us, many places are offering it more frequently, with some dioceses even publicizing it. But are people buying what the Church is selling? The Catholic Anchor in Alaska takes a look: Like lancing a boil or going to the dentist, the thought of going to confession stirs up powerful emotions in Catholics. Some fear it. Others feel embarrassment. A great deal of anxiety seems to accompany most... Read more
I first posted this a few months back, but it’s worth a second hearing. Here’s a rich performance of a great song by Tom Jones — and the video below includes the arid landscape of the desert, as well as a clutch of rosary beads. It’s a perfect anthem for Lent. Read more
While people continue to debate the Cuomo Communion Controversy, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles weighed in on the issue earlier this week: While some of Mahony’s brother bishops appear as if they won’t be happy until they get the chance to deny Communion to elected officials who deviate from church teachings, Mahony has resisted taking that step. Why? Canon law, he notes, puts the responsibility for worthy receipt of the sacrament on the person approaching the Communion rail rather... Read more
A prayer for the quake victims, from the Catholic Medical Mission Board: God our Father, In faith we acknowledge your care over us, your sons, daughters and children. In hope we trust in your divine providence of giving us wisdom and courage as we face challenges in life. We invoke your help and guidance during these difficult days of death and destruction. Grant eternal peace to those who lost their lives. Embrace the children who died in their innocence. Help... Read more
Friday morning, when I clicked on my computer at home, I was stunned, like a lot of people, to see the images and video from Japan. Within hours after it happened, almost instantaneously, hundreds if not thousands of pictures and videos had been loaded onto the Internet, many from cell phone cameras, capturing this disaster as it was happening. It has brought the whole world into this experience in an astonishing way – with an urgency and an intimacy, I... Read more
Friday morning, when I clicked on my computer at home, I was stunned, like a lot of people, to see the images and video from Japan. Within hours after it happened, almost instantaneously, hundreds if not thousands of pictures and videos had been loaded onto the Internet, many from cell phone cameras, capturing this disaster as it was happening. It has brought the whole world into this experience in an astonishing way – with an urgency and an intimacy, I... Read more
“I do observe Lent, and my family and I have traditionally sacrificed something during these weeks leading up to Easter Sunday. When I was growing up, my Irish Catholic grandfather would remind me that sacrifices offered up during Lent are to be like tithing — if you advertise your ’sacrifice’ and tithe then you negate any spiritual gains. (Or maybe he’d say that because he didn’t want us to know what he gave up!)…Catholic baptism and Catechism classes have stuck with me internally.”... Read more
From Japan this morning: Our Lady of Akita, pray for us. Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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