The Deacon's Bench
“Come see what 2011 will be the year of.” – Wording on invitation to Apple event, reportedly launching the next generation iPad Read more
“Come see what 2011 will be the year of.” – Wording on invitation to Apple event, reportedly launching the next generation iPad Read more
And it was okay, he said, because his audience was Catholic. The story: Jacksonville mayoral candidate Mike Hogan‘s statement that jokes about abortion clinic bombings are OK if delivered in front of Catholic audiences isn’t sitting well with Catholics, including those heavily engaged in the movement to ban abortion. And a fellow Baptist who leads a Jacksonville anti-abortion group said the joke, its subsequent defense and the resulting media coverage could actually impede efforts to ban or limit abortions. Hogan,... Read more
That’s the notion I’m chewing on this week over in my column, “All Things New.” A snip: A couple years ago, during Easter season, a man stopped me after church one Sunday. He was perturbed. “What’s all this Latin doing in the mass?” he asked. “What do you mean?” “All this Latin!” he said, exasperated. “I thought they took that out. I don’t understand it.” I explained that, well, it is the Easter season, and some of the prayers at... Read more
The star of the acclaimed French film about the murdered monks of Tibhirine is talking about his role as one of the monks, and the challenges it presented. From the New York Times: These days his face looks craggy instead of boyish, and his American roles tend toward suave villains, like the sneering cosmetics mogul he played in “Catwoman” and the greedy expedition sponsor in another “Sahara,” Breck Eisner’s 2005 adventure film. But Mr. Wilson, who is unmarried, remains strikingly... Read more
It happened in Germany. Details, from the New York Daily News: A married father of two in Germany was ordained as a Catholic priest on Tuesday, a rare move by the church, which typically requires priests to be single and to take a vow of chastity. Harm Klueting, 61, a professor of theology at universities in Cologne and Switzerland, and his wife served as clerics in the Lutheran church before they converted to Catholicism several years ago. Since then, Klueting’s... Read more
Elizabeth Scalia, with an eye on what just happened in California, offers a perfect answer: Our Communion is much more than a mere family meal. it is a face-to-face, one-on-one, intimate encounter with Christ. This is nothing to engage in lightly. Paul warned us in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 against unworthy reception of the Eucharist and canon 908 is just the expression of this apostolic instruction in canon law. If the Church seems to “stand between” a person and Christ it... Read more
This is what is left of Christchurch Catholic Cathedral… Details: The mayor of New Zealand’s second-largest city, Christchurch, has declared a state of emergency in the aftermath of a 6.3-magnitude earthquake that rocked the “garden city” shortly before 1 p.m. local time on Tuesday. Prime Minister John Key, who was raised in Christchurch, said that at least 65 people are known to have died in what “may well be New Zealand’s darkest day.” The New Zealand earthquake is already the... Read more
This story sparked a lot of debate when it broke over the weekend. Now, it turns out, the priest has been suspended — and has promptly issued an apology: The priest who invited a Presbyterian minister to concelebrate a Mass at St. Norbert Catholic Church in Orange has written a letter of apology to his fellow priests and parishioners over the incident. “Church law (canon 908) prohibits ‘Catholic priests from concelebrating the Eucharist with priests or ministers of Churches or... Read more
Another tall tree in the forest has fallen. I had the good fortune of hearing Fr. Matthew Kelty preach several times at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. He usually gave talks in the evenings for people in the retreat house, and his delightful, poetic, stream-of-consciousness ramblings, delivered in that melodious and ancient Bostonian voice, were wondrously soothing. He would lumber into the chapel with thick file folders of faded clippings and scribblings and notes — some of them, his... Read more
Are too many of your work meetings like this? A friend sent me the prayer below. I like it 🙂 Prayer to St. Raphael, Angel of Happy Meetings O Raphael, lead us towards those we are waiting for, those who are waiting for us! Raphael, Angel of Happy Meetings, lead us by the hand towards those we are looking for! May all our movements, all their movements, be guided by your Light and transfigured by your Joy. Angel Guide of... Read more
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