A blessing for the Cubs! From Fr. Burke Masters, Cubs Chaplain and Vocation Director at the Diocese of Joliet. (For more on the good padre, check out this profile from several days back.) https://www.facebook.com/1160443449/videos/vb.1160443449/10209518993829304/?type=2&theater Read more
CNS notes: Two priests of the Diocese of Rockford, Ill., and their bishop are the stars of a new video making the rounds on the internet that parodies the “Carpool Karaoke” segments made famous by James Corden’s “The Late Late Show” on CBS. According to the Rockford Register Star, the video was unveiled last Sunday at an annual youth summit in the diocese attended by 1,700 teens. Father Keith Romke and Father Kyle Manno pretend they’re driving to the summit.... Read more
This poignant video says it all: a tearful woman brings water to an Urbandale, Iowa police officer. KCCI-TV in Des Moines describes this on Twitter as “something amazingly positive in a morning filled with tragedy.” The world needs to see this and remember it. Read more
From the BBC: The Russian Orthodox Church has come out in support of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar in the face of calls from hardline Christian activists for it to be banned. Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida says that while works like the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical might give rise to disputes and discussions, “it is not right to forbid an artist from drawing inspiration from the Holy Scripture”. Mr Legoida was commenting after residents in the Siberian city of... Read more
From the Daily Mail: Former Manchester United midfielder Philip Mulryne has taken an unusual post-football career step, as he continues his bid to become a Catholic priest. The Northern Irishman, who earned 27 caps for his country in a career that included spells with Norwich and Cardiff City, was this week ordained as a deacon in the Catholic Church. While many ex-players go into coaching or television punditry, Mulryne has ditched his life of glamour for something of a more... Read more
The subject came up during Pope Francis’s now-customary news conference on the papal flight back to Rome following his visit to Sweden. The answer should surprise no one who has been paying attention for the last three decades: Asked how realistic it would be to foresee women priests in the Catholic Church in the coming decades, and if not, why not, Pope Francis said “the last word on this issue was clear” and had been given by Saint John Paul... Read more
From RNS: Hoping for divine intervention – or Jewish votes – Donald Trump wrote a short prayer to be inserted in between the stones of the Western Wall. Trump’s team photographed and sent a copy of the handwritten prayer to Ynet News and Yedioth Ahronoth, Israeli sister publications. The original was handed to David Faiman, a Trump advisor, who was heading to Israel, the news outlets reported. “May you bless the United States, our armed forces and our allies. May your guiding hand... Read more
From CatholicTV in Boston: This week on CatholicTV’s The Lens, Matt Weber went to Harvard Square to ask passersby about the presidential election. As part of the brief interviews, he asked how people could pray for the election. Check out the surprising and illuminating results below. Read more
From CNS: His toes curl in pain, his veins bulge from exertion, his bony chest heaves in the last throes of death. The newly restored 14th-century wooden crucified Christ “has been resurrected” from obscurity — once caked over with dark paint and left forgotten behind an elevator shaft, said Cardinal Angelo Comastri, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica. “We have discovered a hidden treasure under the dust of many centuries,” he told reporters at a Vatican news conference Oct. 28. The... Read more
From The Guardian: The Catholic church in England and Wales has brought the medieval manuscript Ars Moriendi – The Art of Dying – into the digital age, with a website aimed at helping terminally ill people and their loved ones deal with death. Like the original 15th century work, The Art of Dying Well is intended to bring religious comfort and offer practical guidance to people in the final stage of life. The modern-day version offers videos, animations and interviews... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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