Beautiful and humbling: After he finished the final leg of the Tour de France on Sunday, and winning the celebrated bicycle race, Egan Bernal, a Columbian, slowly hugged his younger brother, held his face, and then the two of them made the sign of the cross, a traditional Catholic gesture. Bernal then did the same with his mother, who was standing there. Bernal, 22, is the youngest cyclist in 110 years to win the Tour de France. He is also... Read more
Check this out: Despite Boris Johnson’s dismal record on key social issues there can be little doubt that his election as leader of the British Conservative Party, and the consequent legal formality of his appointment as prime minister by Queen Elizabeth, constitutes a major step forward for world politics. In most ways he is the most conservative politician to hold his office in more than two decades, his election and appointment delivering a stinging defeat to Europe’s left-wing established powers... Read more
Details: A federal judge in Kentucky on Friday dismissed a $250 million libel suit against The Washington Post brought by a high school student who claimed that the organization’s coverage of his and his fellow students’ encounter with an American Indian activist at the Lincoln Memorial in January was false and defamatory. U.S. District Judge William O. Bertelsman ruled that seven Post articles and three of its tweets bearing on Nicholas Sandmann — who was part of a group of... Read more
Here’s one perspective on the recent discussion on this from Catherine Hadro: It is only through a lens of clericalism, or false esteem for clergy, that we view preaching at Mass as the summit of sharing our voice in the Church and forget the influence we can have beyond the pulpit. If we as women have such a unique witness and perspective, why would we want to conform to male priesthood in sharing that? The pulpit is not our platform.... Read more
From CNS: The July 25 announcement by the Justice Department that it is reinstating the federal death penalty for the first time in 16 years was unwelcome news for Catholic leaders who have advocated against capital punishment. “The United States’ death penalty system is tragically flawed. Resuming federal executions — especially by an administration that identifies itself as ‘pro-life’ — is wrongheaded and unconscionable,” said Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that champions restorative justice and an end... Read more
It reportedly happened during Mass at Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Washington, DC. A New York Times editor reports: Last Sunday, the diminutive priest, [Father Percival D’Silva] now 82 and officially retired, once again affirmed those basic principles and called leaders to account. In his sermon, he spoke of how the “current occupant of the White House spews hatred, bigotry and intolerance” and must resign, I learned from James Zogby, a longtime parishioner who heads the Arab American... Read more
Most people probably don’t even know such a community exists. Details: The Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb live in the center of France. They are the first contemplative community in the world to welcome into consecrated life people with Down Syndrome, or trisomy 21. The community, which has a special devotion to Saint Benedict and Saint Theresa of Lisieux, first got the idea in the 1980’s. It started with a friendship. Line was on a spiritual search of her... Read more
Words of wisdom from Simcha Fisher: Who but priests understand better how serious our spiritual peril is, after opening their ears to an endless onslaught of sin, putting themselves every waking moment in the way of every kind of insult, assault, frustration, and spiritual infestation? If anyone should be hopeless, it’s priests. If anyone should be in a panic, it’s someone who spends time listening to how they spend their days. And yet the holiest priests I know are placid.... Read more
Details: Results from a new Pew survey show that Jews are the most knowledgeable among America’s religious communities about world religions, while only half of American Catholics know what their own Church teaches on core principles such as communion. According to the survey, exactly 50 percent of Catholics in the United States correctly answered a question about Church teaching on transubstantiation – the belief that during Mass, the bread and wine become the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ.... Read more
This popped up in my email — h/t Elizabeth Scalia! — and it’s pretty great: Debbie was consecrated as a virgin living in the world in Brooklyn, NY by her bishop on Saturday! What a beautiful witness of consecrated life in the world! Thank you for your YES! Evidently, this happened on July 13. Does anyone know any more? UPDATE: Well, yes, the woman in the picture knows a lot more. Deborah Sucich dropped me a line to share some... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In