I confess: I’ve never seen a funeral celebrated with black vestments. We don’t even have a set of them in my parish. I asked my pastor, ordained nearly 40 years, if he’d ever seen black vestments used and he said no. But as we commemorate the faithful departed this month, “Liturgy Guy” Brian Williams makes the case for them: While black is the required liturgical color for All Souls Day and all funerals in the Traditional Latin Mass, it has all... Read more
The plot thickens: The Vatican’s own police force has arrested a monsignor and a laywoman in its latest probe into the leak of confidential documents. The Vatican said both people were members of the commission established on Pope Francis’ order to investigate the Church’s finances. They were being held on suspicion of leaking confidential documents to the media. A statement released by the Vatican identified the suspects as Spanish priest Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and Francesca Chaouqui. Chaouqui was released... Read more
Break out the rice! From the Louisville Courier-Journal: One hundred thirty-six Catholic couples celebrated going the distance in marriage, as long as 73 years in one instance, at the annual celebration of marriage led by Louisville Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz. “You are witnesses to our faith… ” Kurtz told couples married 30 years or more at the 2 p.m. mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption on Fifth Street downtown. “Thank you for the gift of love and the gift... Read more
Here’s something most of us in the West may not appreciate: how the remembrance of the dead every year draws together a distinct minority in parts of Asia: Christians. The faithful put aside whatever differences divide them to honor and remember together those they have loved and lost: In major cities in South Asia, the commemoration of All Souls’ Day is a tribute to ecumenism when Protestants and Catholics, a religious minority on the subcontinent, come together at centuries-old British-built cemeteries. On... Read more
He spilled the beans to CNN: Former House Speaker John Boehner said he convinced his replacement to take over his punishing job by laying “every ounce of Catholic guilt that I could on him.” In an interview on CNN, Boehner said that he told Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan that he had no choice in the matter. “This isn’t about what you want to do,” Boehner recalled telling Ryan. “This is about what God wants you to do.” “Pulled the... Read more
That sound you hear is the moving van backing up into my driveway. Beginning Sunday, November 1, you will find this blog over at Aleteia. Fittingly, the move is happening on the feast of All Saints. (I’m hoping a few of them will help with the wrapping and packing…) I owe a tremendous debt to all at Patheos and beyond who helped make “The Bench” what it is today—including, first and foremost, my pal Elizabeth Scalia. We go way back—I like to say... Read more
Our entrance hymn this weekend is “For All the Saints” and it left me feeling nostalgic for church music that is vigorous and, in a way, muscular. Read some of my thoughts on church music right here. But for now, crank up the volume and listen to this spectacular version below. They really don’t write them like this anymore. Dammit. Read more
I grew up around horses in Maryland. My sister, Karen, loves them; we spent our family weekends heading off to horse shows, fox hunts, and pony club meetings. The scents of my childhood were the intermingled perfume of horse sweat, leather saddle soap, and freshly manufactured manure. Ah. Good times. Now retired, my sister spends her free time following horses and horse lovers with a camera. This weekend, she attended the opening day for The Potomac Hunt club in Maryland and snapped a couple hundred... Read more
This Sunday, the entrance hymn at all our Masses is a classic: “For All the Saints.” Most of us are familiar with the first verse or two—”For all the saints, who from their labors rest…” but rarely get to hear much more. I was curious about the rest of the hymn and looked it up. Turns out there are several verses. Let’s just say this is a song that has clearly worked out regularly at the gym: 3. For the Apostles’ glorious company, Who bearing... Read more
When I’m doing a baptism, the first question asked in the ritual is: “What name do you give your child?” Everyone answers that perfectly. But the second question is trickier. “What do you ask of God’s church for your child?” The correct answer, of course, is “Baptism.” Even though we’ve gone over this in the baptism class, sometimes people’s nerves get the best of them. They’re stumped. So I repeat: What do you ask of God’s church for your child? A... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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