Deacon Bill Ditewig caught this interesting moment yesterday: At a recent press conference (6 October 2015) held in Rome highlighting some of the points raised thus far in the Synod, Father Thomas Rosica summarized one particular area of special concern for deacons. As phrased by Father Rosica, some Synodal Fathers were asking, “How can the permanent diaconate come to the aid of so many people who are in need of mercy? Are there new ways of using the permanent diaconate... Read more
From Ethika Politica comes this view from the other side of screen, via Fr. Gabriel Toretta, OP: As a newly ordained priest, I get asked all kinds of questions to which the speaker already knows the answer, things like “What was it like being ordained?” (Indescribable), “How do you like your new parish?” (It’s great), or “How awesome is it to say Mass?” (Like, ridiculously awesome). But no one so far has guessed my answer to the question, “What’s your... Read more
Who knew? From Tulsa World: American Airlines pilot Capt. Gary Beam carried a huge secret for more than a month: that he had been selected to fly Pope Francis back to Rome. “I’ve been wanting to burst at the seams for the last month. It’s one of those secrets that you just wanted to blurt to everybody,” said Beam, who could tell no one outside of his immediate family for security reasons. “I was elated. Even today, it doesn’t feel like... Read more
I finally got home late (very late) Sunday from a long weekend in the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, Montana, where I led a retreat for the deacons and their wives. The diocese is big. No, it’s huge. No, it’s GINORMOUS. The website says it “comprises the eastern two-thirds of the State of Montana and includes churches, missions, and chapels of occasional worship from Gardiner to Plentywood and from Fort Shaw to Wibaux.” It’s about 94,000 square miles, with 51 parishes... Read more
This just in, from CNS: Canadian Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher of Gatineau, Quebec, said the synod should reflect on the possibility of allowing for female deacons as it seeks ways to open up more opportunities for women in church life. Where possible, qualified women should be given higher positions and decision-making authority within church structures and new opportunities in ministry, he told Catholic News Service Oct. 6. Discussing a number of proposals he offered the synod fathers to think about, he... Read more
From the In My Backyard Desk, Elizabeth Scalia at Aleteia writes about one of my favorite places to visit on retreat: the beautiful Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, New York: When the seminarians of Long Island’s Seminary of the Immaculate Conception were transferred to St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers as a part of a unique tri-diocesan merger of formation resources many wondered whether Immaculate Conception could be sufficiently utilized to justify its upkeep. The questions arose: What possible use could... Read more
From John Burger at Aleteia: Pope Francis in September asked Catholics in Europe to put up immigrant families fleeing the horrors of war in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa. In the village of Lourdes, France, it was already happening. About 15 Iraqi Christian families have arrived in the pilgrimage town over the past year. Up to 20 families, roughly 70 to 80 people, are expected to have reached the town by early 2016, Reuters reported: Under a local... Read more
I finally got home late (very late) Sunday from a long weekend in the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, Montana, where I led a retreat for the deacons and their wives. The diocese is big. No, it’s huge. No, it’s GINORMOUS. The website says it “comprises the eastern two-thirds of the State of Montana and includes churches, missions, and chapels of occasional worship from Gardiner to Plentywood and from Fort Shaw to Wibaux.” It’s about 94,000 square miles, with 51 parishes... Read more
This just in, from CNS: Canadian Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher of Gatineau, Quebec, said the synod should reflect on the possibility of allowing for female deacons as it seeks ways to open up more opportunities for women in church life. Where possible, qualified women should be given higher positions and decision-making authority within church structures and new opportunities in ministry, he told Catholic News Service Oct. 6. Discussing a number of proposals he offered the synod fathers to think about, he... Read more
From the In My Backyard Desk, Elizabeth Scalia at Aleteia writes about one of my favorite places to visit on retreat: the beautiful Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, New York: When the seminarians of Long Island’s Seminary of the Immaculate Conception were transferred to St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers as a part of a unique tri-diocesan merger of formation resources many wondered whether Immaculate Conception could be sufficiently utilized to justify its upkeep. The questions arose: What possible use could... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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