Talking heads have been wondering about that this morning, and CNN has this fascinating detail: Boehner, who has presided over the House since 2011, explained during a closed-door meeting with Republicans Friday morning that he had only planned to serve two terms as speaker but decided to hold onto his post after then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his seat during a primary last year, a Republican lawmaker in the room told CNN. Boehner, who didn’t speak to reporters on... Read more
View image | gettyimages.com Some high points: The simplest and best measure and indicator of the implementation of the new Agenda for development will be effective, practical and immediate access, on the part of all, to essential material and spiritual goods: housing, dignified and properly remunerated employment, adequate food and drinking water; religious freedom and, more generally, spiritual freedom and education. These pillars of integral human development have a common foundation, which is the right to life and, more generally, what we... Read more
[getty src=”489817578?et=qk_drTgZSzVHY2OaVf5CuQ&viewMoreLink=off&sig=uK81EOUi_0uXvo2wT9cY62tF5OnyVs__X5LrPCAlEuY=” width=”594″ height=”439″] View image | gettyimages.com My friend, pro-life activist and doctor Gerard Nadal, answers the critics of Pope Francis: For traditional Catholics, for pro-lifers, the visit by Pope Francis has been a series of missed opportunities. In his address to Congress not only did he make fleeting reference to abortion by stating the need for Americans to respect life at every stage of development, he then followed that with immediate specific reference to capital punishment. If he... Read more
He devoted his entire show last night to the visit of Pope Francis. A musical highlight, below. And, in what must be a late night first, one of America’s archbishops, Thomas Wenski of Miami, stopped by, too. Read more
[getty src=”489992814?et=HpcRkdgaQdBF1FpOYJp1_A&viewMoreLink=off&sig=Y0_Nyg7JYPnYAZDUFaanMiBteaYGb7ePfDgePVPHjHw=&caption=true” width=”416″ height=”594″] View image | gettyimages.com Some high points: The simplest and best measure and indicator of the implementation of the new Agenda for development will be effective, practical and immediate access, on the part of all, to essential material and spiritual goods: housing, dignified and properly remunerated employment, adequate food and drinking water; religious freedom and, more generally, spiritual freedom and education. These pillars of integral human development have a common foundation, which is the right to life and,... Read more
Talking heads have been wondering about that this morning, and CNN has this fascinating detail: Boehner, who has presided over the House since 2011, explained during a closed-door meeting with Republicans Friday morning that he had only planned to serve two terms as speaker but decided to hold onto his post after then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his seat during a primary last year, a Republican lawmaker in the room told CNN. Boehner, who didn’t speak to reporters on... Read more
[getty src=”489997256?et=hfzxRMqKQyV2mPwv1pnUmA&viewMoreLink=off&sig=dfWKtIWIOIM6zqf0cJsfJCEYdqqJhdq965qV2yYtI5Y=” width=”594″ height=”396″] View image | gettyimages.com Pope Francis’s Prayer at Ground Zero [Full program here] O God of love, compassion, and healing, look on us, people of many different faiths and religious traditions, who gather today on this hallowed ground, the scene of unspeakable violence and pain. We ask you in your goodness to give eternal light and peace to all who died here: the heroic first-responders: our fire fighters, police officers, emergency service workers, and... Read more
I’ve been hearing this song all my life and thought I was immune to it. But when I saw and heard this today, sung by a children’s choir for the pope at Ground Zero — in the presence of families, clergy from many faiths, and towering, battered remnants of the fallen towers—I was blubbering like Boehner. Beautiful. Just beautiful. Read more
He devoted his entire show last night to the visit of Pope Francis. A musical highlight, below. And, in what must be a late night first, one of America’s archbishops, Thomas Wenski of Miami, stopped by, too. Read more
This is big news. At a press conference this afternoon in Philadelphia, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Council For The Family announced a major “global initiative”—partnering with Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), an agency of the Holy See where I work—to provide much-needed heating for 6,000 Syrian refugee families. With winter fast approaching, for many refugees this could mean the difference between life and death. Those who want to support this effort can make donations at the CNEWA website. The... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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