Don’t you know someone who’d like this for Christmas?: Fr. Leopold is on a mission to share the good news of Jesus Christ with minifigures everywhere. Sporting his brand new clerics and a friendly face, he is ready to preach the gospel and bring the sacraments to his people. Featuring 171 genuine LEGO® bricks, three modified bricks (his Roman collar, the sacramentary and the lectionary were printed after they left the factory) and a set of four vestments (a green... Read more
The New York Times offers this preview of a new book, due out later this month, and the women who made it happen: The idea of a cloistered life strikes some as one of severity and silence, of running away from a broken heart or a broken life. But as Toni Greaves discovered when she visited a community of cloistered nuns in New Jersey, it was a joyful embrace of a life that is in many ways countercultural given the... Read more
One person’s anonymous testimony: I grew up hearing all sorts of mythology from parishioners about our faith and abortion; that it was an “unforgivable sin”; that it condemned you to hell; that you are automatically excommunicated and no longer “Catholic.” Unfortunately, those misconceptions are common, and while I am at peace with my standing before God, the church as a community is still rather uneasy about fully accepting and loving those of us who have had abortions. As many critics have... Read more
From Catholic News Agency: A media firestorm arose in Spain after a transsexual woman, who considers herself a man, asked to be the godfather of her nephew – leading a diocese’s bishop to turn to the Vatican for an answer. After writing to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about the issue earlier this month, Bishop Rafael Zornoza Boy of Cádiz and Ceuta was told that since transsexual persons are not consistently living Church teaching, its “impossible”... Read more
The celebrated actor from countless Disney films in the ’60s died today at age 84, from Parkinson’s. You may know him best from this: But his life was far more interesting and complicated, according to Christianity Today: For years he had deceived himself into believing that the Hollywood lifestyle would satisfy him, but it had only left him depressed and suicidal. He addictively sought the comforting roar of audience approval, but such pursuits had only shattered his first marriage (which... Read more
I don’t think there’s much here that’s surprising. But it offers a good snapshot of the flock Pope Francis will be meeting when he arrives on these shores later this month: When Pope Francis arrives in the U.S. for the World Meeting of Families later this month, he will find a Catholic public that is remarkably accepting of a variety of non-traditional families, according to a new Pew Research Center survey that provides an in-depth look at American Catholics’ views... Read more
You may remember this story from last week—wherein a bishop moved to forbid Mass at a Catholic Worker house in Iowa, after a “woman priest” presided at a liturgy there—and now my blog neighbor Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble has an interesting followup. This comes from Charles Beard, who is part of a Catholic Worker community in Oklahoma: Following the announcement that there could be no more Masses at DMCW, the group released a statement affirming its support for women’s ordination and... Read more
Elizabeth Scalia, of happy memory, just dropped me a line and asked me to take a look at the site’s shiny new redesign—and it’s a stunner. Clean. Elegant. Eye-catching. Easy to navigate. Inviting. The screen shot here doesn’t do it justice. Take a look for yourself. Kick the tires. Test the steering wheel. Then take it out for a spin. I think you’ll be impressed. This little beauty is going to turn heads. I do think these folks are on... Read more
A remarkable odyssey, from Sister Camille D’Arienzo in NCR. She interviews David Hammer, 56, serving a life sentence without parole in Tucson, AZ: Sr. Camille: 15 years have gone by since you first contacted me. You were an inmate in Allenwood, Pa., anticipating a January 1999 execution. Your request was for someone to pray for you and for your victim, whom you killed in prison, and to serve as a spiritual guide for the remaining weeks of your life. Unable... Read more
The Archbishop of Philadelphia delivered these remarks last night: Immigration can be a tough issue. At least one of our presidential candidates has already made the national immigration debate ugly with a great deal of belligerent bombast. His success in the polls shows that many people – including many good people – are very uneasy about the direction of our country. And immigration is a topic with obvious economic, national security and legal dimensions. For the Church, immigration is mainly about the human aspects... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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