“No parent, no sibling, no family member should ever, ever have to sit through what we sat through.” You may remember this story from last year, about a family being upset at the homily preached at the funeral of a man who committed suicide. Now, an update, with this press release from a law firm: On November 14, 2019, the law firm of Charles E. Boyk Law Offices, LLC announced that it has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Linda... Read more
He made his comments when veering off a prepared text and speaking today to the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. From Vatican Media: Addressing participants in the first plenary assembly of the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life on Saturday, Pope Francis urged them to cultivate two basic attitudes: feeling with the heart of Mother Church and having a brotherly gaze. Setting aside his prepared text, Pope Francis warned against the danger of what he termed as “clericalizing... Read more
His name was Ramesh Raju. He was a 40-year-old building contractor, husband and father who worked in Sri Lanka. Last Easter Sunday, Ramesh and his family arrived at their church to celebrate Easter. He was in the church’s courtyard, when he noticed a man he didn’t recognize about to enter the church, wearing a large backpack. He stopped him and asked what was in the bag. The man told him it held a video camera. Ramesh told him that wasn’t... Read more
Pope Francis called on the international community to recognize ecocide as a “crime against peace.” From CNS: Following through on a proposal made at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, Pope Francis said there are plans to include a definition of ecological sins in the church’s official teaching. “We should be introducing — we were thinking — in the Catechism of the Catholic Church the sin against ecology, ecological sin against the common home,” he told participants at a... Read more
National Catholic Reporter? They published a widely read — and controversial — criticism of the Latin Mass, or Mass in the Extraordinary Form, last week (calling it, among other things, a “cult of toxic tradition.”) As a kind of counterpoint, this week the paper offers a response from writer Jane Stannus: At the time of Communion, we accomplish “the perfect ceremony of love’s rite” by kneeling to receive the most holy Eucharist. Through this reverent action, the body expresses outwardly what... Read more
“You believe in Jesus, that changes your heart.” Check out this video above, from a press conference held in Jacksonville, where the Jaguars QB describes finding joy in the midst of an injury and how his faith in Jesus Christ allows him to remain calm in the midst of struggle. From Foles’ Wikipedia page: He is currently an online graduate student at Liberty University, earning his master’s degree in divinity. He has stated that he plans to become a pastor after his football career, saying, “I want to... Read more
This is my bishop and the man who ordained me. I find this, on every level, incredible. I don’t believe it. Any of it. The story: A Roman Catholic bishop named by Pope Francis to investigate the church’s response to clergy sexual abuse in Buffalo, New York, has himself been accused of sexual abuse of a child, an attorney for the alleged victim notified the church this week. The attorney informed Catholic officials in New Jersey that he is preparing... Read more
“This is perhaps a way to correct an oversight of history.” From CNS: The U.S. bishops added their assent to a call to have St. Irenaeus declared a doctor of the church. The action came Nov. 12, the second day of their Nov. 11-13 fall general meeting in Baltimore. “This is perhaps a way to correct an oversight of history,” said Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine. St. Irenaeus... Read more
“I believe these Sunday services will serve to bring young people to an encounter with God.” Watch the latest video at foxnews.com The one-time Catholic priest and current commentator for Fox News hit the road and described what it was like to attend the singer’s “Sunday Service Experience.” His takeaway: While I won’t be exchanging my Catholic faith for West’s experiment, I left Los Angeles with these takeaways: — I believe Kanye is sincere both in his faith and in this... Read more
From Radio Free Europe: Unknown gunmen have shot dead an Armenian Catholic priest and his father as they were traveling in a car in northeastern Syria. Father Hovsep Petoian, the head of the Armenian Catholic community in the the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli near the border with Turkey, and his father, Abraham Petoian, were heading to the province of Deir Al-Zor when they came under attack on November 11, Deacon Hakob Parsamian told RFE/RL. The two men were due to... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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