Some answers, from The Atlantic: Even though marriage has been a major reason why adults have joined the Church in the past, it’s becoming less so. Between 2000 and 2012, adult baptisms declined by nearly 50 percent, which, [researcher Mark] Gray said, probably has something to do with the declining rates of marriage. So why are couples choosing to get married outside of the Church? For one thing, there might be a lack of awareness about the specific doctrinal importance the Church... Read more
Yep. A friend asked about this on Facebook, wondering if it was, maybe, blasphemous. I don’t think so. Actually, I like it. See what you think. Read more
This is something to see. The late, great Broadway legend who died earlier this month spoke to the EWTN host about her youth, her career, and the cardinal who was her uncle. It’s amazing Arroyo made it out alive. Read more
I preached about it last weekend. Now, there’s more. This just in, from My Day Job Desk: Catholic Near East Welfare Association has launched a campaign to rush emergency assistance to tens of thousands of Christians forced to flee their homes in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Ordered by ISIS extremists of the self-proclaimed Islamic Caliphate to convert, pay a special tax or die, Mosul’s Christians have instead fled to the Christian villages of the Nineveh Plain — some just... Read more
Those are the words of Rockville Centre’s Bishop William Murphy, quoted in this article from Newsday: The steady drop in the number of Catholic priests on Long Island and across the country is causing widespread use of retired priests to administer sacraments in parishes, an increase in priests from foreign countries to answer the need in the United States and cancellation of Masses in some cases. The Rev. Andrew Connolly, 83, of Copiague, who retired in 2005 after a ministry... Read more
Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport is convoking a local synod in his diocese. Sean Salai, S.J. at America magazine interviewed him about what this synod might entail. Snip: Reports from the pre-synod listening sessions you held in the spring indicated a wide variety of perspectives, with some people wanting a stronger devotional life and others voicing more progressive concerns. As a bishop, how do you balance people’s pastoral needs in a way that makes everyone feel cared for? This is... Read more
From The Hartford Courant comes this lovely story of a deacon and his wife—a saga of faith, conversion and, believe it or not, swinging: John Abdalla walked up to Irene Dauphin, a newcomer at work, and said he would give her a golf lesson at lunch. “The next day we went out at lunch,” to Stanley Park in Hartford, John says. With one hour and 10 minutes for a lunch break at Stanley Works in 1951, it was easy to practice golf... Read more
Blogger and teacher Matt Emerson poses the question over at the CNN Belief blog: Is Andrew Garfield, star of films such as “The Social Network” and “The Amazing Spiderman,” considering the priesthood? Last month, paparazzi snapped a picture of Garfield walking as he carried “The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything,” the Rev. James Martin’s insightful overview of Jesuit life and spirituality. According to reports, he’s consulting the book as he prepares to play a Jesuit in a film adaptation of “Silence,”... Read more
Details: Nigeria’s northern city of Kano on Sunday cancelled celebrations to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan after two bomb attacks blamed on the Islamist group Boko Haram. At least five people were killed and eight were injured in a bomb attack on a Catholic church in a mainly Christian area of the city, the largest in Nigeria’s north, police said. The attack came shortly after the end of mass at the Saint Charles Catholic church,... Read more
I thought I’d seen everything. But no. Details: It’s a lot more fun than going to Confession. A Roman Catholic priest in southern Spain has parishioners banging down his church doors, all so they can praise God and dance the flamenco. Jose Planas Moreno, or Father Pepe, as he is known, brings flocks of congregants to the Nuestra Senora del Carmen church in Campanilla by clicking his heels and strutting his stuff. The 66-year-old and female worshippers twirl down the... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In