Here’s something else to throw on the agenda for the upcoming Synod: children born outside of wedlock. I’d argue it’s not just the couples involved that need counseling; judging from this, so do some clergy. The working document on the Synod notes about teenage mothers: Above all, they are to be esteemed for the love and courage with which they welcomed the life conceived in their womb and now provide for the upbringing and education of their children. They deserve... Read more
One of the pleasures of traveling around the country is getting to experience Mass at different parishes. This week my wife and I found ourselves in Orlando, and decided to visit Corpus Christi Church in the nearby town of Celebration. It’s a pretty church, relatively new, seating around 500 people. It has an adoration chapel just behind the sanctuary, with a pretty and colorful stained glass window of the Annunciation. They have four weekend Masses, one full-time priest and two... Read more
From his homily this morning, where six survivors of clerical sex abuse were present: The scene where Peter sees Jesus emerge after a terrible interrogation… Peter whose eyes meet the gaze of Jesus and weeps… This scene comes to my mind as I look at you, and think of so many men and women, boys and girls. I feel the gaze of Jesus and I ask for the grace to weep, the grace for the Church to weep and make... Read more
Unreal: A Queens middle-school teacher let a 14-year-old student drive his car, gave him cash and expensive gifts, and exchanged hundreds of texts behind his parent’s back. But, over the objections of the outraged parents and principal, the teacher can keep his job, an arbitrator has ruled. James Rampulla Jr., 44, who taught at Irwin Altman MS 172 in Floral Park, sent some of the 513 texts to the boy after 11 p.m. and included the words “I love you,”... Read more
Details: In apparent defiance of Pope Francis, a church procession detoured from its route through a southern Italian town to honor a convicted mobster under house arrest. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano on Sunday denounced the tribute in Oppido Mamertina, a Calabrian town and ‘ndrangheta crime syndicate stronghold, as “deplorable and disgusting.” He praised three Carabinieri policemen who abandoned the procession in disapproval. On June 21, Francis, visiting Calabria, had denounced the ‘ndrangheta for its “adoration of evil” and said its members were excommunicated.... Read more
Good stuff here: It is quite traditional and correct to speak of “discerning a vocation” – particularly to consecrated life or the priesthood, though also in regard to marriage, careers, and other major commitments. In modern Western culture, however, the idea of vocational discernment has become problematic, producing unnecessary indecision and anxiety. The problem is not with the traditional concepts and language, but with us and our mindset. Shaped by the modern sensibility of intense self-consciousness, and by the consumer culture’s obsession with... Read more
Details, from The Chattanooga Times Free Press: Two separate car dealerships failed at a concrete-and-glass showroom built in 2001 in Chatsworth, Ga. Then Dalton’s St. Joseph’s Catholic Church bought the 22,000-square-foot building on U.S. Highway 76 in 2012 to establish a mission in Murray County, which had no Catholic church. “It had 600 people the very first day, which kind of got me in trouble with the fire marshal,” said the Rev. Paul Williams, the pastor who leads St. Joseph’s.... Read more
You may remember this story from a couple weeks back. Now, the final chapter: A Roman Catholic priest convicted of stabbing and strangling a nun 34 years ago in a hospital chapel will receive a funeral Mass, a church official said Saturday. The Rev. Gerald Robinson remained an ordained priest after his conviction and his services will follow the usual protocol for a diocesan priest’s funeral, the Rev. Charles Ritter, administrator for the Diocese of Toledo, said in a statement.... Read more
The working document on the upcoming Synod paints a stark picture: From every part of the world, the responses note an increasing number of couples who live together ad experimentum (“on an experimental basis”) in unions which have not been religiously or civilly recognized nor officially registered in any way. The terms “experiment” or “trial period” are really not appropriate, since, especially in Europe and America, they often refer to a permanent form of life. Sometimes marriage takes place after the birth... Read more
The man happens to be my former CBS News colleague Phil Jones. His story is told in the video below, a report by another former CBS News correspondent, Bob Faw. It was broadcast this weekend on PBS’s Religious & Ethics Newsweekly. Among other things, it’s a story of faith—and life, thanks to adult stem cells. And it’s just wonderful. Watch. Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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