From The Catholic Sun: At the requiem Mass, Fr. Eric Flood, the North American superior of the Fraternity of St. Peter Society, the religious order Fr. Walker belonged to, spoke about the young priest’s love of celebrating Mass. “If someone were to ask him if he would still want to be priest if he knew he would someday be killed, he would probably say yes,” Fr. Flood said, “even to say Mass just once.” He also offered what he said... Read more
From the diocesan Facebook page: This past Saturday, Bishop Mark J. Seitz ordained 12 men to the Diaconate for the Diocese of El Paso at St. Stephen Catholic Church. Ten were ordained as Permanent Deacons, and two were ordained to Transitional Deacons. Check out more pictures here. Congratulations, brothers! Ad multos annos! Read more
Details: A 54-year-old ex-convict has been arrested in the shooting death of a 28-year-old Phoenix priest. Phoenix police confirmed Gary Moran, a homeless man with an extensive criminal record, was arrested Sunday night and jailed on suspicion of shooting the Rev. Kenneth Walker multiple times at Mother of Mercy Mission Catholic Church in south Phoenix on Wednesday. Phoenix Police Sgt. Steve Martos wrote on the police department’s Twitter feed Monday morning that the arrest had been made. The 28-year-old Walker... Read more
Information is scarce right now, but this story popped up on my news feed, from The Billings Gazette: Greg Simpson has always had a thing for serving people. When Simpson was in the Navy out to sea on six-month deployments, he would preside as a lay reader over Word and Communion services for his fellow Catholics because there wasn’t a priest onboard. He has volunteered the past eight years for AIDSpirit in Billings, cooking meals and taking them to clients... Read more
Strong words from his homily today: The poor are the ones who end up paying for the damage wrought by the corruption of the powerful, whose avidity leaves the poor without the things of which they have need and to which they have a right. This was the theme of the Holy Father’s remarks following the readings of the day at Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence. “The only wat to [defeat] the sin of corruption,”... Read more
Details from The Christian Science Monitor: The shooting of two priests at a Phoenix church is the latest in more than 780 deadly attacks in US places of worship in the past 15 years. Phoenix police responded to a call about a burglary at Mater Misericordiae (Mother of Mercy) Mission shortly after 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday and found two badly injured priests in the rectory, police say. The Rev. Kenneth Walker later died at the hospital and the Rev.... Read more
When was the last time this happened? Details: Working on weekends as a deacon at St. Agnes Catholic Parish in Fowlerville, Gary Koenigsknecht would occasionally need to gently correct someone who belonged to St. Mary Catholic Parish a couple of towns west. “You would have somebody from Williamston say, ‘Hey, I saw you last week!’ ” he said. “And it was like, ‘No, you really did not.’ ” That’s because the tall, blue-eyed deacon with military-short brown hair and an easy, welcoming... Read more
The Arizona Republic in Phoenix has a long and richly detailed article (with some obvious church-related errors, though) about the two priests attacked at church last week, including these details about Father Walker, who was killed: Kenneth Walker came from a large family, but of the blended variety. When Walker’s parents divorced, he and his brother decided that one child should go with each parent to provide emotional support. Older brother TJ went with his mother to protect her, and... Read more
Details: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took the lead this week in a high-profile lobbying effort to pressure San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone not to attend the controversial March for Marriage event, which she characterized as “venom masquerading as virtue.” Pelosi, who is one of the country’s most powerful Catholic politicians, made a passionate appeal to the archbishop in a letter obtained by The Chronicle not to participate in the National Organization for Marriage‘s June 19 march on the Supreme Court in Washington. Cordileone, who is one of the... Read more
Details: The person who brutally attacked two Phoenix priests might have a lot of anger toward people and things associated with religion, a Phoenix Police Department spokesman said. Police also said they are looking for a man who was seen entering a residence attached to Mother of Mercy Mission Catholic Church, where one Phoenix priest was shot and killed and another badly beaten Wednesday night. The violent nature of the crimes – the Rev. Kenneth Walker was shot multiple times... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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