Over the last 24 hours, in the wake of the Sarah Palin NRA comments, I’ve heard from many Catholics who are evidently unfamiliar with the church’s teaching on torture. Here’s one clear statement, from St. John Paul II, in his 1993 encyclical Veritatis Splendor: 80. Reason attests that there are objects of the human act which are by their nature “incapable of being ordered” to God, because they radically contradict the good of the person made in his image.... Read more
You may remember the controversy surrounding the blog “Protect the Pope“, managed by Deacon Nick Donnelly in Lancaster, England. His wife posted the following item today: It is with sorrow that I am writing to let you know that Bishop Campbell, the Bishop of Lancaster, has refused Nick’s request to resume news posting on Protect the Pope. Bishop Campbell has also stated that he does not want anyone posting on Protect the Pope on Nick’s behalf. Although I have been... Read more
More commentary on last weekend’s remarks by Sarah Palin—this from canon lawyer Ed Peters: Sarah Palin’s statement that, if she were in charge, “waterboarding is how we’d baptize terrorists” should shock the conscience… C. S. Lewis warns (I forget where exactly) about one’s glibly getting off, at God’s expense, one-liners that please the crowd but provoke unseen angels to weep. I think Palin’s guardian angel (and yes, she has one, CCC 366) wept at her comparing baptism to waterboarding. Open... Read more
From today’s homily—and he makes a reference to deacons, too: In his homily at morning Mass in Casa Santa Marta Tuesday, Pope Francis focused on “the three characteristics” of this group, capable of full agreement inside the community, to bear witness of Christ to the outside world, to prevent any of its members from suffering and misery: the “three characteristics of a people reborn”. He focused on what the whole week of Easter, the Church brought to light: our “rebirth... Read more
Sad news from Charlotte this weekend: Michael Gerard Kitson, 20, of Waxhaw, passed away on Sunday, April 27, 2014. He was a seminarian for the Diocese of Charlotte, studying for the priesthood at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. Visitation will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29, at St. Ann Church, 3635 Park Road in Charlotte, and also on Wednesday morning from 9 to 10:15 a.m. His Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated... Read more
Fr. Dwight Longenecker, married with children, crunches the numbers: Many Catholics have no idea in the world what a priest is paid. Many imagine that we all take a vow of poverty and that we live day by day on faith. Some think the bishop pays us. He doesn’t; the parish pays according to guidelines issued by the diocese. Most celibate priests in American dioceses do pretty well. Here’s a rough guide to what he gets: 1. A base annual... Read more
She spoke to the NRA over the weekend. Details: Sarah Palin would like all terrorists to know that if she were in charge, waterboarding is how the United States would baptize them. At least that’s what the former Alaskan governor and ex-vice presidential nominee told thousands of attendees this weekend at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Indianapolis. “If I were in charge,” Palin said Saturday during a Stand And Fight rally at Lucas Oil Stadium, “[our enemies] would know that... Read more
This press release just arrived in my “in” box: Catholic dioceses and parishes across the United States are once again encouraged to raise awareness for domestic and international religious freedom concerns during the third annual Fortnight for Freedom, June 21-July 4. The two-week celebration will focus on the theme, “Freedom to Serve,” emphasizing the link between religious liberty and service to the poor and vulnerable. “During the Fortnight, our liturgical calendar celebrates great martyrs who remained faithful in the face... Read more
I’ve said it before: I think journalism students in the 21st century should be required to study and have a working knowledge of world religions. Based on this, maybe that should be a requirement of all college students. From Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times: Secular Americans are largely ignorant about religion, but, in surveys, religious Americans turn out to be scarcely more knowledgeable. “Americans are both deeply religious and profoundly ignorant about religion,” Stephen Prothero noted in his... Read more
CNS wrote about the extraordinary number of people who attended the canonizations this morning—and spoke with a certain deacon who said something wise and, in fact, moving: About 150 cardinals and 700 bishops concelebrated the Mass. About 6,000 priests attended, as well as deacons, to help distribute Communion to as many people as possible. U.S. Deacon William Ditewig of the Diocese of Monterey, Calif., specifically asked Vatican organizers to place him as far away from the main square as possible.... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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