Look who just arrived for his Lenten retreat outside of Rome. From Vatican Radio: Pope Francis is in the hillside town of Ariccia just south of Rome for a week-long Lenten retreat with members of the Curia. The Pope left the Vatican Sunday afternoon by bus – just a few hours after reciting the Angelus prayer with the faithful in St. Peter’s square. Breaking from a long-held tradition of holding them in the Vatican, Pope Francis decided to organize this... Read more
From a new Pew study: The Millennial generation is forging a distinctive path into adulthood. Now ranging in age from 18 to 33, they are relatively unattached to organized politics and religion, linked by social media, burdened by debt, distrustful of people, in no rush to marry— and optimistic about the future. They are also America’s most racially diverse generation. In all of these dimensions, they are different from today’s older generations. And in many, they are also different from older... Read more
From BBC: A group of Greek Orthodox nuns held for three months by rebels in Syria after being taken from their convent in Maaloula have arrived back in Damascus. The nuns were brought to the Lebanese border town of Arsal early on Monday where they were handed over to Lebanese officials and then driven to Syria. They said they were tired, but that they had been mostly well treated. They were freed as part of a prisoner exchange involving some... Read more
Details: During his Sunday morning service, Ulf Ekman announced the he and his wife, Birgitta, are converting to Roman Catholicism. Ekman is the founder of Word of Life, a megachurch in Uppsala, Sweden. News reports and blogs coming out of the nation reveal congregation was “partially stunned” after hearing what was packaged as a “special announcement.” The theme was “follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” “For Birgitta and me, this has been a slow process were we have gone from discovering new things, to appreciating what... Read more
Author Peter Manseau looks at that question in The New York Times: Even as the pope appears to be opening a big tent, others in the church hierarchy ensure that it will not expand too far. Last July, in response to a question about gay priests, Francis famously uttered one of the lines that set the tolerant tone of his pastoral style, “Who am I to judge?” That same month, the Archdiocese of Detroit published a warning against “nearly a dozen churches”... Read more
Several people alerted me to this over the weekend. It’s a compelling, balanced look at how the Franciscan pontificate is playing in Boston after one year, from CNN’s Daniel Burke: In some ways, the “Pope Francis effect” doesn’t seem very effective at all. Despite the immense popularity the aged Argentine has won since his election last year, not a jot of doctrine has changed, nor has the Catholic Church swelled with American converts. But there’s more than one way to... Read more
Just returned from a trip to snowy Ohio. I’ll post more in the next day or so, but wanted to offer a glimpse of the parish where I led a Lenten retreat on Saturday: Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Aurora, in the Diocese of Youngstown. Two FOBs (Friends of the Bench) stopped by for part of the retreat: Fr. Tom Weber and Fr. Dan Schlegel, from the neighboring Diocese of Cleveland. Fr. Jim Daprile and his staff did a... Read more
At St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Fremont, OH, the pastor discovered an old black pall in storage that nobody was using anymore. He found a new use for it : suspending it from the balcony during Lent. Now, when people enter the church during this penitential season, the enter under a striking reminder of what is to come. Ash Wednesday hangs over their heads. Read more
This is just too good not to share. Guy gives a homeless man a bogus winning lottery ticket – just so he can give the homeless man a huge payout. The result is unexpectedly moving. Take a look. Read more
That’s the title of a one-day retreat I’ll be giving Saturday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Aurora, Ohio. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and say hello! Check out the parish web page for details. I’m looking forward to my visit—which begins with a stop in the Diocese of Toledo, to speak to deacons there Thursday night. More soon! Still need to pack… Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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