I got an e-mail last night from Deacon Bob Wojcik, a mentor in Kingston, Ontario, with the picture below and details: Four days ago, [9 November] the Archdiocese of Kingston has ordained 7 deacons to serve the People of God. Six Deacons ordained to serve in the Archdiocese of Kingston, Ontario & one Deacon to serve in the Diocese of Peterborough, Ontario Front Row (left to right) Bill Garland Shawn Souder Greg Burliuk Aidan Murphy* (ordained for the Diocese of... Read more
From the AP: Ultra-traditionalist Catholics have openly challenged Pope Francis by disrupting one of his favorite events, a ceremony that he and Jewish leaders led in the Metropolitan Cathedral each year to promote religious harmony on the anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust. The annual ceremony brings together Catholics, Jews and Protestants to mark Kristallnacht, the Nazi-led mob violence in 1938 when about 1,000 Jewish synagogues were burned and thousands of Jews were forced into concentration camps, launching the... Read more
From the incomparable Anchoress: We do nothing to earn the love of God, and there is nothing we can do to lose it — we can only reject it. We are loved into being. We did nothing to deserve that. Our whole being came about because the love of the Creator said “yes” to his own intention; the Creator assented to his own desire, and brought forth you and me. God’s gifts are never withdrawn, and his first and most... Read more
From Rebecca Frech at “Shoved to Them,” a testimony that will make you see everything differently: The older kids and I went to a different parish for Mass last night. The events of the day had run longer than expected, and by the time we realized it we were too late for the 5pm Mass. A quick Google search led us to the ugly parish that we had studiously avoided when we moved here two and a half years ago. We... Read more
Check out this video here, from Catholic News Service. The freshly elected president of the USCCB, Louisville’s Joseph Kurtz, discusses his ministry and the influence of Pope Francis. Read more
From an Anglican satiric blog, “The Low Churchman’s Guide to the Solemn High Mass”: Most Ritualist vestments have extremely specific guidelines for their use. The maniple may only be worn by the sacred ministers during the celebration of the Eucharist, and at no other time; they must remove the maniple when giving a sermon, while leading a procession, or when attempting to catch a frog that has become tangled in the lavabo towels. The dalmatic may only be worn by a Deacon or... Read more
From Zack Hunt at the blog The American Jesus: I’m not Roman Catholic, but he’s the sort of leader I would gladly follow, the kind of Christ-like example I want to follow. But incarnated grace aside, the thing that’s really shocked me the most about Pope Francis is the response he’s received from those outside the faith. And I don’t just mean non-Catholics. I mean those of entirely different religious traditions, but especially those with no religious affiliation at all and those... Read more
It’s described in the current issue of The Tidings: Men preparing for priesthood has increased in both numbers and diversity during the past five years, a trend captured in a video released last week by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Office for Vocations. The video, “Follow Me: Journeys to Priesthood,” features interviews with seminarians and priests answering the call to the priesthood from different walks of life, including a two-time Emmy Award winning actor, a business executive and surfers. “It... Read more
From CNN: Sarah Palin said she is trying to follow Pope Francis, but is wary of what she called the media’s interpretation of his message. “He’s had some statements that to me sound kind of liberal, has taken me aback, has kind of surprised me,” said Palin. But “unless I really dig deep into what his messaging is, and do my own homework, I’m not going to just trust what I hear in the media.” The former governor of Alaska and... Read more
Hearing the news this morning about the election of Louisville’s Archbishop Joseph Kurtz as USCCB president, a deacon friend dropped me a line to report that the new president is “very deacon-friendly.” He was certainly friendly to this deacon when I met him a couple years ago in Nashville at the annual convention of the National Association of Diaconate Directors. I was heading across the street for Mass at the cathedral and saw him standing on the corner, alone, waiting... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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