I get asked this question a lot: “What’s happening with the commission on women deacons?” Here’s the latest, a story on the subject that moved yesterday on a Spanish website. Details — roughly translated — from VidaNuevaDigital.com: The 12 members of the commission (six men and six women, teachers or reputed experts), concluded their work before last summer, as Vida Nueva has learned. They brought to the Pope a brief document, of few pages, in which they analyzed from a historical,... Read more
This is awesome: He has a certificate from Santa School in Denver, Colorado, but Issa Kassissieh doesn’t come down the chimney in America – he’s the resident Father Christmas in Jerusalem’s Old City and he’s traded the traditional reindeer sleigh for a camel. Check out the video below. You’ve probably never seen anything quite like it. Read more
From CNS: In today’s climate of mistrust, rejection and nationalism, the world urgently needs peacemakers and politicians who protect and lovingly serve others, Pope Francis said in his annual message for the World Day of Peace Jan. 1. “Terror exerted over those who are most vulnerable contributes to the exile of entire populations who seek a place of peace,” he said, and “political addresses that tend to blame every evil on migrants and to deprive the poor of hope are... Read more
Here’s a blast from the past. Growing up, this was the soundtrack of Christmas. I learned the most popular holiday songs from these records, which my father would play on his big wooden Fisher stereo in the living room as we decorated the tree or opened gifts or waited for the ham to come out of the oven. It was an endless loop of Julie Andrews, Maurice Chevalier, Andy Williams, Vic Damone and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. And it was... Read more
Ed Peters has the scoop: If the text recently sent to me really was the homily that Fr. Don LaCuesta preached at the funeral Mass of a young man who suddenly killed himself a few days ago, for which homily LaCuesta has been savaged in the print and electronic media and even (temporarily, I assume, while the facts are sorted) deprived of faculties for preaching, all I can say is, God bless Fr. LaCuesta. An excerpt: Is there any hope to offer in this... Read more
After reading the diocesan report of slumping Mass attendance, what is a priest to do? Check out this excerpt from a homily delivered a few weeks back, by the Rev. Edwin C. Dwyer of the Diocese of Saginaw: If we are going to keep this parish afloat into the next generation, the major focus must be on what emboldens younger Catholics, and what attracts younger non-Catholics to the Church.. . . . . So what works? Believe it or not,... Read more
The Friendly Atheist takes note of a little detail that some might consider a Christmas miracle: The Wendy’s cup features a full-blown Nativity scene with Joseph, Mary, Jesus, and the Three Wise Men. So what gives? Is Wendy’s going the way of Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out Burger, with not-so-subtle religious messages on their packaging? Not exactly. A spokesperson for the organization told me yesterday that the cup is “in support of a local children’s hospital charity” and “only used in that... Read more
The archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Bernard Hebda, posted a letter on the matter on the archdiocesan website Friday. An excerpt: I remain troubled by the failure to bring closure to the 2014 investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct with adult males leveled against my predecessor, Archbishop John Nienstedt. You will recall that Archbishop Nienstedt had delegated the investigation to his senior auxiliary bishop, who in turn sought the assistance of two separate law firms. In 2015, the investigative... Read more
Well, this was different. Before Mass today, one of the priests was casting about for a homily idea. “Well, if I were you, I’d preach about Bambinelli Sunday,” I told him. His eyes lit up. “You want to preach?,” he asked me eagerly. “Sure,” I said, having only the vaguest idea of what I would say. I wasn’t scheduled and hadn’t really prepared anything. I printed out a text from the Vatican website and, without much preparation beyond a quick... Read more
I’ve posted stories about this tireless priest in the past — most recently, about his marketing of his mother’s spaghetti sauce — and now the Daily Mail has caught up with him and posted the video below. Check it out. Meanwhile, the AP caught up with him in California this week: Father Jim Sichko has a 50-state congregation and a simple mandate from the pope: Go forth and do good deeds. That’s why the Roman Catholic priest found himself... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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