Longtime readers of the blog know that I’m a Thomas Merton fanboy. His life and work were instrumental in my own vocation, and I once spent a memorable afternoon in his Kentucky hermitage, thinking “I can’t believe I’m HERE.” So I’ve got some mixed feelings about this news, which if handled clumsily could turn the life of one of the iconic spiritual writers of the 20th century into a soap opera (and, I’ll wager, a screed against celibacy). Here’s the... Read more
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Father George Sanders blesses his wife and children after his ordination. (photo: Bob Ocken, Arkansas Catholic) From Arkansas Catholic: On his ordination day Aug. 3, Father George Sanders reflected on his journey that got him to Christ the King Church in Little Rock kneeling before Bishop Anthony B. Taylor. As the bishop laid hands on him, as he prostrated himself during the Litany of Saints and had his hands anointed with chrism oil, he thought back on his life. At 14,... Read more
Details: The 6.3-magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand in 2011 killed more than 200 people and damaged thousands of buildings, including the city’s oldest church, a grand stone copy of a gothic cathedral in Oxford. This week, two years after it fell, its replacement is open to the public. And it’s unlike anything ever built in Christchurch—or the world. In the aftermath of the disaster, Christchurch officials invited Japanese architect Shigeru Banto come up with a temporary solution to the city’s lack... Read more
Details: The 6.3-magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand in 2011 killed more than 200 people and damaged thousands of buildings, including the city’s oldest church, a grand stone copy of a gothic cathedral in Oxford. This week, two years after it fell, its replacement is open to the public. And it’s unlike anything ever built in Christchurch—or the world. In the aftermath of the disaster, Christchurch officials invited Japanese architect Shigeru Banto come up with a temporary solution to the city’s lack... Read more
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Longtime readers of the blog know that I’m a Thomas Merton fanboy. His life and work were instrumental in my own vocation, and I once spent a memorable afternoon in his Kentucky hermitage, thinking “I can’t believe I’m HERE.” So I’ve got some mixed feelings about this news, which if handled clumsily could turn the life of one of the iconic spiritual writers of the 20th century into a soap opera (and, I’ll wager, a screed against celibacy). Here’s the... Read more
You can’t make this stuff up. From KRMG Radio in Oklahoma: Police say an employee at the Owasso First Assembly of God called officers about the stolen computer. He tipped off officers it had to be somebody familiar with the church because there were no signs of a break in and nothing else was touched. It turned out he was right. Ridling used to attend services. Still, OPD didn’t get a break into the case until the church employee was... Read more
NFP on your smartphone? Sounds like it: Glow, the fertility tracking iOS app co-founded by Max Levchin, is making its debut in the app store today. The app was first introduced earlier this summer by Levchin to a surprised audience at the D11 conference, where the crowd was likely not expecting to hear the co-founder of PayPal and Slide discuss PMS symptoms and cervical mucus… …Glow is backed with $6 million from investors includingFounders Fund and Andreessen Horowitz. The company’s full-time staff, which includes about... Read more
A followup on a story from last month, in the Los Angeles Times: Students rallied Thursday at St. Lucy’s Priory High School in Glendora to support a gay teacher who was fired after he married his partner. Ken Bencomo, 45, of Rancho Cucamonga, was fired from his teaching position at the Catholic girls school after photos of his wedding to partner Christopher Persky, 32, were published in a local newspaper last month. They were among the first couples to be married... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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