From the USCCB blog, Deacon Arnaldo Antonio Santos from the Diocese of Camden reflects on his unique ministry in the inner city: As a new deacon, I received a diocesan assignment to work in youth ministry. I expected it since I felt called to youth work even before becoming a deacon. As a former civil servant and newly retired police detective, I had always felt the call to help lost souls who long for someone to understand them. Pope John Paul... Read more
Details: The number of permanent deacons in the United States continues to increase, according to a national survey released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The Georgetown University-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) conducted the survey of 193 of the 195 U.S. dioceses in April. This marks the seventh CARA survey of the permanent diaconate, an ancient ministry reinstituted by the Second Vatican Council. The bishops began to ordain permanent deacons for the United States... Read more
N.B.: This is not a Catholic Mass. It comes from our Anglican siblings in Canada. This is a couple years old, but for some reason it fluttered across my Facebook feed yesterday. The rector says: “We take the Eucharist seriously, but we do so with humor, with love, with invitation.” Alrighty then. That helps explain the altar servers dressed “Thing 1” and “Thing 2” — and the Eucharistic prayers that, in Seussian fashion, rhyme. Read more
From the Vatican Insider: Friday went by and still no news from the Jesuit priest Paolo Dall’Oglio who went off the grid on Monday. This means it is likely the priest was kidnapped. Over the past few days, activists have been claiming that Dall’Oglio had gone silent because he was involved in a mediation attempt. They said Dall’Oglio had told them to raise the alarm only if they had no news from him by Friday. And there has been no... Read more
Talk about the end of an era: The Washington Post is being sold: The Washington Post Co. has agreed to sell its flagship newspaper to Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos, ending the Graham family’s stewardship of one of America’s leading news organizations after four generations. Bezos, whose entrepreneurship has made him one of the world’s richest men, will pay $250 million in cash for The Post and affiliated publications to the Washington Post Co., which owns the newspaper... Read more
A friend posted this intriguing link on her Facebook page the other day, and it offers us a little glimpse at the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic church in Tanzania. Note the coat of arms, which includes Kilimanjaro and the Eucharist. And the mission statement? It doesn’t get any more basic than this: “Diocese of Moshi is committed to build a united and responsible family of God by witnessing and proclaiming The Good News, through teaching and provision of socio-economic... Read more
CNS throws a spotlight on an intriguing (and free) audio app: The gentle lilt of Julia Ormond emotes the Magnificat, the deep voice of Blair Underwood narrates as Gospel writer Mark, Kristin Bell plays Mary Magdalene and Brian Cox is the voice of God. You’ve never heard the Gospel quite like this. Hoping to create something that allows people to not only read, but hear and experience the word of God, the team behind the “Truth & Life” dramatized audio... Read more
This moved last week. It’s a followup to the story about the Vatican’s action regarding the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and the use of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. From one of the Franciscans: Pope Francis has also severely restricted our use of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, and this has been reported by a major italian journalist as a “contradiction” of Pope Benedict’s permission granted in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. This is an unfortunate instance of... Read more
Photo: Reuters And John Allen is taking notes. From NCR: One could argue that in most of the ways that matter, the change has already arrived. In just four months, Francis has revived the international prestige of the papacy and its moral capital. The Italian edition of Vanity Fair recently declared him its “Man of the Year,” including snippets of praise from unlikely quarters such as Elton John, who termed the pontiff “a miracle of humility in the era of vanity.” Polling... Read more
This moved last week. It’s a followup to the story about the Vatican’s action regarding the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and the use of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. From one of the Franciscans: Pope Francis has also severely restricted our use of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, and this has been reported by a major italian journalist as a “contradiction” of Pope Benedict’s permission granted in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. This is an unfortunate instance of... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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