And it included a trip to Lourdes. Details: When Nicola Murray was told she had just two weeks to live, she made her husband George a list of things she wanted him to promise he would do. Nicola, 34, who had a rare hereditary gene that caused her to develop cancer, wanted him to help others with the same gene. She wanted him to go to Africa to do charity work. She wanted him to go back to Lourdes, where... Read more
Some words to ponder from Mary Gannon Kaufman, the wife of a deacon candidate, from Homiletics and Pastoral Review: I was at a retreat in another diocese, when a man in formation for the permanent diaconate was sharing his recent experience with the Rite of Candidacy. His eyes glistened as he looked towards heaven and he said, “It was so moving to step up on the altar with the archbishop, leaving our women behind. Our women have to get used... Read more
A jaw-dropping, forehead-slapping performance from “America’s Got Talent.” Folks, this has to be seen to be believed. Read more
Details: A new 30-ft piece of street art depicting Jesus breakdancing has attracted praise – from the Catholic church. A spokesperson for the Diocese of Clifton said the new piece should “get people talking about religion” in Bristol. The giant mural, painted next to The Canteen – a Stokes Croft diner part-owned by Bristol mayor George Ferguson was unveiled yesterday. It sits directly opposite Banksy’s famous Mild Mild West piece, also on Stokes Croft. Clifton Youth Ministry coordinator Dave Wheat... Read more
When in doubt, sing! And make it a number from “Les Mis”! This creative video was produced for the Trinity School in South Bend, Indiana. Read this blog post to learn how it came together: We polled the student body to see if they had ideas about what we could do to represent life at the school. I think their imaginations were somewhat stifled by what they’d already seen: we got plenty of submissions for a flash mob, but... Read more
A deacon writes: In your diocese, are permanent deacons allowed to vest for priest ordination liturgies? Also, do you know if other dioceses allow this? A few of us were perturbed when we received notice from the chancellor that we were not welcome to vest for our most recent priest ordination. Different dioceses have different guidelines, I suppose. In Brooklyn, deacons vest for all ordinations (bishop, priest and deacon), the Chrism Mass, clergy funerals, the annual memorial Mass for deceased clergy,... Read more
From the New York Times: When Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, took the Senate floor on Tuesday to deliver a speech in support of animmigration overhaul bill, he did it in a way no senator had done before: entirely in Spanish. “We are going to have hours upon hours of debate about this on the floor of the Senate, and taking 15 minutes to explain the bill in Spanish just seemed like a good idea,” Mr. Kaine said. “Latinos have so... Read more
You might be surprised. From NPR: “Last year, we had more than 8.6 million students from across the country who read a total of 283 million books,” says Eric Stickney, the educational research director for Renaissance Learning. Students participate in the Accelerated Reader program through their schools. When they read a book, they take a brief comprehension quiz, and the book is then recorded in the system. The books are assigned a grade level based on vocabulary and sentence complexity.... Read more
A deacon writes: In your diocese, are permanent deacons allowed to vest for priest ordination liturgies? Also, do you know if other dioceses allow this? A few of us were perturbed when we received notice from the chancellor that we were not welcome to vest for our most recent priest ordination. Different dioceses have different guidelines, I suppose. In Brooklyn, deacons vest for all ordinations (bishop, priest and deacon), the Chrism Mass, clergy funerals, the annual memorial Mass for deceased clergy,... Read more
Back in February, Linda Whitaker posted this video of her parents. It’s now gone viral. See it and you’ll understand why. While sick in the hospital, her father asked to sing a song with the love of his life for the past 66 years. Just watch. Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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