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The Deacon's Bench

This beautiful video couldn’t be more timely — or more necessary.

It could one day happen, if a German Lutheran bishop has anything to say about it. Take a look: A German Protestant bishop has urged Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches to draw up a joint declaration on their shared beliefs about the Eucharist, one of the issues that has divided them for hundreds of years…

A reader sent this my way: behold, the newest deacons from Sioux City, ordained Saturday, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. (Boy, do they have their work cut out for them!) The men are: Richard Port, Bruce Chartier, Kenny Lindquist, Richard Roder, Darwin Messerly and David Lopez. All ordained by Most Reverend R. Walker…

Well, there’s a lot he doesn’t get. And Tony Rossi points out a couple examples in this week’s National Catholic Register, and concludes: Of course, it’s true that some who call themselves Christian do reprehensible things and express no remorse. As Jesus proclaimed, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom…

Over at the Los Angeles Times, Charlotte Allen takes note of one particular way of describing priests that smacks of anti-Catholicism: “Men in dresses.” That’s who columnist Maureen Dowd blames for decay in “our religious kingdom.” Which men in dresses is she referring too? The ballerinas-in-drag of Les Ballets Trockadero? The Marilyn Monroe lookalikes marching…

‘Tis the season for First Communions and Confirmations — and a parish in California may well have one of the largest First Communion classes anywhere.  How’s THIS for feeding the multitude?   From Catholic San Francisco: Saturday morning first Communion instruction at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in East Palo Alto is too big by…

New York’s legendary former mayor Ed Koch paid tribute to his city’s legendary former archbishop at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Monday, on the 10th anniversary of the archbishop’s death. Koch’s words pay tribute to a warm and enduring friendship of kindred souls from two very different points of view. Why don’t we see this sort of…

Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, baptizes an inmate at the Southern Arizona Correctional Release Center in Tucson last month. Details, from CNS: A hazy sun settling slowly behind Tucson’s “A” mountain softly illuminated the 20 women in bright-orange uniforms who were gathered in the razor-fenced yard. Every face was aglow and smiling as they…

A reader of Andrew Sullivan’s blog sent him the e-mail below, and a friend of mine (the wife of a deacon) pointed out to me, “If more people thought this way, you could still have comments on your blog.” Sullivan’s snip: I have a friend – one of my very best, actually – who I…

And the archbishop isn’t happy about it: Newark Archbishop John J. Myers said a course on same-sex marriage to be offered in the fall at Seton Hall University “troubles me greatly.” “This proposed course seeks to promote as legitimate a train of thought that is contrary to what the church teaches. As a result, the…
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