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The Deacon's Bench

For some handy answers, James Martin, S.J. has pulled together a number of the conclusions drawn from the National Review Board that investigated the scandal in this country.   It shows how complicated the problem really is — and how it can’t really be boiled down to just one or two causes.  And he adds to…

At mass this Palm Sunday, New York’s Archbishop had a few things to say about this week’s news — and was roundly applauded for it: Archbishop Timothy Dolan was greeted with applause after finishing Palm Sunday Mass by defending Pope Benedict XVI against suggestions he aided cover-ups of reports of child abuse. The standing-room-only crowd…

Some helpful context on some stories that have been in the news lately. From the Associated Press, three years ago: Students in America’s schools are groped. They’re raped. They’re pursued, seduced and think they’re in love. An Associated Press investigation found more than 2,500 cases over five years in which educators were punished for actions…

I alluded to it here, but it’s worth its own post: “To be connected with the church is to be associated with scoundrels, warmongers, fakes, child-molesters, murderers, adulterers and hypocrites of every description. It also, at the same time, identifies you with saints and the finest persons of heroic soul of every time, country, race,…

John Allen has taken pen in hand and written an op-ed piece for the New York Times that puts the present crisis in a valuable context: Considerable skepticism surrounds the Vatican’s insistence that in 1980 the pope, then Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger of Munich, was unaware of a decision to transfer a known pedophile priest to…

This is how Maureen Dowd begins her latest column: Yup, we need a Nope. A nun who is pope. If you want to read on, go right ahead. You can’t say you weren’t warned. 

As often as we’ve all heard this song, I doubt anyone has heard “The Prayer” performed like this — see if you can spot some of the familiar faces (including The Priests!) adding their voices to this soaring rendition.  And you can find out more about this recording, and how to get a copy, right…

One of the more remarkable aspects of the gospel we just heard is the WAY in which we heard it. This week is the only time that the gospel is proclaimed by someone besides a priest or deacon – every individual in this church takes part. It’s a great privilege. And it – literally —…

This thoughtful piece by Fr. Raymond DeSouza offers an answer that seems to be on target: In the 1960s, like much of society and after the Second Vatican Council, the Church simply abandoned her disciplinary life. Doctrinal dissent was not corrected, but often celebrated. Liturgical abuses, both minor and outrageously sacrilegious, were tolerated. Bishops simply…

From across the pond, a report about a move many have been clamoring for: The Vatican will force the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, to quit if he refuses to resign over the growing child abuse scandal. Sources in Rome signalled that nothing less than Dr Brady’s resignation will…
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