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The Deacon's Bench

Hours after dozens of CBS News staffers were laid off — many of them, friends and former colleagues of mine — this video popped up on the Harper’s Bizarre website. It’s touting Katie Couric’s appearance in the magazine’s annual fashion issue. In terms of bad taste and bad timing, it’s just mind-boggling. Decades hence, when…

These findings aren’t exactly surprising — but they might fuel some debate on just what makes a Catholic college “Catholic”: A new study finds Catholic students at Catholic colleges are less likely than Catholics attending public colleges to move away from the church’s teachings on a variety of issues. However, on the issue of same-sex…

Thomas Peters broke the story yesterday, with the snapshot above: Oprah ( no last name necessary) is interviewing a group of sisters, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, for her TV show next week.   The Anchoress ( no last name necessary) is a big fan of theirs, by the way, and also…

That was one of his messages at this morning’s National Prayer Breakfast in Washington: President Obama bemoaned the “erosion of civility” in the nation’s political debate Thursday, telling an audience at the National Prayer Breakfast that there is a growing sense that “something is broken” in Washington. “Those of us in Washington are not serving…

While other parts of the country (notably the northeast) are struggling to keep schools open, it’s a different story down south: Anne Mancini makes a sacrifice to send her daughter to Catholic School — she leaves her home by 6 a.m. crossing county lines to meet a chartered bus at a Suwanee mall bound for…

That seems to be the solution for one church in upstate New York, which may soon be headed — brick by brick — to Georgia: St. Gerard’s was where her grandparents and parents were married, where she was baptized and wore the white dress, shoes and veil of First Communion. Years later, she can still…

Of course, any team named the Saints would have a priest on board. But the Colts? Details: Sunday’s Super Bowl contenders have been well-coached–both in football and in spiritual fitness. The Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints each include a Catholic priest on their chaplaincy rosters, and they have played an instrumental role in helping…

In response to the Tim Tebow ad, the juvenile grandmothers below offer one profane answer. (Yes, there’s profanity here, so be forewarned — although anyone with two brain cells to rub together can figure it out without even watching it.) Are the pro-choicers really this desperate? This is just embarrassing. (Part of me thinks this…

My blog sister Julie, over at Happy Catholic, posted this urgent request yesterday: For a young girl who is making a decision about an unplanned pregnancy. She wants to give the baby up for adoption but is being pressured to have an abortion. Lord, move her to stand up against pressure, to make the decision…

When I was growing up, going to Catholic school in Maryland, it was a yearly winter ritual: every February 3rd, the Sisters of St. Joseph would line us up and lead us into the church, to receive a blessing of the throats on the feast of St. Blaise. Do people still do that? I know…
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