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The Deacon's Bench

This has been reported before, but the details revealed today are raising a lot of eyebrows: Pope John Paul II always took penitence seriously, spending entire nights lying with his arms outstretched on the bare floor, fasting before ordaining priests or bishops and flagellating himself, said the promoter of his sainthood cause. Msgr. Slawomir Oder,…

Photo from CNS/Reuters Outside a displacement camp in Port-au-Prince, on January 24, 2010.

Those are the stirring words uttered by a smart 17-year old, who made her first bus trip down to Washington last Friday, to take part in the March for Life. Watch her story here.  And give thanks that there are lots of others out there just like her.

My father-in-law in suburban Maryland suggested it the other night.  You know: it makes sense.    “I’ve never been,” he said, ” but I’d do it if it weren’t so damn cold.” I explained that it’s done in January because it’s the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision. “So?,” he said. “What difference does that…

Behold: something sweet and sacred, a lovely portrait of a woman who does something very few do anymore.  She makes habits for nuns.    H/T The A.

How’s this for the start of an amazing story: Winter 1989, downtown South Bend, Indiana. The night is snowy and crisp. Inside the bar, already humid and smoky, the guitarist lights his cigarette, takes a long, patient drag and wedges it among the strings in the head of his guitar. As the smoke drifts from…

A week-and-a-half after the devastating earthquake, the people of Port-au-Prince continue to gather to pray. From AFP: Hundreds of Haitians attended mass in the skeletal shadow of Port-au-Prince’s shattered Roman Catholic cathedral on Sunday, seeking to understand God’s hand in the apocalyptic earthquake. Father Glanda Toussaint held the service at an altar improvised on a…

This arrived on my Yahoo news feed this morning.   If you look up the word “adorable” in the dictionary, I think this video pops up.  I dare you not to say “Awwwwww.” Baby Boxer Handshake @ Yahoo! Video

“In my Message last year, I encouraged leaders in the world of communications to promote a culture of respect for the dignity and value of the human person. This is one of the ways in which the Church is called to exercise a ‘diaconia of culture’ on today’s ‘digital continent’. With the Gospels in our…

This fine essay on preaching should give anyone who climbs into the pulpit ample food for thought: I taught a class on preaching last week. As we began I said, “Good preaching begins with good listening.” I think of preachers, the good ones, as scouts and watchmen, poets and explorers. They’ve been given the work…
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