The Deacon's Bench

“God is the reason that I’m running. If I didn’t believe that there were a cause greater than myself worth fighting for, if I didn’t believe that it takes a complete dying of self to make things right in this Election cycle I would not be running and when you die to yourself you rely…

The infamous Iraqi — and Chaldean Catholic — faces death by hanging, and the Vatican has urged that the sentence be changed: For the second time in two days, the Vatican on Wednesday opposed the death sentence handed down to Tariq Aziz, Iraq’s former deputy prime minister. “The position of the Catholic Church on death…

One of Katie’s favored media writers, Howard Kurtz, offers this tidbit: Katie Couric is feeling liberated. Not because she is nearing the end of her five-year contract as CBS anchor–although there’s an unexpected plot twist on that front–but because she’s been spending less time in the studio. You can hear it in her voice. “It’s…

Hint: he’s the one wearing the dalmatic. Read more about it here.

After dissing sisters, the New York Times has embraced brothers — or at least, one colorful Christian Brother at a unique school that caters to the city’s poor: It is 8:30 a.m. at De La Salle Academy, a private school in Manhattan for academically talented poor children, and classical music is humming through a boom…

That’s how Matthew Archbold at National Catholic Register describes the postcard below that many in Minnesota found in their mailboxes this week.  It was sent out by a Democratic non-profit, with a simple message: the Catholic Church supports a party that says “ignore the poor.”       UPDATE: Good ole Dave Gibson offers some clarification…

I love reading about mainstream journalists who are also unabashedly Catholic — and this reporter from the AP, who covered the Chilean mining accident and rescue, offers some insight into what sustained the men and their families: A reporter who covered the Chilean mine rescue for The Associated Press said the miners’ families always believed…

The Editor-in-Chief of Busted Halo, Bill McGarvey, has announced that he’s stepping down after six years at the helm: I am very proud of this site’s transformation into the vibrant multi-media platform that it is today. The discussion happening on Busted Halo has been unlike any other in the Catholic Church, or any other I’ve…

America’s first diocese may soon begin reducing masses as a result of the priest shortage. From the Baltimore Sun: With Father Patrick Carrion away, a nun led a morning service last week at St. Mary Star of the Sea, directing the gathering of 15 worshippers in Catholic hymns and prayers, and distributing the Communion that…

Stephen Colbert’s Catholicism continues to grab attention. The latest, from Kathryn Jean Lopez: “I hope that applause is for my mother’s womb.” I certainly enjoyed when Stephen Colbert slipped that in during a recent appearance on ABC’s The View. The Comedy Central star’s appearance got attention because the comedian walked off the set, as a…

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