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The Deacon's Bench

News this morning that George Carlin has died, at the still-young age of 71. Carlin was brilliant at seeing the absurdity of life; very little of it, I think, truly made sense to him. “Why do they lock gas station bathrooms?” he once mused. “Are they afraid someone will clean them?” He made his living…

Lisa Stanford embraces her daughter, Jessica Aiello, outside her house in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Three feet of water flooded Ms. Stanford’s 108-year-old home. Photo: by Todd Heisler, The New York Times

Here in New York, you see the posters everywhere, and it’s jarring: people striking a pose, maybe dribbling a basketball or reading a book. But they don’t have any skin. And you can see their organs. It’s life, seen in a way you’ve never seen it before. Or maybe, in fact, it’s death. Zenit reported…

In Massachusetts, there’s a great story that shows both the diversity and uniqueness of the diaconate vocation. The new member of the clergy is an innkeeper in New England (why do I keep picturing Bob Newhart?), and a convert, who brings his own talents to his ministry: For newly ordained Deacon Gregory Burch, the journey…

Stop everything and just watch. This is just plain wonderful and will make you smile and laugh and cry and want to get up out of your chair and dance. A big fat hat tip to The Anchoress for spreading this ray of sunshine. If you go to this link you can click “watch high…

As more brides prepare to head down the aisle this month, let’s take a moment for a little Ave Maria, okay? The Guonod version, as sung by Kathleen Battle. This, I think, is bliss.

One of the topics tackled by the USCCB (when the bishops weren’t riding the teacups at Disney World) was how to woo back lapsed Catholics. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch talked to a few experts about that: In the St. Louis archdiocese, church leaders are reaching out to lapsed Catholics. St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke established…

I got a heads-up the other day from no less than two people that the Archdiocese of Indianapolis is about to make a little history, ordaining its very first class of deacons. Twenty five men will receive the sacrament of Holy Orders next weekend, on June 28th. The new crop of Hoosier deacons has an…

A few days back, John Allen interviewed Baltimore’s Archbishop, who had some pretty stern words about the controversial Legionaries of Christ. I posted an item on it, and got some interesting responses. Allen has now published a follow-up in this week’s NCR: Since my interview with O’Brien appeared, I’ve had a high volume of responses,…

That was the subject line on an e-mail I received from a deacon friend, who forwarded me this article from a newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin. I hadn’t heard anything about it, but it looks like something we should keep an eye on: A fundraising firm hired by the Madison Catholic Diocese to gauge support for…
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