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The Deacon's Bench

Elsewhere, I posted about the priest who spoke at Barack Obama’s church last Sunday, and the furor that’s causing. But get a load of this: Msgr. Jim Lisante, former head of the Christophers, and a pastor in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, delivering an invocation at a Republican fundraiser — and tacitly endorsing John McCain.…

For this feast of the Sacred Heart, you should check out this stirring homily, delivered the other night by James Douglas Conley, new auxiliary for Denver, whose episcopal ordination takes place this day. A grateful h/t to the always-alert Rocco for this gem: I have chosen for my episcopal motto “Cor ad cor loquitur” (heart…

You have to see this to believe it. From the Chicago Sun Times, a video of Fr. Michael Pfleger preaching at Barack Obama’s church last Sunday. There’s a very good response to Pfleger’s fuming over the America blog, courtesy Jim Martin: Father Pfleger’s words were not only offensive; they also went against standard practice for…

Here’s a story we don’t hear told often enough — about life as a chaplain serving the soldiers, who are serving us, in Iraq: On a recent morning, an Army chaplain, Lt. Col. Richard E. Brunk Jr., met with a suicidal soldier who had served in Iraq, drove across Fort Hood to greet 70 activated…

Late word today that he has died, at 81. You’ll find tons of clips on YouTube, but this, from Blazing Saddles, remains definitive. And just plain hilarious. Bless him. And just in case you missed it, there’s also this wonderful clip from Carol Burnett, with Tim Conway. He always looked like he was having the…

Women who consider themselves ordained in the Catholic Church can now consider themselves not ordained — and not Catholic. Here’s how Reuters reports the news: The Vatican issued its most explicit decree so far against the ordination of women priests on Thursday, punishing them and the bishops who try to ordain them with automatic excommunication.…

This could be troubling news for the McCain campaign, since the voters in question are a sizable — and sometimes decisive — bloc. From the WSJ: For the first time since the presidential election of 1988, the observant white Catholic vote might be up for grabs this November. Conservative Catholics now appear to be more…

If you’ve ever wondered just how they put together the obituary page, this little Q&A with a longtime editor at the LA Times, Jon Thurber, offers an answer or two — and some insight into how and when religion finds its way onto the page: Q: How do you apply your sense of your religion…

Catholics are a distinct minority in Alabama, but a paper there reports on some of the efforts underway to find and bring back lapsed members of the flock: Churches grow and shrink. That’s something that has al­ways happened in the religious community, including the Cath­olic Church. But when the Cath­olic Church starts shrinking, it does…
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