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The Deacon's Bench

Who knew? When I was a kid, we had them in the classroom: flimsy cardboard things that were tacked to the bulletin board, and you could fold over the doors and count down the days to Christmas. But that’s so 20th century. Now, Advent calendars have gone high tech. I did some Googling and found…

A reader sent this along late Sunday: a fresh dollop of deacons (21 of ’em) in Seattle, ordained just before Thanksgiving. Is that something to be thankful for, or what? Here’s more: Some are converts. Others are “cradle Catholics.” Their occupations range from retired military to restaurant owner, from school principal, airline pilot and salesman…

Increasingly, Advent is being overshadowed by the holiday hype and hubbub of Christmas. But a thoughtful piece in the Los Angeles Times — yes, the LA Times — tries to put this special season in perspective: Christmas certainly is a day of joy, but as the Rev. Mark D. Roberts sees it, special pleasures can…

The story, when it unfolded Friday, was bizarre. Now, it’s become something else — something sad, and more than a little bit shocking: The suspect arrested for allegedly holding hostages at Sen. Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire presidential campaign headquarters claimed a history of abuse at the hands of a priest, who has since been defrocked…

Remember the Gospel of Judas? Well, an op-ed piece in the New York Times this morning says, in effect: forget it. The translators, it seems, played fast and loose with the material: Amid much publicity last year, the National Geographic Society announced that a lost 3rd-century religious text had been found, the Gospel of Judas…

California, birthplace of trends, may have just given birth to another: the first layman has been appointed in Los Angeles to act as a pastoral administrator at a parish: Like many in his religion, Humberto Ramos prayed regularly for God’s help in relieving the priest shortage plaguing the Roman Catholic Church. But the father of…

It’s that time of year again, and as you get ready to send out your Christmas cards, CNS has helpfully written a nifty history of the Christmas stamp: The series actually got its start in 1966, four years after the first Christmas stamp debuted with a wreath, two candles and the words “Christmas 1962.” The…

One of my favorite places to visit and pray has been the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, in Conyers, Georgia — the Trappist house that was once home to Thomas Merton’s censor, and Flannery O’Connor’s peacocks. Alert readers will note that I visited there just last month, and posted a number of pictures. A good…

Anyone curious about how God wound up on our currency should check out this intriguing nugget in today’s Wall Street Journal, which explains everything. It began with a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase by a Rev. Watkinson: “Dear Sir, One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the…

I confess a certain affection for Mike Huckabee — from his name to his unassuming Gomer Pyle-ish demeanor to his clear-headed values and Mark Twain-ish wit. So I was especially intrigued by this item in the Washington Post’s On Faith section that took the time and trouble to dissect Huckabeee’s theology, as reflected in the…
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