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The Deacon's Bench

Arguably the toughest job in the Church these days is being a diocesan vocations director. The Los Angeles Daily News chats with the man doing that these days — and ticks off the usual grim statistics, along with a few possible solutions: On a recent Sunday, the Rev. Robert J. McNamara of St. Bernardine of…

Chicago’s Cardinal Archbishop is poised to be elected head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops — and the hometown paper is taking a look at what that means: When the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops gather this week in Baltimore, they will likely elect Chicago’s archbishop, Cardinal Francis George, to provide the voice for…

Here’s something to whet your appetite — or kill it. From a newspaper in Seattle: It’s rare to find kosher ham. Rarer still to find it carbonated and bottled. Jones Soda Co., the Seattle-based purveyor of offbeat fizzy water, said Friday that it was shelving its traditional seasonal flavors of turkey and gravy this year…

One of the more celebrated Catholic converts — and a recently ordained deacon, by the way — is former evangelical Alex Jones. He now spends much of his time traveling the country, talking about his journey back to the Church. And a paper in Fort Wayne, Indiana profiles him this weekend: Ten years ago, Alex…

A little over a week ago, I was in Atlanta, and was surprised to notice that a lot of the trees had already lost their leaves – even while many of the trees up here, further north, were still intact. I mentioned this to someone and she said there was only one reason for that.…

The New York Times, of all places, takes a look this weekend at how the Tridentine mass is faring, almost two months after the motu proprio. Interestingly, the reporter cast a wide net, and talked with people in several cities and dioceses: Kelly Rein, 16, used to spend most Thursday nights doing homework. These days,…

Barack Obama campaigning in Iowa, nine weeks before the caucus. Photo by Eric Thayer, New York Times

It was bound to happen sooner or later. A priest has been sacked for abuse. No, not that kind. Liturgical abuse. From CWN, via the Baltimore Sun: Baltimore’s Archbishop Edwin O’Brien has removed a pastor who invited a female Episcopalian priest to join him in celebrating a funeral Mass, the Baltimore Sun reports. Father Martin…

This is too good to pass up: remarks by Cardinal Sean O’Malley last month in Venice, to an international gathering of Capuchins. A good long snippet has already been posted by Rocco, but go and read the rest. The man’s love of his faith, and his order, permeates the whole thing. There is wisdom there,…

I know a few journalists who have been to Iraq, and they always come home with astounding tales to tell. But nothing can quite compare to the stories of the soldiers on the ground, who spend months at a time on the front lines, and make their living every day facing death. The Catholic Herald…
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