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The Deacon's Bench

Originally published in CONNECT! by Liturgical Publications, Inc..Shortly after he converted to Catholicism in the late 1930s, Thomas Merton was walking the streets of New York with his friend, Robert Lax. Lax was Jewish, and he asked Merton what he wanted to be, now that he was Catholic. “I don’t know,” Merton replied, adding simply…

What’s it like to have a 15th century job in the 21st century? This plugged-in nun knows — and San Francisco’s David Ian Miller decided to toss a few questions her way. His interview: Her cell phone has a custom ring tone. She frequents the Internet’s most popular social networking sites. She gets jittery when…

While so much of the Catholic press has been cooing over the new movie “Bella” — produced by a devout Catholic (and co-producer of Mel Gibson’s “Passion”) and carrying an explicit pro-life message — not everyone has been enraptured. Some film critics have been decidedly cool to it. And now a respected Catholic screenwriter and…

Our music-loving spiritual maestro, Pope Benedict, offered this weekend a few thoughts on that other maestro, Beethoven, particularly his venerable Ninth Symphony: After listening to a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony,” Pope Benedict XVI called the work a masterful expression of optimism in the face of suffering. The pope listened to the performance…

Boston’s Blogging Eminence, who weekly sheds light on what it’s like being the Cardinal Archbishop of Beantown, posted the photo below to his blog, to indicate which team he was rooting for in the World Series (as if we didn’t know already.) Evidently, his support — and prayers — worked.

Late-breaking news on the Britney Spears religion beat. Hours after I’d posted this important news about a Kentucky church that has taken up Britney as A Cause (and cause celebre?) this item crackled across the wire: Britney Spears is now set to outrage the Catholic Church with this kinky “confession” photo-shoot. In the shortest of…

Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon celebrates after the Red Sox won Game 4 4-3 to win the 2007 World Series in a four-game sweep of the Rockies. Photo: by Getty Images/Jamie Squire

It was an event that mingled pomp and politics in a way that is rare for a ceremony that was billed as strictly spiritual. But it resulted in a beatification for the record books: The Vatican held the biggest mass beatification in history on Sunday, putting nearly 500 Catholics killed during the Spanish civil war…

If anyone doesn’t know what deacons are — and, from experience, I can tell you that many don’t — here’s some help. A leading newspaper in southern Virginia, the Virginian-Pilot, has a surprisingly in-depth (and, for once, surprisingly accurate) article this weekend on deacons: Don Poole abandoned thoughts of the priesthood as a teen after…

Along with praying for peace, justice and loving your neighbor, a church in Kentucky now has another urgent cause to promote. I’m speaking, of course, of Britney Spears. From the AP: The congregation of Southland Christian Church is being asked to send letters of love and support to troubled pop star Britney Spears, described by…
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