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The Deacon's Bench

Those venerable words from St. Paul could well capture the sentiment of this author, writing about how funeral liturgies, and especially their homilies, have lost their force. The author is David Lewis Stokes Jr., an associate professor of theology at Providence College in Rhode Island. And he makes some very good points: Of all the…

After Raymond v. Rudy, pitting Archbishop Raymond Burke against Rudy Giuliani in a battle over who should or should not be given communion, you can now add a third party to the mix: Ted. As in Washington’s retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. McCarrick has just added his voice to the debate, on what to do about…

Stranger things have happened, I suppose … but this little scoop is definitely one to induce a lot of head-scratching: Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, claims he converted from Islam to Christianity, Scott Pelley reports in a story that brings viewers inside the secretive Supermax prison…

The very first deacon class of the Diocese of Orlando celebrated it’s 25th anniversary last month, and the Florida Catholic newspaper took note: They were the class of ’82. Thirteen men, sent forth by their pastors at the behest of their bishop into unexplored territory, the first men in the Orlando Diocese to answer a…

I confess: I’m not an Ann Coulter fan. I once described her as the Madonna of the far right — ready and willing to say anything to get a reaction (usually that reaction is bewilderment and shock.) But now she really has crossed a line, and I’m not sure she realizes just how far out…

Over at Beliefnet, David Kuo has posted this snippet from the Sunday talk shows. It’s House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the subject of prayer: WALLACE: You said the other day that you were praying for President Bush to change his mind about vetoing SCHIP. Do you pray for our soldiers to win in Iraq? PELOSI:…

It seems you can never be too careful about the kinds of pictures you choose to hang on your wall — especially when the art is provocative and offensive. What kind of art might that be? Why, a picture of Jesus, of course. From the London Telegraph: A religious man was suspended from his job…

The fact that you’re reading this may indicate something the wider culture is just now starting to grasp: God is alive and well online. And now that fact has even captured the attention of Forbes magazine: YouTube has produced its share of celebrities: Lonelygirl15, the lip-syncing Chinese teenagers known as the Back Dormitory Boys, and…

With so many seminaries all but empty, and so many dioceses struggling to find priests for their parishes, what is happening in Minnesota could well be considered a miracle: St. John Vianney Seminary in St. Paul has increased its housing, its staff and what it demands of students. And the men keep coming. The seminary’s…

Here’s a side of Mother Teresa we haven’t heard much about: the saint-as-patient. Her cardiologist spoke at a gathering in Pennsylvania recently, and the Pittsburgh paper has the scoop: In the last seven years of her life, Mother Teresa was often near death but saw some of her most heartfelt prayers answered. Only the hope…
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