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The Deacon's Bench

The New York Times’ Janet Maslin — one-time movie critic who now fancies herself a book critic — has taken a look at the new masterpiece, “I Am America, And So Can You,” by My Close Personal Friend Stephen Colbert. Ms. Maslin — who is not now and never will be My Close Personal Friend…

The Nobel Prizes are being announced this week. Which means it’s time for the “Ig Nobel Prizes” — awarded every year to the ludicrous and the laughable, but otherwise extremely valuable scientific and artistic contributions to humanity. What would Alfred Nobel (pictured to the left) think? I’m sure he’d quote the inimitable J.J. Walker: “Dy-no-MITE!”…

Catholics are known for being unabashedly pro-life. But a committed group of Catholics in Indiana is adding another dimension to that idea, by shedding light on one of the darkest corners of human life, and one many don’t like to talk about: suicide. From the Catholic Moment newspaper in Lafeyette, Indiana: Wearing T-shirts that read…

Looking for a little good news? A U.S. sociologist who has been studying Catholics offered an encouraging word or two at a dinner recently in Washington: In an Oct. 3 talk at Georgetown University in Washington before receiving an award from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) for his contribution to church…

Today is “Respect Life” Sunday around the United States, when many priests and deacons will preach on the sanctity of life and the need to pray for an end to abortion. But no homily, I think, could be more meaningful than this woman’s testimony, published in the Georgia Bulletin: Every year on Respect Life Sunday,…

Milwaukee is known for much more than beer: these days, it’s also brewing a star Catholic baseball player named Vinny Rottino. He’s living his faith and proclaiming it — most recently, in the pages of the Milwaukee Catholic newspaper: Kathie Solie remembers vividly the day in 2002 when her young groundskeeper at the Siena Center…

In an unusual move, the bishop of San Diego is asking for help in paying a huge settlement to sex abuse victims in his diocese — and he’s asking his priests to chip in. From the San Diego Union: Priests in the Diocese of San Diego are being asked to donate a month’s salary as…

Funeral directors have a knack for helping people work their way through sudden, often tragic loss — and for Catholics in the profession, this truly is a “ministry of consolation.” Our Sunday Visitor explores this special vocation: In his poem, “Calling,” author and funeral director Thomas Lynch wrote about listening for the call from the…

Thinking about dedicating your life to God as a priest or nun? The Columbus Dispatch, in Ohio, decided to profile a few people who are weighing that question, as part of a series. And the first installment was published Friday: Adam Boyden was once a casual Catholic who loved to party. Now, his life is…

After Archbishop Raymond Burke threw down the gauntlet a few days back, more or less daring Rudy Giuliani to approach the communion rail, the GOP candidate has responded: Republican Rudy Giuliani on Thursday brushed aside criticism from Roman Catholic Archbishop Raymond Burke who said he would deny Holy Communion to Giuliani and any other presidential…
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