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The Deacon's Bench

How time flies. It was five years ago next month that Pope John Paul added the Luminous Mysteries, or Mysteries of Light, to one of the Church’s most enduring devotions, the rosary. And Our Sunday Visitor has taken note of this: Baptism in the Jordan. Wedding at Cana. Proclamation of the kingdom. Transfiguration. Institution of…

A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail from a deacon candidate, directing me to a website he’s set up all about the diaconate. I promised him that I’d post on it. But then, life being what it is, I forgot all about it — until this morning, when I started sifting through my mailbox.…

Tony Blair continues to stand on the shore, gazing at the water and casually testing the water with his toe. But is he finally ready to dive in and swim the Tiber? Rocco over at Whispers points us to this intriguing piece of news: Tony Blair, the former prime minister of Great Britain who is…

This news comes right from my own backyard, New York City, where the Archdiocese is running one Catholic school in Greenwich Village with a surprising number of students. Two. From WCBS-TV: When school is dismissed at the end of the day, there’s nothing unusual about seeing a rush of children plow through the doors in…

A Pennsylvania nun who spent time in a federal prison learned a lot from the experience — including, she says, what it is like to live in a “state of uncertainty.” This, from the Catholic Exponent, in nearby Youngstown, Ohio: Serving a prison sentence in a federal penitentiary is something that Humility of Mary Sister…

Here’s an interesting take on morality from, of all places, the New York Times. It’s weekly Science Times section today looks at whether or not we are hard-wired to be good. Is doing unto others part of our evolution? Read on: In a series of recent articles and a book, “The Happiness Hypothesis,” Jonathan Haidt,…

Well, I’m sure some people in the Netherlands thought it sounded like a good idea at the time. But, not surprisingly, the Dominicans who run their order disagreed and decided — as the Church teaches — that only validly ordained priests can celebrate mass: The leaders of the Catholic Dominican order on Tuesday censured Dutch…

Rocco over at Whispers in the Loggia has taken the trouble to remind us that this marks the 20-year anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s monumental and memorable trip to the United States, an 11-day visit that left an indelible impression on so many. One emotional highpoint came in Los Angeles, when Tony Melendez, born…

It’s not exactly the Hatfields and McCoys, but a similar long-standing feud is heating up between Catholics and Orthodox in, of all places, Transylvania: When Dumitru Butuza’s wife died earlier this year, the Transylvanian farmer went to his village priest to ask that the church bell be rung, a tradition in this part of Romania.…

A doctor who treated the ailing Pope John Paul in his final days has put to rest a recurring rumor about the pontiff’s treatment: Doctors assisting Pope John Paul II in his final days never suspended medical treatment and the pontiff did not ask them to do so, his personal physician said. Pro-euthanasia activists in…
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