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The Deacon's Bench

I got a couple of e-mails earlier from readers who took issue with the story I posted from the Los Angeles Times, about the Sisters of Bethany being evicted to help the Archdiocese of Los Angeles pay its massive sex abuse settlement. One reader made some sound points: First of all, the sister who claims…

Every now and then I stumble across a story that just leaves me speechless. This is one of them, from the Los Angeles Times: For 43 years, Sister Angela Escalera has lived and often worked out of her order’s small convent on this city’s east side, helping the area’s many poor and undocumented residents with…

Another creative choice in liturgical fashion, from Austria.

It’s no secret the Church in Africa is cranking out vocations like crazy. The item below, from the Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), just underscores the point. The rector of Uganda’s seminary also offers some interesting contrasts between the Church in Africa, and the one in Europe: Father Aquirinus Francis Kibira,…

I can think of a few people who might disagree, but writer Mark Judge, in the Washington Post, makes a compelling argument that rock and roll is a distinctly Catholic form of art: You don’t need to work at MTV to realize that love – and it’s loss – is the great theme of popular…

That was what my wife said when I showed her the picture below. Our snazzy pontiff continues to turn heads.

A common complaint I hear from some lay Catholics is that most of the saints are priests, nuns or religious. What about ordinary people raising families and having jobs? Can’t they be saints, too? Well, look no further than this unusual story out of Pittsburgh, where a widower is now working to have his late…

The Church is always looking for ways to strengthen marriages — and, according to the Catholic News Service, one diocese is taking it very seriously, even before marriage begins: Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond has approved a new diocesanwide marriage preparation process that will require engaged couples to take a premarital inventory, a full…

From time to time, you hear about married former Protestant ministers becoming Catholic priests. A couple months ago, I mentioned here some Lutherans who had made that leap. But this may be the first time I’ve read an article about a man who hadn’t yet made up his mind. It’s all about discernment. It comes…

When I was growing up, my parents had a big wooden console stereo in the living room. My father had a pretty extensive record collection – everything from the Firestone Christmas Records to the 101 Strings and the original cast recording of “My Fair Lady.” But in his later years he got some classical music…
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