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The Deacon's Bench

Jesuit Father James Martin wears many hats — editor, essayist, raconteur, priest — and is probably most familiar to American Catholics as the author of the instant classic “My Life With The Saints” (coming in paperback in October.) Now he’s donned another hat, play doctor, and has written about his experience in the world of…

A parish in Arkansas is facing something it never expected: a new pastor. And his wife and kids: Students returning to St. Joseph School will have something different this fall: They’ll be joined by the son of the parish’s new pastor. Father Bradley Barber, 51, is a former Episcopal priest who has since converted and…

What’s an unhappy evangelical Christian to do? In growing numbers, members of various Protestant denominations have decided they’ve had enough, and are converting. And more often than not, they’re joining the Orthodox Church. According to The New Republic: While it’s unlikely that the Orthodox Church–which, according to the best estimate, has only 1.2 million American…

With the 10th anniversary of her death approaching, Blessed Mother Teresa is very much in the news. A collection of her letters, in which she details her spiritual struggles and doubts, is about to be published. Instead of throwing cold water on her cause for sainthood, I suspect it will only fan the flames; the…

Every now and then, we get a happy reminder that the Holy Spirit is running the Church, gently correcting all the screw-ups we humans can manage. Here is one good bit of news: increasing reports of more young women deciding to enter religious life. From Catholic News Service: Many vocation directors, in interviews with Catholic…

In October, on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, it’s not uncommon to find churches blessing animals. At the start of fox hunting season, people routinely celebrate the blessing of the hounds. So it shouldn’t seem all that unusual that, in wine-growing country, they mark the harvest with the blessing of grapes, celebrated by…

Sometimes, faith creates shrines in surprising places. That seems to be what has happened in Delaware, where a statue of the Blessed Mother has become a destination for hundreds: When Joseph Tighe stopped to visit the Our Lady Queen of Peace statue Aug. 15, he was pleasantly surprised by some unexpected company. The 47-year-old Carneys…

Charles de Foucauld wrote lovingly of Jesus’ hometown, and thought that, as he put it, “Nazareth…the place of the hidden life, of family life, of ordinary life (is) where most people lead their lives.” So this item caught my eye: a description of a pilgrimage to Egypt, visiting a place where many believe the Holy…

Father Benedict Groeschel will never be called a shy wallflower of a man, afraid to speak his mind. That much was clear from a talk he gave in Arlington, Virginia recently on the media: In a modern society where “truth is lost, justice denied and morality mocked,” Franciscan Friar of the Renewal Father Benedict Groeschel…

You would think that making an issue of a candidate’s Catholicism is just so 20th century. Didn’t we get over that in 1960? But no. In the governor’s race in Louisiana, the spectre of anti-Catholicism has now reared its ugly head. This dispatch comes from the AP: A political ad from the Louisiana governor’s race…
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