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The Deacon's Bench

If you’re looking for some potent spiritual writing, look no further than the lyrics of…Bruce Springsteen. Really. Some months back, during Lent, I prepared a Good Friday reflection on the Seven Last Words of Christ that quoted from Springsteen’s “The Rising” (to my mind, still and always one of the most powerful meditations on 9/11).…

On Wednesday of this week, Mary will be the focus, as the Church celebrates one of the great mysteries of our faith, The Feast of the Assumption. But celebrations of the Blessed Mother are already underway in the midwest, with a devotion that is relatively new and, at least to me, not as well known.…

Several days ago, I posted an item here about a Catholic school teacher in Iowa who lost his job because he wasn’t living according to Church teachings. Now, from across the pond, we have a story about another Catholic school teacher, also evidently living outside the bounds of Church law — and the Archdiocese says…

No, it’s not Mother Angelica — though, to many, she is the unofficial religious leader for the region (if not the world.) But we have a few hints today, courtesy the fellow behind this stellar blog. Rocco Palmo has been busy with a shovel, digging, and came up with a tantalizing scoop: After 27 months,…

Out in California, where Mel Gibson and Roger Mahony manage somehow to breathe the same air, a paper has done a profile of a “breakaway” Catholic parish that has tripled in size over the last 20 years. The members are part of something known as the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen, founded by Francis Schuckardt…

This morning’s Dallas Morning News has an informative Q&A about Hispanics and religion, with Dr. David Maldonado Jr., director of the Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity and Religions at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology. He echoes a lot of what we’ve heard before — but it’s interesting to see this pop up in…

You can collect almost anything these days. The Franklin Mint is making a mint selling everything from replicas of antique cars to porcelain scenes from “Gone With the Wind.” When I was growing up, the mother of my best friend collected little Hummel figurines. Well, I have a collection of my own: these three-dollar umbrellas.…

For reasons both miraculous and mysterious, St. Clare is the official patroness of television. (It’s said that she could sometimes see mass being celebrated, in a vision, as if projected on her wall. The first wide-screen HDTV??) But she may be better known as the foundress of the Poor Clares, and as one of the…

This morning, I stumbled across this good piece from a Tyler, Texas newspaper, about the conversion phenomenon commonly known as “Crossing the Tiber” — when Protestants become Catholic. With some prominent Americans — including a presidential candidate — among those who have crossed that river to Rome (symbolically, if not literally), the paper decided to…

My favorite Catholic comedian and close personal friend Stephen Colbert offered up this tip of the hat to our Holy Father last night, for making Esquire’s best-dressed list. It’s Friday. Kick back and enjoy.
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