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The Deacon's Bench

Evidently, a few scribes bent over their desks in Rome have finally heard about computers, virtual worlds, and the Internet. They’ve dipped their quills into ink and are offering their opinion in an influential Jesuit magazine: Digital worlds where viewers can interact with each other and create vast social networks carry several risks, but they…

Radio has changed since the days when Fulton Sheen (on the left, in the 1930’s) began broadcasting. In the mid-1980s, I worked for CBS News Radio, as a writer and editor, rubbing elbows with legends like Charles Osgood and Douglas Edwards. It was good, old-fashioned radio news, complete with screaming editors, frenzied anchors, and reel-to-reel…

My grandparents were immigrants from Slovakia, and brought with them a custom from the Old World of naming each child for the feast day on which they were born. But one of my aunts was born in early July and named Anne — weeks before the feast of St. Anne (today, July 26th). I never…

We all know there’s a vocation shortage — and that extends, of course, into the military, where they just don’t have enough chaplains. So it’s even more unusual, and inspiring, to hear of a chaplain winning the Purple Heart: U.S. Army Chaplain Father Eric Albertson, deputy installation chaplain and Catholic pastor at Fort Belvoir, was…

God knows, the sex scandals of the last five years have been costly, not only in dollars, but in believers. I know a few people who have had their faith shaken, or even shattered, by the feelings of betrayal that have rippled out from all the deception, cover-ups, denial and hurt. But along comes Amy…

Trolling the web, I stumbled on this great little prayer, via Amy Cunningham over at Beliefnet: “Warm all the kitchen with Thy love, and light it with Thy peace.Forgive me all my worrying and make my grumbling cease.Thou who didst love to give men food, in room or by the seaAccept this service that I…

It’s been coming for a while, and it finally happened: one of America’s largest archdioceses has closed its high school prep seminary: For more than a century, Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary has prepared teenage boys for the priesthood, largely unchanged as the city transformed around it from gritty industrial center to modern metropolis. But another…

Catholic art has a long and venerable history stretching back all the way to the catacombs. Lately, great church art has been rare, but some truly unusual and compelling work is on display at a parish in Arlington, Texas: Aspects of faith — humility, prayerful reverence, even determination — are depicted in more than a…

A cornerstone of the deacon’s work is the ministry of charity. This column from a Northern New Jersey paper, the Bergen Record, drove that point home, describing efforts to build a homeless shelter, and a memorial service for homeless men and women who have died on the streets: Over the weekend the nine Faith Foundation…

Happy Hump Day.
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