Inspiration Faith & Prayer Health & Wellness Entertainment Love & Family
Newsletters Special Offers

The Deacon's Bench

This is one of those tragedies that is just impossible to fathom: A bus transporting Polish pilgrims from a holy site in the French Alps plunged off a steep mountain road, crashed into a river bank and burst into flames yesterday, killing 26 people, authorities said. Fourteen others were seriously injured in the disaster, which…

Since the mammoth abuse settlement last week in Los Angeles, there’s been a lot of finger-pointing and fist-shaking (usually directed toward the Cardinal Archbishop who heads the archdiocese.) Now, a political scientist on the op-ed pages of the city’s leading newspaper is suggesting that there’s nothing wrong with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles that can’t…

A now, something a little different for a Sunday morning: marriage tips from the Catholic Church. No. Really. I’m not making this up. Last month, I noted that the USCCB had launched a new initiative to support and enrich marriage. Now, it’s finally starting to get some media buzz: Alarmed by the persistently high divorce…

Here’s some unusual news, from our friends in the Caribbean: Ronnie Thwaites has been suspended from preaching by the Roman Catholic Church until he decides to leave active politics. The deacon, social activist, attorney-at-law and politician yesterday admitted to The Gleaner that the archbishop had barred him from delivering sermons. “I can confirm that I…

Mass attendance (and money in the collection basket) tends to drop off during the summer months, as people head off for vacation. And a Catholic paper out in Oregon decided to report on this phenomenon, and how parishes cope: Vacation and other summer activities cut into Mass attendance and collections at many Oregon Catholic parishes.…

With an institution as colorful and as ancient as the Catholic Church, you never lack for papal prognosticators who spend a lot of their time huddled in corners, dissecting plots and hidden motives. A surprising number of these tea-leaf readers are priests. And now, after the two big pronouncements from Rome in the last couple…

In Cincinnati, Ohio, a group of deacons just celebrated a silver jubilee, with a 25th anniversary mass and some thoughts on both the ministry — as well as the unique role of the deacon’s wife: Barry Mersmann, current director of the Diaconate Office, said some bishops across the country have said that a parish is…

When I was growing up, I knew some kids who belonged to St. Camillus parish — but I’d never actually met anyone named Camillus, and never even knew much about this saint. Now, thanks to this post over at Sed Contra, I do: Saint Camillus founded the Congregation of the Servants of the Sick and…

Over at “Couric & Co.,” we’ve just put up an interview with former Oklahoma governor Frank Keating, who had a stormy tenure as head of National Review Board in 2002-2003. He has some interesting things to say about what just happened in Los Angeles — particularly, about his own comments comparing some bishops (I wonder…

Last Saturday, after the 5 o’clock mass, my wife and I went to dinner down on Austin Street. And after dinner, we took a walk and decided to stop in at Barnes & Noble. Upstairs, in the religion section – wouldn’t you know that I’d go to the religion section? – I found a new…
archives most recent
search this blog
More from Beliefnet and our partners