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The Deacon's Bench

I’m reading Thomas Merton’s “New Seeds of Contemplation,” and it seems like every page has a glistening pearl, waiting to be discovered. This caught my eye the other day, and it seems apt for Labor Day: “The requirements of a work to be done can be understood as the will of God. If I am…

That’s my reaction to the new signs that are popping up in one orthodox Jewish village in New York — and that are getting a lot of media attention. Check out the local news report below.

A new survey reports that an overwhelming majority of people in the world believes in the importance of religion — but it breaks down largely along economic lines: More than eight in ten adults in the world say religion is an important part of their daily lives, according to Gallup surveys conducted last year in…

The celebrated scientist is throwing cold water on the idea that God created the universe: God did not create the universe and the “Big Bang” was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book. In “The Grand Design,” co-authored with U.S. physicist Leonard…

A group of Satanists is planning to rent a city civic center in Oklahoma for one of their rituals. You have to see the bizarre report below to believe it. More details here.

With the controversy still swirling over the Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero, New York’s Archbishop is suggesting regular meetings between faith leaders might help build bridges. From the Wall Street Journal: Archbishop Timothy Dolan said the church was not trying to tell or suggest to Muslims that they move the proposed mosque and…

Yes, it seems, this is legit. Some genius is probably making a mint off of this. Want one? Here’s the website.  Knock yourself out. 

Here’s a little late summer chaser for you, as we turn the corner into fall, from the incomparable Durante. Enjoy.

Just in time for the papal visit this month, an exhibit has opened in Scotland showing some of the key documents charting the birth of the Protestant Reformation. Details: A collection of historic manuscripts which document the establishment of the Protestant church in Scotland have gone on display in Edinburgh. They are on show at…

America is about to get a new bishop — but one with arguably the most distinctive resume around. His amazing story, from the Catholic Review in Baltimore: On one of the bloodiest days of the Iraq War – April 9, 2004 – Father F. Richard Spencer became the link between this world and the next…
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