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The Deacon's Bench

From the Catholic Transcript: The ordination of nine men to the permanent diaconate drew four bishops and about 25 priests, 50 deacons and 300 family members and friends to the Cathedral of St. Joseph on June 5. Archbishop Henry J. Mansell, the ordaining prelate, began the celebration by speaking of how the new deacons signify…

Wednesday, the bishops released a document clarifying the difference between a “direct abortion” and a “medical procedure” — evidently, in connection with the much-covered case in Phoenix. Catholic News Service offers a summary: The committee’s statement quoted directive 45: “Abortion (that is, the directly intended termination of pregnancy before viability or the directly intended destruction…

It’s being hailed as a major breakthrough in treating the visually impaired — and some of the results are truly amazing: Dozens of people who were blinded or otherwise suffered severe eye damage when they were splashed with caustic chemicals had their sight restored with transplants of their own stem cells — a stunning success…

If not, just head for the crowd of new deacons, ordained last weekend. Read more here. Congratulations! Ad multos annos!

Corporations may be downsizing in other departments, but some are beefing up in one unexpected area: spiritual counseling. From the Wall Street Journal: Marisol Corrales, an operations manager for a Dallas housecleaning service, doesn’t attend church regularly or see herself as a religious person, she says. But she calls regularly on a workplace chaplain provided…

Recently, Elizabeth “The Anchoress” Scalia posted about attending a Catholic writer’s conference. Some of her (always interesting!) impressions can be found right here. But if you want to see more — and hear from The A herself! — check out this report that we did for “Currents.”

Take a look. Warning: not for the faint of heart. You can see more — if you really want to — right here.

A new poll suggests a lot of folks think Jesus will be here relatively soon: Among respondents to the survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and Smithsonian Magazine, 41 percent said they expect Jesus’ Second Coming in the next 40 years, while 46 percent said it probably or definitely…

A little while back, I blogged about Deacon Greg Rapisarda, the father of a Father, becoming a Father. This widowed dad of a priest was ordained a priest himself on June 12 — making history, by giving Baltimore its first father and son team of priests. (He was also the only priest ordained for the…

A friend posted this on Facebook, and it’s too good not to share. Watch it with someone you love.      
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