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June 2013

June 05, 2013

On Choosing a Vocation: “Making Yourself is Different Than Producing a Product…”

A little profundity —and a challenge to the world—from David Brooks, in the New York...

June 04, 2013

“I think I owe some apologies…”

Mark Shea strikes a poignant tone of contrition and humility in this morning's post. Listen...

June 03, 2013

“Humble Service Means There’s Nothing in It for You”

Here's something for every deacon to ponder—and it comes from a woman helping her cousin...

May 2013

May 29, 2013

“Parish-based Catechesis Has Been An Abject Failure”

Remember scenes like this one in a Catholic classroom? Learning the catechism? The basics of...

May 04, 2013

One reason why Heather King is my hero

For thoughts like this: I don't read most Catholic blogs for the same reason I...

April 2013

April 12, 2013

15 days in Rome: how Jorge Bergoglio became pope

The Wall Street Journal has just published an e-book on the papal election, and there's...

March 2013

March 27, 2013

Was this the key to Bergoglio’s election as pope?

A Cuban cardinal has shared Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio's intervention during the pre-conclave General Congregation meetings:...

March 14, 2013

“This is a pope from Galilee”

That's what a French journalist said in 1978, when Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul...

March 14, 2013

Why Bergoglio?

As usual, John Allen has some great parsing of what happened yesterday and how the...

March 13, 2013

What the Vatican needs is a “Hall of Humility”

A worthy idea from the indispensable John Thavis, describing the hallway cardinals passed through on...

March 12, 2013

Elizabeth Scalia on “The Intrinsic Disorder of Me”

This morning, she offers an eye-opening look at a phrase that has more applications than...

March 11, 2013

The case for a Dolan papacy: “Evangelization on steroids”

John Allen today looks at three American cardinals who are getting some papal buzz, and...

March 05, 2013

A married priest writes about the “c word”: celibacy

Take it away, Fr. Dwight: I can speak from experience. I was a celibate Anglican...

February 2013

February 27, 2013

Pope Joe?

A favorite story of Blessed Pope John XXIII—the man born Joseph Roncalli—tells of how he...

February 19, 2013

A hearty “Welcome” to another piece of furniture!

The Bench is pleased to welcome The Couch—and Greg the Deacon welcomes Greg the Doctor,...

February 19, 2013

So just how do they pick a pope?

Wondering just what goes on inside the Sistine Chapel? Where do the cardinals stay? How...

January 2013

January 13, 2013

The baptism of Jesus: “an act of radical identification with humanity”

On his Facebook page, Father James Martin, S.J., offers a snippet from his forthcoming book...

January 10, 2013

“We listen, and God moves us forward…”

My friend, the Trappist priest James Stephen Behrens at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit...

January 08, 2013

“Les Mis”: it’s all about the bishop

There's a lovely remembrance of first encountering "Les Miserables" -- the musical and the book...

January 03, 2013

What’s wrong with gay marriage? Let me count the ways…

Actually, I'll let Brandon Vogt do it. He lays out 10 common arguments in favor...

December 2012

December 30, 2012

Wholly family: celebrating wonder on this feast day

Two of my Patheos neighbors have reminded me today about the meaning of family, and...

December 26, 2012

After Newtown: answering the question of “Why, God?”

Maureen Dowd asked a priest friend to reflect on the tragedy in Newtown, and the...

December 11, 2012

“I want to love again…”

That's the snap-to-attention opening line of Elizabeth Scalia's latest posting at First Things. I meant...

December 07, 2012

Behold, the Orthodox deacons of Ethiopia

Do you have vestments like these? Over at our CNEWA blog, ONE-TO-ONE, there's an interesting...

November 2012

November 27, 2012

Apocalypse? Now!

Elizabeth Scalia at First Things offers some beautiful, hope-filled words of wisdom in the wake...

November 20, 2012

Faith of our grandfathers

Elizabeth Scalia captures a beautiful moment in time: 6:36 AM: To the right of the...

November 13, 2012

On the election: “Believers have been given a great gift”

Elizabeth Scalia writes in First Things, striking a chord or two of realism and common-sense...

November 06, 2012

Pulling the lever, praying the psalms

More wisdom for this particular moment from my blog neighbor Elizabeth Scalia, who opines at...

October 2012

October 22, 2012

The future of the New Evangelization? Look East

That, in effect, is the message of John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, writing...

October 20, 2012

What does “Catholic” really mean?

This piece by Franciscan friar and blogger Daniel Horan, OFM ("Dating God") offers some answers...