Monthly Archives: May 2007
Photos Help Grieving Families Hold On to Lost Children
By Kevin McDermott — May 25, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Elizabeth McGuire will live forever in family photographs, a tiny girl with dark blue eyes and a full head of hair. Her family recently gathered in their New Jersey home to watch a computer slide slow of the portraits _ all the McGuires have left of their “littlest angel,” […]
At 68, Grandfather Starts New Life as a Catholic Priest
By Jeff Diamant — May 25, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service ROCKAWAY, N.J. _ After three blissful Italian vacations, the striking scenery of Italy’s Amalfi Coast had settled snugly into Carmen Buono’s memory. Glorious sunsets off the hotel balcony in Sorrento, the woman he loved _ his wife, Barbara _ at his side. Then, in 2002, at age 63, Buono returned […]
COMMENTARY: Vienna’s Anti-Semitism Provoked Two Very Different Jewish Responses
By James Rudin — May 25, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Vienna is always associated with frothy Strauss waltzes and excellent chocolates. But Austria’s capital also has a darker side: a history of anti-Semitism that was especially virulent in 1897, when Karl Lueger, running on an openly anti-Semitic platform, became Vienna’s mayor. It was a post he held until his […]
Internet Puts Son in Baghdad at Dad’s Funeral
By RNS Blog Editor — May 25, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. _ Raymond J. Gress was 6,500 miles away in Baghdad during his father’s recent funeral at Rockford United Methodist Church. And he hardly missed a thing. The entire service _ from the moment Raymond A. Gress’ flag-draped coffin was ushered into the church until the 21-gun salute […]
Sidney Poitier: The measure of a life
By Phyllis Zagano — May 24, 2007
(RNS) — Poitier's spiritual autobiography is the modern story of a man who learned what the word 'character' means.
The Immigrant Song
By RNS Blog Editor — May 24, 2007
Pews Slow to Follow the Pulpit on Immigration Reform RNS Daniel Burke looks at immigration reform, and the differing messages from the pulpit and the pews, in this week’s full text article, linked above. With Congress preparing to take up immigration policy in the coming weeks, a number of prominent religious leaders-from all shades of […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 24, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service NCC’s Edgar to Take Helm of Common Cause (RNS) The Rev. Bob Edgar, the outgoing general secretary of the National Council of Churches, has been named president of the public interest advocacy group Common Cause. Edgar, 63, a former congressman from Pennsylvania and an ordained United Methodist minister, was elected […]
Columbaria Revive a Church Graveyard Tradition
By RNS Blog Editor — May 24, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Just outside Fredericksburg (Va.) United Methodist Church, an arc-shaped wall hugs the church’s quiet meditation garden and outdoor fountain. A closer look at the wall reveals 360 niches and the names of deceased members of the congregation. The columbarium, which holds urns containing ashes of the dead, was installed […]
Diocese Builds Crematory as Cremation Acceptance Grows
By RNS Blog Editor — May 24, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. _ Despite the Catholic Church’s preference for burial, a New Jersey diocese has begun work on the first crematory in the United States to be built by a diocese. Church officials say the crematory at the 200-acre Holy Cross Burial Park here will open by year’s end. […]
Muslim Volunteers Meet Death, Find Life, in Washing Bodies
By Andrea Useem — May 24, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service HERNDON, Va. _ Deidre “Nusaybah” Ritchie knelt down and gently braided the brown hair of the woman’s body lying in a cocoon of white sheets. After demonstrating to the women gathered around her how to wash the body with soap and sweet-smelling camphor, Ritchie finished wrapping the woman in several […]
10 Minutes With … Steven Friedman
By RNS Blog Editor — May 24, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) You probably knew one could buy holy water, but what about holy soil? Steven Friedman’s brainchild, Holy Land Earth, imports 16-ounce bags of soil from Israel for use at American funerals, all with USDA and rabbinical approval. The grandson of Holocaust survivors, Friedman sees Israeli soil as sacred and […]
COMMENTARY: The Measure of a Life
By Phyllis Zagano — May 24, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Another school year closes and all teachers face the same event: grading. I’ve just turned in my grades for “Mysticism and the Spiritual Quest,” a cross-cultural course on great spiritual writing of history, including works so fine they qualify as literature. The Dhammapada. The Bhagavad-Gita. The Song of Solomon. […]
RNS Weekly Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 23, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Government Rescinds Fine Against Baptist Group WASHINGTON (RNS) A moderate Baptist group will not have to pay a fine related to alleged violations by members of affiliated churches who traveled to Cuba, the Treasury Department has decided. In 2006, the Washington-based Alliance of Baptists received a notice that it could […]
Thousands Bid Farewell to Falwell
By Adelle M. Banks — May 23, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service LYNCHBURG, Va._ About 10,000 mourners bid farewell Tuesday (May 22) to the Rev. Jerry Falwell, remembering him for his influence as a pastor, political activist and Christian educator. Falwell’s black and gold casket, adorned with a spray of red roses, stood under the pulpit of the 6,000-seat sanctuary of Thomas […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 23, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Gay Bishop Says Exclusion is an `Affront’ to U.S. Church (RNS) Openly gay Episcopal bishop V. Gene Robinson reacted angrily to his exclusion from a key meeting of Anglican leaders in England next year, saying it is “an affront to the entire Episcopal Church.” “It is time the bishops of […]
