Monthly Archives: January 2009
Charity’s salaries pique questions
By Daniel Burke — January 28, 2009
Angel Food Minstries Inc., the Ga.-based charity that sells discount groceries, has paid more than $2.5 million in one year to the family that founded and operates the organization, the York Daily Record reports.The Wingo family has also borrowed more than $1 million from Angel Foods, which they founded in 1996. (Full disclosure, this piece […]
Holocaust denier bishop gagged
By Daniel Burke — January 28, 2009
National Catholic Reporter has the statement from Bishop Bernard Fellay, the head of the order of ultra-conservative Catholic order readmitted into the Catholic Church earlier this week. One of the bishops of that order, Richard Williamson, denies aspects of the Holocaust. Moneyquote: “It’s with great sadness that we recognize the extent to which the violation […]
Updike’s last abode
By Francis X. Rocca — January 28, 2009
John Updike was a writer who cared about religion, so it seems fitting to note his death here. Admirers of his work will find these images, of the hospice where he died, sad but irresistible, as we wonder how the master would have described his last surroundings. Maybe he left some last pages that will […]
Religion by Region
By Mark Silk — January 28, 2009
Gallup has surveyed Americans for religion’s importance and broken the results up by state. Here’s the map: So what’s the explanation? Says Gallup: The question of why residents of some states (e.g., Mississippi and other Southern states) are highly likely to report that religion is an important part of their lives, while residents of other […]
Where’s that Summer youth thing?
By Mark Silk — January 28, 2009
Howard Friedman over at Religion Clause has noticed that the fiscal stimulus bill includes $100 million for what’s been known as the faith-based initiative, and also that Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) has proposed an amendment to increase that to $500 million. The money’s slated for Health and Human Services’ Compassion Capital Fund, whose purpose is […]
Roma locuta denuo
By Mark Silk — January 28, 2009
The man once known as God’s Rottweiler justifies giving something for nothing: “I undertook this act of paternal mercy because these prelates had repeatedly manifested to me their deep pain at the situation in which they had come to find themselves,” the pope said. “I hope my gesture is followed by the hoped-for commitment on […]
Social Conservatives under the bus?
By Mark Silk — January 28, 2009
The barons of the GOP are longing for a new Haley Barbour to head the RNC, writes Alexander Burns on Politico, and on his account what that means is someone consummately competent at the care and feeding of the apparat. Oh to be able to party like it was 1993-97! But it’s worth bearing in […]
Study: Americans more loyal to Charmin or Colgate than church
By Tracy Gordon — January 28, 2009
(UNDATED) Americans are more loyal to their toothpaste or toilet paper than to their religious denomination, making consumers more choosy about Charmin or Colgate than they are about church, according to a new survey. According to a Phoenix-based research firm, 16 percent of Protestants say they would consider only one denomination, while 22 percent of […]
Update: Suspects indicted in arson at black church
By Tracy Gordon — January 28, 2009
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) Three white men who were arrested for allegedly setting fire to a black church hours after President Obama’s election were indicted Tuesday (Jan. 27) in federal court. The three men-Benjamin F. Haskell, 22; Michael F. Jacques, 24; and Thomas A. Gleason Jr., 21-had been released Monday on $100,000 bail each after spending […]
Update: Trial postponed in faith-healing death
By Tracy Gordon — January 28, 2009
PORTLAND, Ore.-Two parents who chose spiritual healing over medical care for their 15-month-old daughter will go to trial on manslaughter charges June 23. Carl and Raylene Worthington’s trial was originally scheduled to start Tuesday (Jan. 27) but was delayed to accommodate the schedule of a defense witness. The Worthingtons’ daughter, Ava, died at home in […]
Longtime interfaith leader Rabbi Leon Klenicki dies at 78
By Tracy Gordon — January 28, 2009
NEW YORK (RNS) Rabbi Leon Klenicki, who spent decades advancing Jewish-Christian understanding as an author, theologian and the Anti-Defamation League’s liaison to the Vatican, died Sunday (Jan. 25) after a long illness. He was 78. Klenicki retired from the Anti-Defamation League in 2001, but continued writing and teaching on interfaith relations. In August 2007, he […]
Pope’s current controversy obscured by longer vision
By Tracy Gordon — January 28, 2009
VATICAN CITY-Ever since Pope Benedict XVI allowed schismatic bishops back into the Catholic fold last week, his decision has been met with abundant expressions of outrage and dismay, from both inside and outside the church. Yet the controversy isn’t fueled by the bishops’ thoughts on the church or the papacy or liturgy but rather one […]
Reinstated Catholic bishop
By Daniel Burke — January 27, 2009
This is one of the bishops reinstated by the Vatican this week talking about what he calls the “quote-unquote ‘holocaust.'”
In Obama’s pocket
By Daniel Burke — January 27, 2009
Tricycle’s blog has word that Obama had a kata, or Tibetan silk scarf, in his pocket at last week’s inauguration. It was given to him by Richard Blum, who is Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s husband. Blum got it from the Dalai Lama. As a Tricycle commentator helpfully explains: A kata is a Tibetan blessing scarf, usually […]
