Monthly Archives: December 2009
Irish bishop resigns over sex abuse scandal
By Tracy Gordon — December 18, 2009
VATICAN CITY (RNS) An Irish Catholic bishop criticized in a recent report on clerical sex abuse apologized to victims on Thursday (Dec. 17), the same day the Vatican announced his resignation. “I humbly apologize once again to all who were abused as little children,” Bishop Donal B. Murray of Limerick said at St. John’s Cathedral, […]
Rogue Zambian archbishop defrocked
By Tracy Gordon — December 18, 2009
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, the excommunicated African prelate who scandalized the Catholic Church by marrying in 2001, has been defrocked for continuing to ordain bishops without permission of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican announced on Thursday (Dec. 17). Citing Milingo’s “grave crimes” against church unity, and his “persistent contumacy” in defying papal authority, […]
Churches capitalize on Christmas for evangelism
By Tracy Gordon — December 18, 2009
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. (RNS) Mark Miller was frustrated. It was after 10:15 on Thursday night, his wireless earpiece was on the fritz, his stagehands couldn’t locate the Rwandan drum and none of his players seemed to understand what Section One was. “Section One, everyone,” Miller said into his microphone, as a dozen drummers milled around […]
Thursday’s roundup
By Daniel Burke — December 17, 2009
So, the Obama White House threw its first Hanukkah party Wednesday night. Despite some kvetching about the guest list, the party seemed to be a nice farbrengen. Politics Daily has the scoop on l’affaire kosher. As the Senate continues to strip, I mean, debate the health-care reform bill, the Catholic bishops’ chief pro-life guy says […]
COMMENTARY: My top 10 religion stories
By Tracy Gordon — December 17, 2009
(RNS) David Letterman has his Top-10 lists ever night, and every year I have one of my own. Here are my picks for the year’s top 10 religion stories: 1. President Obama’s speech to the Islamic world and his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance address reflect religion’s central role in today’s world. In Cairo, he reached […]
Jesus and the Census
By Mark Silk — December 17, 2009
I don’t see how this non-governmental ad for participating in the 2010 Census is “blasphemous” or “violates the concept of separation of church and state,” as Rev. Miguel Rivera, chairman of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, claims. But I’m not sure it sends Latino immigrants–its target audience–the right message. Which message […]
On the anti-abortion barricades
By Mark Silk — December 17, 2009
Over at America‘s In All Things blog, Michael Sean Winters slams his co-religionist pro-life zealots for demonizing Sen. Bob Casey’s effort to devise an abortion compromise in the health care bill. As Winters points out, the folks at National Right to Life are opposed to health care reform altogether, so their anti-abortion zealotry needs to […]
Aimee, mother of them all
By Mark Silk — December 17, 2009
Anthea Butler has a nice appreciation over on Religion Dispatches, but I would pick a small bone with the subhead and the conclusion. The subhead reads: Before there was Falwell, Robertson, Bakker, or the Crouches, there was Oral Roberts, the iconoclastic pioneer of televangelism. The conclusion is: My friend said, “What other Pentecostal leader had […]
New Danforth center will blend religion and politics
By Tracy Gordon — December 17, 2009
WASHINGTON (RNS) With the support of a $30 million endowment, Washington University in St. Louis announced Wednesday (Dec. 16) it will open a religion and politics center named for former Sen. John C. Danforth. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said the purpose of the center, which will open in January, is to deepen academic and public […]
A costly candlelight service for some Ala. churches
By Tracy Gordon — December 17, 2009
(RNS) An Alabama fire chief says churches that want to hold Christmas Eve candlelight services will have to pay four off-duty firefighters $100 each to monitor safety. Pastors of several churches in Homewood, Ala., which is just south of Birmingham, said they did not know the city requires a permit for candlelight or firefighters for […]
Archdiocese of New Orleans to spend $140 million on schools
By Tracy Gordon — December 17, 2009
NEW ORLEANS(RNS) The Archdiocese of New Orleans disclosed plans Tuesday (Dec. 15) to deploy $108 million in FEMA reimbursements from Hurricane Katrina to repair parish-based Catholic schools around the region, and to build a new $35 million campus for a girls’ high school on the West Bank. The church also disclosed plans to build four […]
Wednesday’s roundup
By Daniel Burke — December 16, 2009
As the Senate continues to fiddle with the health-care bill (stripping a lot from the House version) the U.S. bishops are continuing to urge senators to explicitly ban federal subsidies from covering abortion and, separately, support the Menendez Amendment, which would allow states to lift the five-year waiting period for legal immigrants to become eligible […]
10 minutes with Guy Consolmagno
By Tracy Gordon — December 16, 2009
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (RNS) Brother Guy Consolmagno, author and editor of “The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican,” is teaching this fall here at Le Moyne College. An astronomer at the Vatican Observatory, Consolmagno serves as curator for the Vatican meteorite collection in Rome. He spoke about why science needs religion, bad apples, and Galileo. This […]
COMMENTARY: We’re all in this together
By Phyllis Zagano — December 16, 2009
(RNS) Lots of people think war is never justified. President Obama is not one of them. While accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway not long ago, he invoked “just war” theory. Theologians and philosophers from Augustine to Thomas Aquinas to men of modernity have wrestled with the balance of war and peace. Most […]
Oral Roberts, United Methodist
By Mark Silk — December 16, 2009
What’s up with Pentecostal Pooh-Bah Oral Roberts having been a member of the United Methodist Church? George Frink writes in to ask. (GetReligion Capo Mattingly notes that the NYT omitted this interesting biographical fact, and pokes the UMC for failing thus far to acknowledge the demise of its most famous contemporary son.) Here’s the best […]
