The molestation scandal in Pope Benedict XVI’s former diocese gets ever messier: the psychiatrist assigned to work with a predatory priest says he gave the archdiocese repeated warnings to keep the priest, the Rev. Peter Hullermann, away from children. Hullermann wasn’t suspended until this week.The top bishop of Bavaria said he’s ashamed by the revelations, and the pope’s former archdiocese is facing a “tsunami” of abuse claims. The scandal has now touched Switzerland, and in France, priests who kept lovers on the side are starting to speak out against mandatory celibacy, saying it only hurts the church.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has finally responded to Wednesday’s announcement that a lesbian has been confirmed as an assistant bishop in Los Angeles, calling the move “regrettable.”
A Canadian archbishop who oversaw the translation process for new prayers at Mass (similar changes will be coming to a U.S. parish near you soon) says the easy part is done: convincing the faithful the changes are necessary might be a bigger job.
Officials at a California college say a professor stepped over the line when he told students that homosexuality was an illness that could be treated through psychotherapy, and pulled out his Bible to make his point. School officials in Alexandria, La., have put an end to student-led prayers over the PA system after one student (joined by the ACLU) complained. In North Miami Beach, they’re arguing over whether to recognize only religious holidays from “legal” religions.
The spitting match between Glenn Beck and Sojourner’s Jim Wallis over the place of “social justice” is getting ugly: Wallis aide Burns Strider says a smear campaign is afoot, and others are warning that this is why you don’t mix religion and politics for the same reason you don’t mix manure and ice cream: it’s great for the manure, bad for the ice cream.
Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George is proposing the nation’s first-known black Catholic priest for sainthood. Czech doctors have apologized to their Jewish colleagues for abuse suffered during World War II. And the Australian Senate has rejected a probe into the Church of Scientology. A Connecticut judge has ruled against a breakaway Episcopal parish that’s named after this country’s first Episcopal bishop.
Is the Bible more violent than the Quran? Phillip Jenkins certainly thinks so. The would-be homegrown terrorist known as “Jihad Jane” pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges on Thursday; trial is set for May 3. Recent outbursts of Christian-Muslim violence in Malaysia have many in the country wondering just how tolerant they are (or aren’t) of religious diversity. WaPo has an early peek at a Sunday story on Muslim body washers, and an Egyptian writer has thrown a stick in a hornet’s nest by suggesting that Egypt build a second version of Islam’s holiest site (in Mecca) on Mt. Sinai.
After WaPo surveyed kosher wines on Wednesday, the NYT now has a story about a vinter who rediscovered his faith through the process of making kosher wine. L’Chaim and all that.
And just because it’s Friday: A British man has received an apology from an employment agency when he refused to take off his hooded sweatshirt because he is, of course, a Jedi knight. And in Britain, you can do that.
