Monthly Archives: April 2010
COMMENTARY: Into the great hereafter
By Tom Ehrich — April 27, 2010
(RNS) In the hothouse world of a high school gymnasium, one basketball player in my class seemed to float through the air. He was tall, thin, elegant, with an imperturbable expression on his face. Game after game, in a city and state where basketball meant so much, a full house shouted his praise. Although I […]
Two lawyers, two styles, one church
By Tracy Gordon — April 27, 2010
(RNS) To victims’ advocate Jeff Anderson, the Vatican is Nixon, the clergy sex abuse scandal is Watergate, and he’s the legal version of Woodward and Bernstein, gradually linking the cover-up to the highest levels of authority. For opposing counsel Jeffrey Lena, serving as the Vatican’s U.S. attorney is a lot like being a history professor: […]
What’s God trying to tell us with Eyjaffjallajokull?
By Tracy Gordon — April 27, 2010
(RNS) What do homosexuality, health care reform, and British advertising standards all have in common? They’re all things that have ticked God off, some religious leaders say, and he’s venting his frustration with the angry fires of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Moscow’s Interfax newswire reported that the Association of (Russian) Orthodox Experts blamed the April 14 […]
Tuesday’s roundup
By Daniel Burke — April 27, 2010
President Obama, who is hosting a summit in Washington devoted to building economic ties with international Muslim entrepreneurs, announced a new exchange program with Muslim countries. The Council on American-Islamic Relations wants evangelist Franklin Graham booted from the National Day of Prayer event on Capitol Hill because he has called Islam a “very evil and […]
Clerical Penance: A Modest Proposal
By Mark Silk — April 27, 2010
Fr. James Martin, S.J. has been been hither and yon urging that what’s been missing in the Catholic hierarchy’s response to the current abuse crisis has been penance, as in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. As warrant for his position, he cites the pope’s recent suggestion that some penance might be in order at this time. […]
Faith leaders decry `anti-immigrant’ immigration law
By Tiffany McCallen — April 27, 2010
(RNS) Religious leaders planned legal action and civil disobedience after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill into law Friday (April 23) they believe is “anti-immigrant” and will foster racial profiling. The National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders is developing a suit against the law that allows law enforcement agencies to detain people […]
Brits apologize to pope for `foolish’ memo
By Tiffany McCallen — April 27, 2010
LONDON (RNS) The British government was forced to publicly apologize to Pope Benedict XVI over a “foolish” internal memo that suggested, among other things, that the pope launch his own line of condoms during a September visit to Britain. The document, described as a product of a “blue skies thinking” session at the Foreign Office, […]
Pastor agrees not to rock the boat and stop preaching on ferry
By Tiffany McCallen — April 26, 2010
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (RNS) Technically, Michael Ihedioha still can hawk salvation aboard the Staten Island Ferry. But odds are that the preacher who scuffled with cops on the boat will remain mum — or greatly reduce the volume — during the 25-minute ride, after cutting a plea deal on April 21 to a misdemeanor obstruction […]
Obama, Graham meet at evangelist’s home
By Tiffany McCallen — April 26, 2010
(RNS) President Obama and ailing evangelist Billy Graham exchanged prayers during their first meeting Sunday (April 25) at Graham’s home in western North Carolina. Obama had traveled to nearby Asheville, N.C., and requested the visit — the first time a sitting president has visited Graham at his residence, said Graham’s longtime spokesman, A. Larry Ross. […]
Welsh church, government at odds over graveyards
By Tiffany McCallen — April 26, 2010
LONDON (RNS) The Anglican Church of Wales is facing off against government authorities over who is responsible for paying for the upkeep of the church’s diminishing number of graveyards. In a newly issued report, the Welsh church has warned that hundreds of its 1,053 burial grounds will be filled to capacity within the next 10 […]
Outspoken cardinal has long history of making headlines
By Tiffany McCallen — April 26, 2010
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos’ ability to make headlines landed him on many journalists’ short lists as a possible future pope — but lately, those same headlines also show why he was probably never a serious contender. The retired Colombian cardinal has become the most prominent lightning rod for controversy in the Catholic […]
Thank God it’s Friday
By Francis X. Rocca — April 26, 2010
Michael Jackson’s former rabbi (and the author of “Kosher Sex”) has a big agenda for his upcoming rope-line handshake with Pope Benedict XVI: pitching his plan for a jointly sponsored “global family dinner night.” Rabbi Smuley Boteach writes that the Catholic church, with its image suffering from the clerical sex abuse scandal, “must return to […]
Researchers probe whether ‘free will’ exists
By Tiffany McCallen — April 26, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. — Are people really responsible for all the things they do? Do they have what theologians call God-given free will to choose between right and wrong? Those questions are at the heart of a four-year research project underway at Florida State University that aims to determine whether, and how, free will exists. Funded […]
Monday’s roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — April 26, 2010
President Obama paid a call on ailing evangelist Billy Graham on Sunday — son Franklin Graham described the visit as “very friendly, very cordial.” In a statement marking the 1915 slaughter of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks, Obama again refuses to use the word “genocide.” Arizona‘s harsh new immigration law is creating political […]
Obama, Graham: mountaintop meeting
By Adelle M. Banks — April 26, 2010
While he was in the neighborhood, President Obama met with evangelist Billy Graham Sunday, marking the first time a sitting president has met in Graham’s North Carolina home, said A. Larry Ross, spokesman for the evangelist. “I am pleased to have had President Obama in my home this afternoon,” Graham said in a statement issued […]
