Monthly Archives: November 2010
Hilary Swank and inmate-outreach group lobby for reform
By Kevin Eckstrom — November 23, 2010
Houston Chronicle (RNS): Jesus left his followers with precious few commands: Love thy neighbor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit the prisoner among them. So why do so many churches have such a hard time with that last one? Read more.
Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — November 23, 2010
Pope Benedict XVI sought to “kick-start a debate” when he said condom use may sometimes be justified, Vatican insiders told the AP, and boy did he ever. On Tuesday, the Vatican said using condoms to prevent the greater evil of HIV transmission also applies to women – even if that means averting a potential pregnancy, […]
Gentile wives brace for first Hanukkah feasts
By Tracy Gordon — November 23, 2010
(RNS) Anne Coyle used to set the holiday table with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, but this year, she’s rolling up her sleeves in an attempt to make latkes and brisket. Cheered on by her husband and a support group for non-Jewish women raising Jewish children, Coyle’s first stab at a traditional Hanukkah meal has […]
10 minutes with âÂ?¦ Linda Mobley
By Tracy Gordon — November 23, 2010
(RNS) In this season of giving thanks and counting blessings, Linda Mobley of Vancouver, Wash., says she’s been blessed by breast cancer. Twice. She thought she’d beaten the disease eight years ago. But soon after she’d self-published her book, “Blessed with Cancer,” in July, Mobley was told the cancer had returned, metastasized into her bones. […]
COMMENTARY: Doing more with less
By Tracy Gordon — November 23, 2010
(RNS) We will get out the Christmas music this week, but not our shopping lists nor our credit cards. Like many Americans, we are planning a “lean” gift-giving season. There’s not enough money to do as much as we would like, but even more, no particular desire to give things. We yearn for family time. […]
Papal Biggie after all
By Mark Silk — November 23, 2010
So now Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi has gone to the mountain and come back with confirmation that the pope not only said what he meant but also meant what Austin Ivereigh said he meant–that the use of condoms for the sake of preventing infection was a step in the right moral direction for women […]
Pope, in intimate interview, mulls mistakes, health, fashion
By Tracy Gordon — November 23, 2010
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI has dominated global headlines since Saturday (Nov. 20) when the Vatican’s official newspaper leaked excerpts from a new book in which the pope suggested condoms might sometimes be justified in reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS. But the condom remarks — that a male prostitute, for example, is someone whose […]
Anglican bishop blasts royals as `shallow celebrities’
By Tracy Gordon — November 23, 2010
LONDON (RNS) A Church of England bishop has triggered fury for publicly describing Prince William and his bride-to-be as “shallow celebrities” and the whole royal family as a collection of “philanderers.” Bishop of Willesden (London) Pete Broadbent, a self-described adherent to republicanism, made his controversial remarks on his Facebook page after William and his fiance, […]
As uproar fades, Seton Hall students meet to study gay marriage
By Tracy Gordon — November 23, 2010
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (RNS) It is the class that wasn’t supposed to happen. In a basement classroom at Seton Hall University, 24 undergraduates meet twice a week for a course known as “Special Topics in Political Theory: Gay Marriage.” Most of the tension that surrounded the first few weeks of class has disappeared. The security […]
Hunger group hopes for progress in 2011 on global malnutrition
By Tracy Gordon — November 23, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) Significant progress on global malnutrition can be made in 2011, the ecumenical anti-hunger group Bread for the World said Monday (Nov. 22) in its new annual report on hunger. The U.S. government’s “Feed the Future” initiative has the potential to reduce hunger by addressing long-term economic development and focusing on small farmers, said […]
How, or if, you give thanks speaks volumes
By Tracy Gordon — November 23, 2010
(RNS) Whether it’s a mere “Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub,” or a more solemn supplication, millions of Americans will bow their heads this Thursday in gratitude for the bounty of food before them. Even a murmured “Thanks be to God,” before carving the Thanksgiving turkey speaks volumes about the person praying, especially […]
Do religious people make easy targets for scams?
By Tracy Gordon — November 22, 2010
(RNS) Convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff bilked billions of dollars out of thousands of fellow Jews, including charities like the Elie Wiesel Foundation and Steven Spielberg Wunderkinder Foundation. Other major frauds exposed by federal investigators in recent years have targeted Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baptists, black churches and other denominations, from $190 million lost in a three-year […]
Monday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — November 22, 2010
Pope Benedict XVI sent shock waves through the media by saying in a soon-to-be published book that condoms are morally licit in extremely limited circumstances. The Vatican quickly added that B16 said nothing “revolutionary” in his book-length interview with a German journalist and that pontiff expressed his personal opinion, not church doctrine. Still, some Catholics […]
Pope on condoms: no biggie?
By Mark Silk — November 22, 2010
That is the question. In the usual manner, there’s that tendency for those who like the way a papal statement sounds to make too much of it, and those who don’t, to make too little. And in the case of Benedict’s remarks on the use of condoms to prevent AIDS (“a first step in the […]
