Happy Columbus Day! Fun fact: on this day in 1792, the cornerstone for what we now call the White House was laid. In other news:
The black flag of ISIS is shown flying above St. Peter’s Square on the cover of the group’s magazine, which called in its latest issue for a war against the Catholic Church. The Islamic State group militants captured, enslaved and sold Yazidi women and children, the magazine said.
Today’s document from the Vatican’s Synod asks for a new tone, calling for the church to listen more, to apply mercy more. As the Synod hits the halfway mark, “The drama continues.” David Gibson has a roundup of relevant tweets.
A Dallas health worker has been diagnosed with Ebola. Last week, Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with the Ebola virus in the United States, died. His son, who was unable to see him, was motivated by his faith to leave college to visit his father. And NIH Director Francis Collins says we’d probably have an Ebola vaccine if it were not for budget cuts.
What began as an interfaith service with Cornell West as its keynote in Ferguson to rouse activists ahead of acts of civil disobedience instead exposed the fissures of a movement a younger and older generation.
Less than a week after pastor Juan McFarland was ousted amid heated controversy after he admitted that he had sex with female church members while knowing that he had AIDS, he was back at the helm, leading Sunday services at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church.
A federal judge struck down Alaska’s ban on gay marriage, the nation’s first such ban approved by voters. Other states, including Idaho and North Carolina, began issuing gay marriage licenses. Legal challenges in other states like Kansas remain.
White House press secretary James Brady, who was partially paralyzed after an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, was remembered Friday as a champion for gun safety. Vice President Joe Biden told the family the nation’s lawmakers will change. “I pray to God it’s sooner than later,” Biden said.
A lawsuit between Bryan College (the Christian school where the historic Scopes trial on evolution took place) and two of the school’s former professors was settled.
Co-founder of Lucas Oil Forrest Lucas took out a full-page ad in Thursday’s Indianapolis Star that says his wife regrets the Facebook comments she made critical of minority groups, including atheists and Muslims, saying her words were “harsh and insensitive.”
In church trends: the Mass mob is bringing thousands of suburban Catholics to visit the struggling urban churches of their parents and grandparents.
