Monthly Archives: April 2010
For shy worshippers, church can be overwhelming
By Tracy Gordon — April 22, 2010
LOS ANGELES (RNS) If Jesus were to take a Myers-Briggs personality test, would he rank as an introvert or an extrovert? He was, after all, popular with crowds, but often retreated to pray in solitude. As an undergrad, Daniel Perett wrestled with similar questions as a member of the evangelical InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Middlebury […]
A shady kind of green
By Francis X. Rocca — April 22, 2010
Back in 2007, we reported on the Vatican’s plan to become the world’s first “carbon neutral” sovereign state, by planting trees in a Hungarian national park to offset the carbon-dioxide emissions and energy use of Vatican City. Last year, we noted reports that the project was more than a little behind schedule. Now it turns […]
Thursday’s roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — April 22, 2010
In a big PR win for victims’ advocates, the retired Colombian cardinal who praised a French bishop for not reporting an abusive priest to police has withdrawn from a big Mass at the National Shrine in DC to celebrate the 5-year anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s installation. Organizers say they’ll find someone other than Cardinal […]
Legal skirmish colors National Day of Prayer
By Tracy Gordon — April 22, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) As Rep. Randy Forbes sees it, the decision by a Wisconsin federal judge that the law creating a National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional is little more than one person’s opinion. Millions of Americans, Forbes said, think otherwise. “That’s not what the Constitution says,” the Virginia Republican declared Wednesday (April 21), surrounded by […]
COMMENTARY: Life in the land of low expectations
By Tracy Gordon — April 22, 2010
(RNS) We live in a land of lowered expectations. In such a land, clergy abuse innocents; politicians think they are above the law; Wall Street gets rich at the expense of the middle class; husbands cheat on their wives; parents give children money instead of time; the educational system fails the kids it is trusted […]
It’s the hierarchy, stupid!
By Mark Silk — April 22, 2010
Anyone who paid the least attention to the 2002-03 chapter of the running (25 years and counting) Catholic sexual abuse crisis knows that the easy part for the Church’s powers-that-be was the “protect the kids from now on” part. The hard part was calling to account the parties responsible for what actually upset people the […]
Poor Church of England
By Mark Silk — April 22, 2010
If you think the pope’s got problems, consider the Archbishop of Canterbury. As pictured by Jane Kramer in the current New Yorker, Rowan Williams is a very smart, eirenic soul with a job that only a Machiavelli would have a chance of carrying off. As the worldwide Anglican Communion continues its civil war over homosexuality, […]
Federal court says church bells are constitutional
By Tracy Gordon — April 22, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) A federal court on Monday (April 19) ruled an ordinance in Phoenix, Ariz., trying to limit the sound of church bells is an unconstitutional impingement on religious expression. In 2007, one day after Christ the King Cathedral moved two miles from its former location to a space near a fire station, neighbors complained […]
Gallagher steps down as National Organization for Marriage president
By Tracy Gordon — April 22, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) Maggie Gallagher, the outspoken founder of the National Organization for Marriage, has stepped down as president of the group that has helped lead the fight against same-sex marriage for the last three years. Brian Brown, the group’s executive director, was chosen by its board to become president as of Monday (April 19), Gallagher […]
Church begins rebuilding after election-night arson
By Tracy Gordon — April 22, 2010
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) Just hours after Barack Obama’s election as the nation’s first black president, three angry white men allegedly set fire to the predominantly black Macedonia Church of God in Christ, which was under construction. On Sunday (April 18), Macedonia pastor Bishop Bryant J. Robinson Jr. gathered with state and local dignitaries to formally […]
As controversy lingers, Shroud of Turin still draws a crowd
By Tracy Gordon — April 21, 2010
TURIN, Italy (RNS) As hoteliers and souvenir vendors from Lourdes to Mexico City can readily attest, a sacred pilgrimage can quickly morph from a spiritual event into a commercial bonanza. And although religious tourism has recently become a booming global industry, it’s still rare for religious leaders themselves to sanction a pilgrimage for explicitly economic […]
As tensions simmer, interfaith efforts ramp up dialogue
By Tracy Gordon — April 21, 2010
JERUSALEM (RNS) The smell of fresh paint and the sounds of kids having a good time are a frequent occurrence at the Bible Lands Museum, where hundreds of local Jewish and Arab children take part each year in the Image of Abraham co-existence project. During a recent meeting of fourth-graders from the Hayovel School in […]
10 minutes with … James Charlesworth
By Tracy Gordon — April 21, 2010
(RNS) Snakes have had a bad reputation as old as time itself. It started with the Garden of Eden, when a crafty serpent lured Eve, and then Adam, into eating fruit from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Serpents slither in and out of passages throughout the Bible, often misconstrued as […]
COMMENTARY: Save me a seat in heaven, Uncle Dodi
By Cathleen Falsani — April 21, 2010
(RNS) Seven years ago, a rabbi friend of mine told me something I’ve thought about every day since: “We learn the most from the people we think are the least like us.” Earlier this month, when my Uncle Dodi crossed through the veil into the eternal hereafter at age 74, the rabbi’s words returned to […]
Wednesday’s roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — April 21, 2010
CNN is reporting that a radical Islamist website has put a ransom on the heads of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for depicting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad … in a bear costume. Pope Benedict XVI is promising “church action” against predatory priests in his first comments since that teary meet-and-greet with abuse victims […]
