NEWS STORY
RNS-Catholic-Raleigh: Amid a boom of plus-sized churches, one Catholic church wants to keep it small
CARY, N.C. (RNS) — North Carolina’s Catholic population, while still small in comparison to many northern and midwestern states, has ballooned over the past 50 years, especially in the state’s urban areas. It has accommodated the influx by building plus-sized churches. One church in a booming Raleigh suburb has resisted the trend. By Yonat Shimron. 900 words. (category: a)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Riess-Oped: Elder Holland’s BYU speech is for a university of yesteryear
(RNS) — The overt, spoken message of the meeting was that inclusion is important; the unfortunate and unspoken subtext of Holland’s talk was that the voices of nonwhite, nonheterosexual, nonmale members of the church are unimportant. As BYU looks forward to the second half of its second century, erasing difference and implicitly upholding one particular social location as normative for everyone won’t equip students to succeed in a diverse world. By Jana Riess. 1,290 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Florer-Bixler-Oped: They refused the vaccine but still want our empathy. Can we deny them?
(RNS) — As the country tips into another trough of high transmission, full ICUs and hybrid classes, It’s difficult to muster up sorrow for people who sneeringly call masks “muzzles” only to infect and sometimes kill loved ones and strangers. Those who took the pandemic seriously, and made life-altering decisions all along to protect others, are being asked to dig deeper into the well of compassion to ladle out another cup or two of sympathy. But for many that well is dry. By Melissa Florer-Bixler. 812 words. (category: k)