News
Dating as a Catholic: Sweet dream or not-so-beautiful nightmare?
By Renée Roden — July 22, 2021
(RNS) — Sometimes sorting potential mates based on shared religion can result in strange bedfellows. One Instagram account laughs through the pain.
UMC edges toward historic split over LGBTQ inclusion. This church showed the way.
By Emily McFarlan Miller — July 22, 2021
(RNS) — Community of Hope was founded in 1993 as an outreach to ‘people on the margin,’ including LGBTQ people and people living with HIV/AIDS, according to its former pastor.
Oh Baby, Baby: Amy Grant’s biggest hit turns 30
By Bob Smietana — July 22, 2021
(RNS) — Amy Grant’s ‘Heart in Motion’ sold more than 5 million copies and made her a household name. Thirty years later, the record has been rereleased.
André Mendonça, President Bolsonaro’s ‘terribly evangelical’ Supreme Court justice
By Eduardo Campos Lima — July 22, 2021
SÃO PAULO (RNS) — Mendonça’s nomination has been seen by many as a political maneuver by Bolsonaro to strengthen his ties with evangelicals, a significant and loyal voting bloc for him.
Teachers turn to mindfulness after a stressful pandemic year
By Megan Sweas — July 22, 2021
(RNS) — After a challenging year, mindfulness practice, based in Buddhism, is helping teachers maintain compassion for his students — and themselves.
Missouri church leaders implore congregants: Get vaccinated
By Jim Salter — July 22, 2021
O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) — ‘Vaccine hesitancy in our pews puts our congregations and communities at greater risk.’
Politics foil replacing hazardous bridge to Jerusalem site
By Ilan Ben Zion — July 22, 2021
JERUSALEM (AP) — The tenuous state of the Mughrabi Bridge has raised fears of another disaster after a stampede at a religious festival left 45 people dead.
Room for 10,000: Inside China’s largest detention center
By Dake Kang — July 22, 2021
DABANCHENG, China (AP) — This site suggests that China still holds and plans to hold vast numbers of Uyghurs and other minorities in detention.
Former NBA player Stan McKenzie, husband of first woman AME Church bishop, dead at 76
By Adelle M. Banks — July 21, 2021
(RNS) — Less than two weeks before, his wife — Bishop Vashti McKenzie — thanked her spouse as she made farewell remarks at the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s General Conference.
With more than a million children orphaned by COVID, faith-based groups look to mobilize support
By Emily McFarlan Miller — July 21, 2021
(RNS) — ‘These new estimates highlight the tremendous impact COVID-19 has had on children around the world,’ said Elli Oswald, executive director of the Faith to Action Initiative.
New book examines Sting’s enduring Catholic imagination
By Yonat Shimron — July 21, 2021
(RNS) — Before bursting onto the international rock scene as the principal songwriter and lead singer for the Police, Sting grew up Catholic. The faith’s images, symbols, stories and hymns appear everywhere in his music, writes Evyatar Marienberg in a new book.
Sharon Stone says Vatican must listen to Pope Francis and welcome LGBTQ Catholics
By Claire Giangravé — July 21, 2021
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Actress Sharon Stone urges the Vatican Curia to follow Pope Francis’ footsteps in including LGBTQ individuals
World Relief announces Myal Greene as new head amid ‘the most significant crisis of our lives’
By Emily McFarlan Miller — July 21, 2021
(RNS) — The announcement comes after current World Relief President Scott Arbeiter and CEO Tim Breene announced in February they were stepping down after a combined 30 years serving the organization.
Like many hajj traditions in a pandemic year, Zamzam water gets a reboot
By Joseph Hammond — July 21, 2021
(RNS) — In an effort to keep COVID-19 transmission to a minimum, Saudi authorities have deployed 20 robots to serve bottles of Islam's holiest water to often bemused pilgrims.
Grueling itinerary set for pope’s first post-surgery trip
By Associated Press — July 21, 2021
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis, 84, had already confessed that during his last trip, to Iraq in March, he thought he might need to slow down his normally rigorous travel schedule.
