Monthly Archives: May 2005
COMMENTARY: The Mystery of Pain
By RNS Blog Editor — May 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Does pain serve a purpose? It is a classic question in pragmatic America in which many feel that everything, including art and religion, should have a purpose or be discarded or recycled. On the national pragmatic level, pain is not filed under “mystery” but under cost/benefit ratios. The culture […]
Hindu Holy Place Altered by Technology, Development, Pollution
By RNS Blog Editor — May 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service VRINDAVAN, India _ For centuries, this 27-square-mile town on the road from Delhi to Agra has been the holiest of holy places for devotional Hindus. Drums, brass hand cymbals and the chanting of ancient prayers echo out each morning from Vrindavan’s 5,000 temples. Yet recent changes such as satellite television, […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Best Buy to Curb Violent Video Games, to Applause of Catholic Investors (RNS) Christian Brothers Investment Services announced Thursday (May 19) that it has withdrawn a shareholder resolution on violent video games that it filed with Best Buy Co. Inc. because the retailer has established a policy to restrict the […]
On What Would Be His 85th Birthday, Italian Peak Named After John Paul II
By RNS Blog Editor — May 19, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Italy named a mountain peak for Pope John Paul II on Wednesday (May 18) on what would have been his 85th birthday, and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square that John Paul “sees us from on high.” At the same time, some […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 19, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Terri Schiavo’s Parents Meet Pope Benedict XVI, Other Vatican Officials VATICAN CITY (RNS) Robert and Mary Schindler, the parents of the late Terri Schiavo, met with Pope Benedict XVI and other Vatican officials to thank them for the church’s support in their fight to keep their daughter alive. The Schindlers […]
Bishop Refuses to Change Communion for Girl Allergic to Wheat Wafers
By RNS Blog Editor — May 19, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A New Jersey woman whose 9-year-old daughter is allergic to wheat, which is used in Communion wafers, has failed to persuade her Roman Catholic bishop to let the girl use a non-wheat substitute for the church sacrament. In an hourlong meeting Tuesday (May 17) with Trenton Bishop John Smith […]
COMMENTARY: Newsweek Has Only Itself to Blame for Quran Story
By RNS Blog Editor — May 19, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Did no one at Newsweek consider the difficulty of flushing a book down the toilet? Perhaps the editors assumed American technical ingenuity had developed a commode capable of consuming a Tom Clancy paperback in six seconds. Heck, when they fire that thing up, the suction makes cots in detention […]
Catholicism Current King of Religious Pop Culture
By RNS Blog Editor — May 19, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The ratings for the televised daily miniseries that attended the death of the last pope and the investiture of Benedict XVI were pretty good _ better than day-to-day church attendance. But then, you don’t have to be Catholic to be entranced by spectacle. Apparently we need something mysterious and […]
RNS Weekly Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 18, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Vatican Says Dialogue With Anglicans Back on Track VATICAN CITY (RNS) Actions by the Anglican Communion to distance itself from U.S. and Canadian church endorsements of homosexuality will permit Anglican-Catholic dialogue to go forward, the Vatican said. The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity made the statement Thursday (May 12), […]
COMMENTARY: Young and Prosperous Turning to Hard-Edged and Fearful Religious Orthodoxy
By Tom Ehrich — May 18, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Picture a prosperous suburban congregation, set among big houses and private schools, populated by professionals and young families, once known for its intellectual vitality, now caught up in stick-to-the-Bible orthodoxy. Preaching there, says a member, rarely strays from a word-by-word explication of assigned texts. Adult education classes tend to […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 18, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Religious Groups to Swarm Capitol Hill to Lobby Against Hunger WASHINGTON (RNS) Frustrated with what they decry as government inaction, religious leaders from many faiths plan to invade Capitol Hill in June to demand a commitment to end hunger in America. Organized by Christian hunger advocacy group Bread for the […]
In Greece, Hundreds of Christian Leaders See New Unity, Focus on AIDS
By RNS Blog Editor — May 18, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A broad range of more than 600 Christian leaders ended an eight-day missions conference Monday (May 16) after hearing a plea from the Rev. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, to be a “moral compass” for contemporary society. The May 9-16 Conference on World Mission […]
Quran Desecration Tantamount to `Spiritual Torture’ to Muslims
By RNS Blog Editor — May 18, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ If a Quran is accidentally dropped on the floor, the person who dropped it makes a contribution to charity in atonement. Copies are never placed at the bottom of a pile of books, and because the toilet is considered an impure place, the Quran is never taken into […]
TV Movie on Catholic Abuse Isn’t Anti-Catholic, Actors Say
By RNS Blog Editor — May 18, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Ted Danson is no newcomer to TV movies that tackle difficult subjects. He won a Golden Globe award for his work in “Something About Amelia,” the landmark 1984 film about incest. The Emmy-winning “Cheers” star has top billing in “Our Fathers,” Showtime’s movie about the sexual-abuse scandal that rocked […]
American Nun Now One Step Closer to Sainthood
By Renée K. Gadoua — May 17, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Mother Marianne Cope, a German-born nun who was raised in Utica, N.Y., and worked with lepers in Hawaii, is one step closer to sainthood after she was beatified by the Catholic Church on Saturday (May 14). At the end of the formal Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, […]
