Monthly Archives: May 2010
Benedict to make first papal visit to Cyprus
By Tiffany McCallen — May 27, 2010
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI’s overseas travels typically involve vast crowds of adoring Catholics, often squeezed into sports stadiums or public venues for large-scale Masses. But when Benedict makes the first official papal visit to Cyprus next weekend (June 4-6), his total flock will number just 25,000, and his main speech will be held […]
The Excommunication of Sister Margaret
By Mark Silk — May 27, 2010
Nicolas Kristof takes up cudgels today on behalf of Sister Margaret McBride, the administrator at St. Joseph’s hospital in Phoenix who last December was excommunicated by Bishop Thomas Olmstead for agreeing to the termination of a pregnancy in order to save the mother’s life. The story, broken by the Arizona Republic this month, already has […]
Judge allows clergy housing tax case to proceed
By Tiffany McCallen — May 26, 2010
(RNS) A federal judge has rejected a motion filed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to dismiss a California lawsuit that challenges tax breaks ministers can receive on housing. Section 107 of the Internal Revenue Code allows housing-related tax breaks for clergy. The tax write-offs have been permitted for ministers of all faiths since […]
Diocese dismisses call to keep tighter reins on accused bishop
By Tiffany McCallen — May 26, 2010
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) Catholic officials rebuffed calls from a victims group to control the movements of retired Bishop Thomas L. Dupre, who fled to a Maryland treatment center after being confronted with abuse allegations in 2004. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) on Tuesday (May 25) announced that Dupre was no longer […]
Obama sides with Vatican in abuse lawsuit
By Tiffany McCallen — May 26, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Obama administration has made a rare foray into the Catholic sexual abuse crisis, backing the Vatican’s claim it is immune to lawsuits in the U.S. because it is a sovereign nation. In a brief filed on Friday (May 21) before the Supreme Court, the acting solicitor general argued an appellate court erred […]
Churches race to support members impacted by oil spill
By Tiffany McCallen — May 26, 2010
(RNS) As oil continues to spill into the Gulf of Mexico, churches and religious organizations along the Louisiana coast are providing food, money and support to parishioners whose livelihoods hang in the balance. More than 7 million gallons of oil have contaminated the Gulf since an oil rig explosion on April 20, pulling the region’s […]
Wednesday’s roundup
By Daniel Burke — May 26, 2010
Jewish leaders are gathering in Washington to meet with Congress ahead of a rumored summit between President Obama and Israeli PM Netanyahu. Wonder if Bibi will make it to the White House Jewish American Heritage party on Thursday? Rahm Emanuel won’t be there, he’ll be in Israel to celebrate his son’s bar mitzvah and to […]
COMMENTARY: Tossing the women overboard
By Phyllis Zagano — May 26, 2010
(RNS) If you think the Catholic soap opera will go off the air soon, think again. We may be watching another Reformation at work — except this time, the Catholics who don’t walk away are getting excommunicated. Some date the Reformation to Martin Luther’s 1510 trip to Rome. The Catholic Church was raising funds to […]
Pastor with no tongue still has a lot to say
By Tiffany McCallen — May 26, 2010
SAINT CHARLES, Mo. (RNS) The Rev. Scott Schmieding sat in an examination room at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston 13 years ago as a surgeon examined a malignant tumor in the center of his tongue. The tumor was spreading rapidly, the doctor told him, and most or all of the preacher’s tongue would […]
RNS EXCLUSIVE: 10 minutes with … Miss USA Rima Fakih
By Tiffany McCallen — May 26, 2010
(RNS) Rima Fakih’s path from Lebanon to Las Vegas, where she was crowned Miss USA on May 16, is not unlike other immigrant success stories, but she stands out because of one notable first: she is very likely the first Miss USA who is Muslim. At a time when many Americans view Muslims with suspicion […]
Catholic “Marriage”
By Mark Silk — May 26, 2010
One of the little tics that Catholic opponents of same-sex marriage have developed is to refer to it as “marriage.” As in this from the USCCB’s latest letter to Congress: The movement to redefine marriage to include two persons of the same sex (a.k.a. same-sex “marriage”) has changed the law substantially toward that end, at […]
Update: Mother in starving case released from prison
By Tiffany McCallen — May 26, 2010
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) A New York woman convicted earlier this year of starving her four children was released from prison because of “substantial issues” related to her pending appeal, one of her attorneys said Monday (May 24). Estelle Walker, was released from the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, N.J., on May 7 […]
Arizona tax-tuition program goes to Supreme Court
By Tiffany McCallen — May 26, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of an Arizona program that provides state tax breaks for donations to private school scholarship programs. As part of the 13-year-old tax-tuition program, taxpayers receive a dollar-for-dollar reduction in state income taxes for their donations to not-for-profit school-tuition organizations. Last year, 91.5 percent of the […]
Preacher, mistress charged in forcing teens to tape sex sessions
By Tiffany McCallen — May 26, 2010
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) A Newark pastor who authorities said was meeting a female congregant for sex has been arrested and charged with numerous offenses, including endangering the welfare of a minor, after he allegedly forced two teenage girls to videotape the sessions. Authorities say Moises Cotto, 55, had been meeting for the past two years […]
Churches tread carefully on Arizona boycott
By Tiffany McCallen — May 25, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) The push for immigration reform has united many faith groups in a fervor not seen since the anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s, much of it directed at Arizona’s new get-tough immigration law. Yet a central feature of the apartheid fight — a church-led boycott against South Africa — hasn’t been fully embraced by […]
