Monthly Archives: June 2010
Monday’s roundup
By Daniel Burke — June 21, 2010
Thousands of neo-pagans and New Agers celebrated the Summer Solstice this morning at Stonehenge. For once, they saw the sun rise through the English fog, the AP reports. Louisiana’s State Senate has designated today a day “unified, intercessory” prayer for the BP oil spill. “It is clearly time for a miracle for us,” said Sen. […]
For clergy, losing faith can be an occupational hazard
By Tracy Gordon — June 21, 2010
NEW YORK (RNS) For some clergy, it is the problem that dare not speak its name. Affected pastors say they cannot be themselves among their congregations or colleagues, sometimes even with their own families. It’s a huge and burdensome secret with the potential to destroy their careers, they say. They think they’re not the only […]
Blues Bros., Catholic movie?
By Mark Silk — June 20, 2010
I’m totally cool with any fan of The Blues Brothers, so if Osservatore Romano wants to claim it as a “Catholic classic,” who am I to cavil? No question, Elrod’s and Jake’s encounter with the Penguin (Sr. Mary Stigmata) is one of the great scenes of Hollywood Catholicism. The premise–how to save the orphanage–is an […]
Guns-in-churches bill sent to La. governor
By Tracy Gordon — June 19, 2010
BATON ROUGE, La. (RNS) The Louisiana House approved and sent to Gov. Bobby Jindal on Thursday (June 17) a revived bill that would allow people qualified to carry concealed weapons to tote them to their house of worship. Lawmakers voted 64-26 for a bill that would give church, mosque or synagogue leaders the authority to […]
Expelled U.S. Christians seek help in returning to Morocco
By Tracy Gordon — June 19, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) Republican lawmakers are urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to help Christian aid workers and foster parents gain re-entry to Morocco after they were deported for illegal proselytizing. In March, approximately 50 U.S. Christians were deported after they were accused of breaking a Moroccan penal code that prohibits people from trying to convert […]
Pagans to pray for Earth’s healing from oil spill
By Tracy Gordon — June 19, 2010
(RNS) Bonfires, drum circles, dancing, candlelit meditation and other ceremonial rituals help usher in the summer solstice at the annual Pagan Spirit Gathering, now in its 30th year in the United States. Along with celebrating the longest day of the year on Monday (June 21), this year’s weeklong festival at a campground in Salem, Mo., […]
N.J. rabbi pleads guilty to money laundering in FBI sting
By Tracy Gordon — June 19, 2010
DEAL, N.J. (RNS) As head of a prominent Monmouth County synagogue, Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim once led a congregation of hundreds. He is patriarch of a sprawling extended family, with more than 20 grandchildren of his own. But Thursday (June 17), as he walked into the federal courthouse in Trenton to plead guilty in connection […]
Friday’s roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — June 18, 2010
Convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner, the Utah man who wanted to die by firing squad — in part to meet the “blood atonement” for sins that’s part of Mormon lore — was shot and killed last night by five trained marksmen. A top church lawyer in Milwaukee went public and said the standards used to […]
Hats-off to Episcopal bishop, not in a good way
By Tracy Gordon — June 18, 2010
(RNS) Q: When is a hat more than a hat? A: When the hat is a bishop’s miter, and belongs to the female head of the Episcopal Church, symbolizing her rank in a church hierarchy dominated by men. In a public snub that’s being dubbed “mitergate,” Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was told not […]
SBC v. Richard Land?
By Mark Silk — June 18, 2010
So what’s up with the Southern Baptist Convention deciding to take a, well, pro-regulatory stance on the oil disaster in the Gulf? Just a week ago, Richard Land, SBC public policy pooh-bah, was out there defending BP and blaming “the environmental movement.” That was a far cry from the SBC’s June 16 resolution calling on […]
Bread for the World wins top anti-hunger prize
By Tracy Gordon — June 17, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) The president of a Christian anti-hunger lobbying group won the premier award for fighting world hunger. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton awarded the World Food Prize to Bread for the World President David Beckmann at the State Department on Wednesday (June 16). Beckmann, an economist and ordained Lutheran minister, shared the $250,000 […]
Pope unlikely to grant bishop’s request to be reinstated
By Tracy Gordon — June 17, 2010
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI will meet a German bishop who resigned in April following allegations that he hit children, but is unlikely to consider the bishop’s request to be reinstated, the Vatican said Wednesday (June 16). Bishop Walter Mixa, who admitted to striking children in the 1970s and ’80s, told the German daily […]
New rabbi takes helm of terrorized Mumbai Jewish center
By Tracy Gordon — June 17, 2010
(RNS) An Israeli rabbi and his wife were appointed to continue the work of Jewish emissaries who were killed during the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. Rabbi Chanoch Gechtman and his wife, Leiky, will move to India’s financial capital to represent Chabad Lubavitch, an Orthodox movement that promotes an observant form of the Jewish […]
Muslim families proving vital in war against terror
By Tracy Gordon — June 17, 2010
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) Wiretaps. Informants. Financial records. They all play vital roles in U.S. government investigations to prevent terrorist attacks. But in the last six months, another investigative tool has received increased attention: cooperation from suspects’ families. Three times since December — most recently on June 5, when two New Jersey men were apprehended at […]
