I’m just gonna go ahead and kick this off with our favorite story of the day: The decapitated head of St. Vitalis of Assisi, the patron saint of venereal disease (who knew?), will be auctioned off on Sunday. Could be yours for the low-low price of around $1,700. More here.
The street preacher who kidnapped Elizabeth Smart from her Utah bedroom in 2002 will spend the rest of his life in prison.
The Rev. Roy Bourgeois, the peace activist priest who’s on the edge of formal excommunication for supporting women’s ordination, spoke to other members of his Maryknoll order, according to NCR, with indications that he’s not totally alone in his beliefs. The full account is here.
A Boston-based order of Catholic nuns has settled its spat with the Archdiocese of Boston over alleged mismanagement of pension funds; the sisters will now administer the funds themselves. A doctoral student at Rutgers says Catholic nuns led the church toward racial desegregation.
Remember that long saga of a custody case in Vermont involving two lesbians in Vermont who had a child together until one of them became an evangelical and went on the lam? A Mennonite missionary accused of helping her escape to Nicaragua pleaded not guilty. Meanwhile, approval of same-sex relations reached a record high.
Speaking of never-ending sagas, Oprah finally signed off yesterday after 25 years of jumping couches and car giveaways, saying, “To God be the glory.”
A Louisiana lawmaker has withdrawn his Arizona-style “papers, please” immigration bill after pressure from Catholic leaders. The new House chaplain was sworn in yesterday despite complaints in some quarters that he could have done more in a decades-old abuse case.
Volunteers keep coming to help rebuild New Orleans, even if one Methodist program is now charging them for the privilege. Christians meeting in small groups to talk about how they spend their money are finding that skipping a double soy half-caf foam latte can help poor people overseas.
It’s been an edgy couple of weeks for Jews, says a NYT talking head.
The Vatican has shut down a Rome monastery best known for its dancing nuns. B16 is facing either a mutiny, or mass exodus, or maybe both, among Catholics in his native Germany.
Belgium is on the edge of joining neighboring France to become the second European country to ban Islamic face-covering veils in public. CT says Protestants in Algeria have been ordered to shutter their churches. Pakistan isn’t the only country facing scrutiny for its anti-blasphemy laws: try the famously tolerant Netherlands.
The Serbian general charged with being the mastermind of the 1995 massacre that slaughtered 8,000 Muslim men and boys has been caught. A sort-of sect in Russia thinks former President (and current PM) Vladimir Putin is a reincarnation of St. Paul. Better than being a reincarnated St. Vitalis, I suppose.
— Kevin Eckstrom
