Monthly Archives: November 2011
Pope Benedict XVI begins second trip to Africa
By Tracy Gordon — November 19, 2011
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI opened his second papal trip to Africa on Friday (Nov. 18) with a warning against economic development through unbridled capitalism. Arriving in the West African country of Benin, Benedict told the country’s president and other dignitaries that the process of modernizing traditional societies entails certain “pitfalls,” including “unconditional surrender […]
Students ‘do interfaith’ through universal language of music
By Tracy Gordon — November 19, 2011
DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) Say the word “interfaith” and the next word to roll off the tongue is probably “dialogue.” It’s hard to think of one without the other. But college students know there are other ways to communicate, and music may be chief among them. Students from three North Carolina universities — Duke, North Carolina […]
Friday Godbytes
By Jack Jenkins — November 19, 2011
The eyes have it: Muslim women in Saudi Arabia may be forced to start covering up ‘tempting’ eyes. The New York Times reviews a documentary about the Weissensee Jewish Cemetery, one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. (it’s less gloomy than it sounds!) You’ve probably heard that meditation can be good for you, but […]
Crystal Cathedral is cautionary tale for pastors
By Tracy Gordon — November 18, 2011
(RNS) The cash-strapped Crystal Cathedral’s pending transformation from a Protestant megachurch to a Roman Catholic cathedral should teach pastors not to spend millions on ornate buildings, a megachurch scholar says. A bankruptcy judge on Thursday (Nov. 17) approved of the sale of the iconic cathedral to the Catholic Diocese of Orange, Calif., for $57.5 million. […]
Austrian bishops say no to lay-led Mass
By Tracy Gordon — November 18, 2011
(RNS/ENInews) Catholic bishops in Austria have rejected a call by dissident church members for lay people to preside at Mass when parishes have no priests, but the bishops also pledged to maintain a dialogue over possible changes in church life. Austria’s reformist We Are Church movement had asked for lay presiders on Nov. 5, following […]
Friday’s Religion News Roundup: Episcopal abuse, Steven Spielberg, Prop 8
By Kevin Eckstrom — November 18, 2011
In a reminder that bad decisions on abusers aren’t limited to the Catholic Church or Penn State, Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said she ordained a former monk as an Episcopal priest even though he was booted from the abbey for improper contact with a minor. KJS says the Rev. Bede Parry seemed to […]
Some Iowa tea leaves
By Mark Silk — November 18, 2011
The latest Iowa caucus poll is, as Mark Blumenthal points out, a little long in the tooth and, as the Iowa State pollsters point out, noteworthy for the number of Republicans who aren’t settled about who they’re going to caucus for. Nevertheless, it scatters some tea leaves that are worth scrutinizing. The big dogs are […]
Calif. court hands conservatives a victory in Prop 8 case
By Tracy Gordon — November 18, 2011
LOS ANGELES (RNS) The California Supreme Court handed conservatives a big victory on Thursday (Nov. 17) by allowing them to defend a statewide ban on gay marriage that a federal judge struck down as unconstitutional last year. The court’s 7-0 ruling is a victory for conservative and evangelical backers of Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot […]
Thursday Godbytes
By Jack Jenkins — November 18, 2011
As Occupy Wall Street protestors cope with being evicted from the from Zuccotti Park in New York City, Daniel Sieradski of the Jewish Daily Forward thinks the demonstrators could learn a thing or two from the Jewish Diaspora. (thanks for the tip, David!) Also, apparently the Occupy Wall Street encampments are home to more than […]
Catching up with Tim Goeglein
By Tracy Gordon — November 18, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) Tim Goeglein was the go-to person in George W. Bush’s White House for evangelical Christians until news broke in 2008 that he had plagiarized in columns in his hometown newspaper in Indiana. Goeglein, 47, and a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, has just written “The Man in the Middle: An Inside Account […]
Episcopal head Jefferts Schori answers critics on abusive priest
By Tracy Gordon — November 18, 2011
(RNS) The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church on Thursday (Nov. 17) defended her decision to allow a former Roman Catholic monk to become an Episcopal priest even after he admitted to sexual misconduct with a minor. The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori has been under increasing pressure to answer charges that she did not […]
Lawyer urges Penn State to lift confidentiality claims
By Tracy Gordon — November 18, 2011
(RNS) As the Penn State abuse scandal blares in the news, hundreds of people around the country who were sexually abused as children will watch in legally imposed silence, says a Boston attorney and expert on such cases. Each is sworn to confidentiality agreements that bind them to secrecy, said Mitchell Garabedian, the lawyer whose […]
ThursdayâÂ?Â?s Religion News Roundup: Crystal Cathedral, Benetton, OWS
By David Gibson — November 17, 2011
Occupy Wall Street protesters are on the move in Manhattan and elsewhere, and clashes with police are being reported. A banker-turned-Hindu monk says his OWS comrades need to meditate, not excoriate: “Anger won’t solve anything,” Rasanath Das, a former New York investment banker, tells Reuters. “We have to work from the heart… there is so […]
Tea Party, Occupy movements fail to capture Americans’ hearts
By Tracy Gordon — November 17, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) In a war between the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movement to capture the hearts of Americans, who wins? According to a new poll, it’s a draw. Less than a third of Americans say either movement represents their values, according to a poll released Wednesday (Nov. 16) by the Public Religion […]
Donohue’s ideal world
By Mark Silk — November 17, 2011
As you may have noticed, Clay County, Mo. has let Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn accept a diversion program rather than be indicted for a second time in the case of one of his priests found with child pornography on his computer. (Finn still faces a criminal indictment in Jackson County.) Reacting to the deal, […]
