Monthly Archives: November 2011
Wednesday Godbytes
By Jack Jenkins — November 17, 2011
In Face-Melting News: Hey, remember the Ark of the covenant? You know, the thing from the Bible? No? Okay, you know that thing that melts people’s faces off in the first Indiana Jones movie? Yeah, that. Well it looks like people may have actually found the Ark of the Covenant (but probably not). Let’s hope […]
Sexual abusers hard to profile or predict
By Tracy Gordon — November 17, 2011
(RNS) The grand jury report reads like a textbook profile of child sexual abuse. Jerry Sandusky, former assistant football coach at Penn State, allegedly bought one boy golf clubs and a computer, took him swimming at a hotel pool, wrestled with him and invited him to sleepovers at his home before sexually assaulting him, the […]
Benetton pulls pope-kissing ad
By Tracy Gordon — November 17, 2011
VATICAN CITY (RNS) International clothing retailer Benetton pulled a provocative ad featuring Pope Benedict XVI kissing a Muslim cleric on Wednesday (Nov. 16) after the Vatican threatened legal action to protect the pope’s image. Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi had called the Benetton campaign a “totally unacceptable” show of “grave disrespect.” The image of Benedict […]
Catholics to launch shelter for Anglicans on Jan. 1
By Tracy Gordon — November 17, 2011
(RNS) A new Roman Catholic structure for Anglican converts in the United States will be formally launched on Jan. 1, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington announced Tuesday (Nov. 15). The structure, technically called an ordinariate, will function like a non-geographic diocese. Converting congregations will be allowed to retain certain Anglican liturgical and ecclesiastical traditions, such […]
WednesdayâÂ?Â?s Religion News Roundup
By David Gibson — November 16, 2011
Jesus now has a football jersey, and it is a tribute to Tim Tebow. Some believers think that’s getting it backwards: “Sports is one thing, and Jesus is another thing,” said Traci Yown, a mom Christmas shopping for her son. Others say it honors both Jesus and Tebow, the Denver Broncos QB who is famous, […]
Victims try to sue railway over Holocaust deportations
By Tracy Gordon — November 16, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) A group of Holocaust survivors went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday (Nov. 16) to push Congress for the right to sue European insurance companies in U.S. courts for denying claims stemming from World War II. A bill sponsored by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and backed by 52 others members of the House, would […]
Whither OWS?
By Mark Silk — November 16, 2011
Yesterday’s cleansing of Zuccotti Park and comparable municipal actions elsewhere–to say nothing of the impending cold weather–have raised in many sympathetic minds the question of what next for the Occupy Wall Street movement. More conventional political types like Michael Sean Winters urge the OWStreeters to morph into a more convention political enterprise. I fear that […]
Accused Mo. bishop accepts deal to avoid second indictment
By Tracy Gordon — November 16, 2011
(RNS) A Roman Catholic bishop avoided a second criminal charge for failing to report suspected child abuse by agreeing to allow prosecutors to oversee similar allegations against church officials in their county for the next five years. Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph will not face prosecution in Clay County on […]
Nurses say they were forced to assist in abortions
By Tracy Gordon — November 16, 2011
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) Twelve nurses on Monday (Nov. 14) accused the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey of abruptly forcing them to assist in abortion cases, despite religious and moral objections to the procedures. “In October, we were suddenly confronted with a choice between our faith and our jobs,” said Fe Esperanza Racpan […]
Catholic bishops stay mum on economic turmoil
By Tracy Gordon — November 16, 2011
BALTIMORE (RNS) Twenty-five years ago, as the U.S. faced an economic crisis and a fierce debate over cutting taxes for the wealthy and limiting benefits for the poor, Catholic bishops issued a landmark statement on social justice that became the touchstone for religious opposition to “trickle down” economics. This week, as America faces even worse […]
Tuesday Godbytes
By Jack Jenkins — November 16, 2011
Look – up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a book about Superheroes and Spirituality! Wait, what is it doing up there? Funny business: The Jewish Daily Forward reports on how Israel’s “Alt-Comedy Scene” is spreading chuckles nation-wide. Sojourners God’s Politics blog says that Egypt’s Coptic Christian community is having a […]
Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — November 15, 2011
Some mixed signals coming out of Charm City yesterday, where the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops are holding their semi-annual meeting. The U.S. bishops vowed to defend their religious liberty, particularly against the perceived incursions of the Obama administration. Bishop William Lori led the charge, saying that “law and culture are indeed establishing un-religion as the […]
Mass changes have liturgists scurrying to craft new music
By Tracy Gordon — November 15, 2011
(RNS) For the average American Catholic in the pews, the upcoming changes to the text of the Mass might mean little more than memorizing a few new prayer responses. But when the revised translation of the Mass sweeps into churches across America on the first Sunday of Advent (Nov. 27), it will bring with it […]
Too often, abusive predators hiding in plain sight
By Tracy Gordon — November 15, 2011
(RNS) The abuse allegations at Penn State seem unthinkable: revered assistant coach and prominent community activist Jerry Sandusky preying on eight children. But such abuses of trust play out across the country over and over again. Experts say respected people who set up charitable or social groups for children, only to be implicated in some […]
COMMENTARY: What gives?
By Tracy Gordon — November 15, 2011
(RNS) Every now and then, a tragic situation like sexual abuse at Penn State explodes into public view and stays there because it raises far-reaching and troubling questions. People at the center of the storm feel unfairly treated, as if the world was piling on their local tragedy and feasting on their pain. But the […]
