Mother Teresa 2014! * Driscoll’s downfall * ‘Providing for’ gays : Thursday’s Roundup

Today's religion news: Good for Mother Teresa and professional beggars. Not so much for Mark Driscoll and (probably) gay Catholics.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, shown with an Indian child in 1977, worked to help sick and homeless victims in the cyclone-ravaged Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. She said her Missionaries of Charity nuns have

 

Driscoll1It’s probably a bad day if you’re … Mark Driscoll, the larger-than-life Seattle megachurch pastor who (finally) resigned yesterday after allegations of bullying, plagiarism and an overall sense of being too big for his britches. It’s worth noting, dear readers, that RNS broke the story first. Just sayin’ …

It’s probably a good day if you’re … Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, relieved of Wednesday’s duty of having to meet the press and telling both the Catholic right and left to cool it already over whether or not the Catholic Church is going to more welcoming to gays.


It’s probably not a great day if you’re … a gay Catholic reading the revised English-language mid-term report from the Vatican’s Family Synod, where “welcoming homosexuals” has been changed to “providing for homosexuals.”

It’s probably not a great day if you’re … Brittany Maynard, diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and evangelical icon Joni Eareckson Tada — a quadriplegic since 1967 — just warned you quite publicly not to opt for physician-assisted suicide.

It’s probably a decent day if you’re … Elimelech Ehrlich, a “full-time beggar” profiled by The New York Times for your annual fund-raising trip from Israel to Orthodox-heavy Lakewood, N.J., where you can collect “more than enough to buy a Honda Fit, but not quite enough for a Civic.”

It’s probably a sucky day if you’re … Jewish high school students outside Milwaukee, who wanted to build a temporary sukkah at your public high school only to have your Jewish parents say no. Silly separation of church and state.

(1977) Mother Teresa of Calcutta, shown with an Indian child, worked to help sick and homeless victims in the cyclone-ravaged Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. She said her Missionaries of Charity nuns have "all the experience necessary to work in this disaster area because of previous efforts during floods." "In all these human tragedies, God is trying to teach us something. We are not able to understand Him," she said as she went about supervising the rescue operation. Religion News Service file photo

(1977) Mother Teresa of Calcutta, shown with an Indian child, worked to help sick and homeless victims in the cyclone-ravaged Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Religion News Service file photo

It’s probably a pretty good day if you’re … Mother Teresa, an unexpected candidate for governor of Rhode Island, after the Providence bishop launched a write-in campaign on your behalf to protest the abortion-rights platforms of most candidates. Looks like Pope Francis may or may not be her running mate. So that’s what all that kissing babies was about …

It’s probably a really bad day if you’re … a Jewish convert who embraced Judaism under D.C. Rabbi Barry Freundel, the peeping-tom rabbi accused of installing a secret camera in the women’s mikvah at his Georgetown synagogue. Now there are questions about whether the conversions he oversaw are still valid.


It may or may not be a good day if you’re … a Seventh-day Adventist and your church just voted to decide next year whether to allow women’s ordination (but really only in places where it won’t be a huge problem).

It’s probably a bad day if you’re … Jay Michaelson, and you’re live-blogging the otherwise awful “Left Behind” movie for a Jewish newspaper.

Also, be sure not to miss:

Jonathan Merritt: The Bible term most misused by Christians today: An interview with Scot McKnight (bonus points if you can guess the correct word without peeking)

Jana Riess: Love that cries with you: A plea for Mormon compassion (no word yet on relief from funeral potatoes and jello molds)

Mark Silk: Is Ross Douthat a latter-day Donatist? (bonus points if you can make the term “Donatist” into a drinking game. Additional points if you can actually define it)

And with that, the weekend just got a little bit closer. Make sure we have your email address below so we can send you the Roundup, for free, every day Monday through Friday.


 

 

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