Will there be a ‘mass exodus’ of religious groups from the Scouts?
(RNS) Now that Boy Scout delegates have taken their long-awaited vote and permitted openly gay Scouts, will there be a mass exodus by religious groups? It depends on who you ask.
Archives
Is Pope Francis is a heretic? No, but he does raise questions
(RNS) Is Pope Francis endorsing heresy? It might look that way from headlines that made it seem as though the pontiff had said that everyone – even atheists! – were destined for heaven. What he actually said was boilerplate Catholic doctrine.
Atheists like what they see in Pope Francis’ new openness
(RNS) When Pope Francis said believers and atheists can agree on the goal of doing good, and that even atheists were part of Christ’s redemption, atheist leaders say this is the kind of pope they can work with.
ANALYSIS: Can gay Catholics find a home in the Catholic Church?
(RNS) As U.S. Catholics grow increasingly accepting of homosexuality, there’s going to be inevitable conflict as an uneasy “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” policy clashes with gay Catholics’ increasing visibility in the form of marriage licenses or wedding announcements.
Pope Francis: God redeemed everyone, ‘not just Catholics’
(RNS) In remarks that may prompt a theological debate about the nature of salvation, Pope Francis declared that God “has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone!”
U.S. missionary doctor suspended after challenging cardinal, nuns
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) The New York-based Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers suspended the Rev. Dr. William Charles Fryda after he refused to drop a case he filed three years ago against Kenya’s top cardinal and a group of nuns over control of two missionary hospitals.
Survey shows Catholic priests don’t like Mass changes
(RNS) Nothing can upset the folks in the pews as much as changing the liturgy that they’re used to, and that seemed likely to be the case when the Vatican ordered revisions to the familiar prayers of the Catholic Mass. But now, more than a year after the changes took effect, a survey of American priests shows that they are more disturbed by the innovations than their flock.
N.J. priest faces judge for violating ban on access to children
HACKENSACK, N.J. (RNS) Wearing a bright orange prison jumpsuit, the priest at the center of the furor in the Archdiocese in Newark made his first court appearance on Tuesday on charges he violated a court-sanctioned ban on working with children.
Godless funerals thrive in ‘post-Catholic’ Ireland
DUBLIN (RNS) After 32 years as an interior designer, Patricia Wojnar went back to school for a master’s degree in bereavement studies, a hot commodity in Ireland’s “post-Catholic” economy that features growing markets for wedding and funeral officiants who aren’t associated with the scandal-scarred Catholic Church.
COMMENTARY: The revolution is upon us
(RNS) Religious historians say that every 500 years, Christianity goes through a “massive transition,” as Phyllis Tickle puts it. We aren’t likely to comprehend this latest transition until it is further along. But two things are clear: Christianity in North America is being freed from its own roots, and Christianity no longer controls the flow.
