Religion News Service | Religion and Medical Ethics

GUEST COMMENTARY: Southern Baptists, change thy name

Jonathan Merritt | Oct 21, 2011

CHAMPION, Wis. (RNS) Philip and Barbara Hesselbein came to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help to pray for a grandson who has an inoperable brain tumor. Darlene Searcy prayed for her family and for herself; she has cancer. Mary Spakowicz, who also has cancer, came "because God will hear me here." Th...
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Monday Godbytes

Jack Jenkins | Oct 10, 2011

Daniel Macguire over at Religion Dispatches asks if there is a Catholic "turnabout" on abortion. In other Catholic news, Tom Beaudoin over at America Magazine wonders what would happen if "Occupy Wall Street" happened within the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, CNN reports that the trial of Youcef Nadark...
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Crisis pregnancy group reflects Jewish divide on abortion

Debra Rubin | Jun 14, 2011

SILVER SPRING, Md. (RNS) Saraleah was 19 and a part-time student when she discovered she was pregnant. She didn't know how it could have happened -- until she flashed back to a party nine weeks earlier where she was given a drink, realized it was vodka and then passed out. Saraleah h...
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Monday’s Religion News Roundup

Kevin Eckstrom | Jun 6, 2011

Some possibly good news for Mitt Romney's fledgling 2012 campaign: two-thirds of Americans say his Mormonism doesn't matter, including 58 of evangelicals. But he could still face a tough road threading the eye of the needle in the evangelical-heavy early primaries: Evangelicals, more than any other...
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Think you’ll need last rites? Better plan ahead

Michael O'Malley | Apr 5, 2011

CLEVELAND (RNS) In days long gone, Roman Catholic priests regularly made deathbed house calls, even in the middle of the night with little notice, to pray over the dying and anoint them with holy oils. The candlelight ritual, popularly known as last rites, continues in hospitals, nursing homes, hosp...
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Thursday’s Religion News Roundup

Kevin Eckstrom | Mar 10, 2011

All eyes are on Capitol Hill today as the House Committee on Homeland Security opens hearings on homegrown Islamic "radicalization." The hearings are being live-streamed here, with a handy WaPo guide to the witnesses here. Chairman Peter King (left) opened the show by saying there's nothing "radical...
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Vatican to draft guidelines for Catholic hospitals

Francis X. Rocca | Feb 3, 2011

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Controversies over bioethical standards at U.S. Catholic hospitals show the need for greater Catholic education for health care workers, Vatican officials said Thursday (Feb. 3). Church leaders said a new set of biomedical guidelines will be published later this year, as well as a...
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Vatican says no change to teaching on condoms, prostitutes

Francis X. Rocca | Dec 21, 2010

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI's recent comments about condoms do not mark a change in "Catholic moral teaching" or "pastoral practice" on AIDS prevention or contraception, the Vatican said Tuesday (Dec. 21). The statement by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the Catholic Church's hi...
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Lutheran leader seeks Communion agreement with pope

Luigi Sandri | Dec 17, 2010

ROME (RNS/ENInews) The president of the Lutheran World Federation is calling on Lutherans and Catholics to issue a common statement on Holy Communion to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017. "Our intention is to arrive at 2017 with a common Roman Catholic-Lutheran declara...
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10 minutes with ... Laura Hobgood-Oster

Cecile S. Holmes | Dec 1, 2010

(RNS) The full force of Christian compassion and hospitality should be applied to all creatures -- including animals, university professor Laura Hobgood-Oster argues in a recent book. Taking her cues from Christian scripture, history and tradition, Hobgood-Oster strives to alert Christians to the mo...
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