VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican has settled a lawsuit with Benetton clothing group for using the image of Pope Benedict XVI kissing a Muslim imam in an ad campaign. By Alessandro Speciale.

(RNS) It's a measure of Maurice Sendak's imagination that his stories -- so infused with a very particular Jewishness -- are absent evidence of Judaism or anything else besides a good read to his most important readers. By Tim Townsend.

Evangelicals prefer Narnia, Catholics have a wanderlust for Wonderland, and mainline Protestants are split between hitching a ride to Hogwarts, Narnia or Neverland. By Daniel Burke.

(RNS) Former TV child star Kirk Cameron knows he is now the darling of only a certain segment of America. "I'm kind of a Hollywood freak," he says. "I didn't really turn out the way most people turn out growing up in this industry." By Lauren Markoe.

(RNS) Does the popularity of `The Hunger Games' offer good news for those of us concerned about American civilization and the younger generation? Yes. By Dick Staub.

(RNS) We have seen ourselves up close and decided we can do better. Pouring a lifetime of earnings into showy living becomes embarrassing. Turning religion into shouting matches and rampant bigotry doesn't pass any gospel sniff test. By Tom Ehrich.

WILMINGTON, N.C. (RNS) Christopher McGarvey is a recent seminary graduate, a cantor at St. Basil the Great Orthodox Church and the brains behind the What Would Jesus Brew class -- part of a yearlong Heavenly Homebrew Competition of church teams brewing individual beers for a fall event benefitting a hospice center. By Amanda Greene.

(RNS) Amy Siegel will compete in the Pillsbury Bake-Off in Orlando on Monday (March 26) with her strawberry swirl-peanut-butter-brownie cupcakes, but the contest is getting in the way of preparing her kitchen for Passover. By Vicki Hyman.

PEORIA, Ill. (RNS) When Max and Nancy Carson got married at St. Ann Catholic Church in 1974, the organ music was accompanied by the unmistakable sound of balls crashing into bowling pins from the basement. But now church bowling alleys are a dying breed, with fewer than 200 remaining in the U.S. By Judy Keen.

(RNS) Combining a love of sports and passion for the saints, the online "Lent Madness" competition includes 32 saints from the Episcopal calendar of saints who are eliminated one by one through online votes. By Annalisa Musarra.

There's a new kind of Mormon baptism (and Salt Lake City likely won't be amused) and a tragic kind of baptism at an Indiana church. Fidel Castro may come back to Mother Rome, and Southern Baptists say "no thanks" to a BUBBA name.

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) With TV trucks and camera crews clogging the streets and thousands of fans hoping for a glimpse of the event, Whitney Houston's family has decided that no one but invited guests will get near her church funeral on Saturday. By James Queally and Peggy McGlone.

“God allows a time for people to leave his Earth,” Newark native Jethro Townes said, recalling the recent death of Etta James and the loss of Michael Jackson in 2009. “But if you look at what has happened over the past few years, God has a great choir now.”

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) Anyone who knew Whitney Houston understands that her talent came from one place, the God she served at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark. This is where it all started for its daughter, where she was the darling of the choir as a child who left people speechless, belting outgospel songs and hymns. By Barry Carter.

Oh America, you are so weird.

At the Grammys last night, LL Cool J opened with a pretty nice prayer for the late Whitney Houston, the addled pop star who got her start in a New Jersey Baptist church choir. 

(Israel's Black Hebrew community said it is also mourning the loss of Whitney Houston, whom their leader called "his spiritual daughter.")