Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup

Alas, it has come to this: Robert H. Schuller, founder of the problem-plagued Crystal Cathedral in So Cal, has been thrown off the board of directors. Actually, no, alas it has come to this: there’s a new “Real Housewives of the Bible” DVD. Catholics in western Massachusetts are searching for answers after police said a […]

Alas, it has come to this: Robert H. Schuller, founder of the problem-plagued Crystal Cathedral in So Cal, has been thrown off the board of directors.

Actually, no, alas it has come to this: there’s a new “Real Housewives of the Bible” DVD.

Catholics in western Massachusetts are searching for answers after police said a 42-year-old priest committed suicide. A Catholic priest in Mexico was shot dead in drug violence.


The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is facing questions about what she knew, and when she knew it, when she accepted a former Catholic priest with a fairly well documented history of sexual abuse. Conservatives in the Church of England warned of a split if standards on gay bishops and same-sex unions are relaxed.

In Pittsburgh, which has been ground zero in conservative resistance to the Episcopal Church’s liberal policies, dissidents are giving up claim to at least three churches and handing them back over to the diocese, which will start the work of rebuilding the congregations.

Despite the hand-wringing among some U.S. Jews over POTUS’ position on Israel, Gallup says his popularity among Jews remained relatively stable over the course of 2011, and his popularity drop since 2009 mirrors a larger drop among the general population.

San Francisco officials say the proposed ban on infant circumcision would be unconstitutional if medical professionals are exempted and the ban only applies to Jewish mohels or Muslim clerics.

Our pal Jim Martin unearthed an account from maybe-saint Dorothy Day about her abortion. An Italian woman who beat lymphoma is crediting controversial wartime pope Pius XII with a miracle.

Our other pal Amy Sullivan says Christian right leaders (John Hagee, Tony Perkins) are rallying behind the scenes around Texas Gov. Rick Perry.


The 40,000 or so U.S. Muslims who met this weekend outside Chicago were told the best way to confront Islamophobia is not to retreat.

B16 is “deeply saddened” after China’s state-run Catholic church ordained a bishop without the Vatican’s OK. The Vatican is back in the black, ending 2010 with a $14 million surplus, but worldwide donations to the Vatican were down. Perhaps they could get a loan from a Hindu shrine in India where billions — literally, billions — worth of treasures have been unearthed in subterranean vaults.

Catholic bishops in the Philippines welcomed Saudi Arabia‘s decision not to hire Filipino and Indonesian maids, hoping it will mean fewer abuse charges filed by the ex-pat domestics.

— Kevin Eckstrom

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