Hot on the heels of this item, on non-Catholics and Communion, a reader alerted me to this, from The Tablet in London: Restrictions on Christians from other denominations receiving communion in the Catholic Church could be relaxed, the Archbishop of Birmingham has said. Archbishop Bernard Longley, who is co-chairman of the Anglican Roman Catholic International [Read More…]
Archbishop: rules on Communion reception could be relaxed
October 10, 2013 by
Archbishop of Canterbury encourages Anglicans to embrace the Sacrament of Reconciliation
October 9, 2013 by
From the Telegraph: The Most Rev Justin Welby advised churchgoers that it could be an “enormously powerful” experience to unburden themselves to a confessor, even if it was not always a “bunch of laughs”. His comments came as he addressed the heads of other churches – including the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in [Read More…]
Muslims form human chain to protect Christians at church
October 6, 2013 by
From a newspaper in Pakistan: Hand in hand as many as 200-300 people formed a human chain outside the St Anthony’s Church adjacent to the District Police Lines at the Empress Road, in a show of solidarity with the victims of the Peshawar church attack two weeks back, which resulted in over a 100 deaths. The twin [Read More…]
Poll: rise in American Jews who are not religious, marrying outside the faith
October 1, 2013 by
They’re sounding a lot like some American Catholics, actually. From the New York Times: The first major survey of American Jews in more than 10 years finds a significant rise in those who are not religious, marry outside the faith and are not raising their children Jewish — resulting in rapid assimilation that is sweeping [Read More…]
Pope Francis writes to Muslim leader, expresses respect for Islam and calls for mutual understanding
September 19, 2013 by
Details: The Al-Azhar University in Cairo – considered one of the most important centres of Sunni Islamic learning – has announced that Pope Francis has sent a personal message to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Al Tayyeb. The most important Catholic website in Arabic,www.abouna.org, published the communiqué issued by Al-Azhar, which mentions that a [Read More…]
In Connecticut, an interfaith celebration of Ramadan
August 3, 2013 by
Photo: Keila Torres Ocasio This will certainly be of interest to Bridgeport’s new bishop. Details: It was like those cartoon moments when a light bulb appears to symbolize the spark of a new idea. A staffer at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, accepting the synagogue’s correspondence from a mail carrier, asked the man if he wanted water. [Read More…]
Report: More Hispanic Women Converting to Islam
July 17, 2013 by
Details: For Zainab Ismail, a Bronx-born Hispanic woman, the turning point came in March 2009 after a wedding ceremony at a Catholic church. “For some unknown reason, obviously now I know it was Allah–God–putting that thought and feeling in my heart, I no longer wanted to be Catholic. I didn’t know what I wanted to be but [Read More…]
Hindus Angered Over Depiction of Virgin Mary in Sari
July 15, 2013 by
Details: The issue of Christian missionaries proselytizing in India has taken a bizarre turn after a church in the eastern state of Jharkhand installed a statue of Mother Mary and Baby Jesus depicted as “tribals,” the indigenous people of the state. With dark brown complexions and sporting traditional Indian tribal clothing (white sari with red [Read More…]
All Are Welcome: New Church Seeks to Embrace All Religions
July 13, 2013 by
From the New York Times: Clad in proper Pacific Northwest flannel, toting a flask of “rocket fuel” coffee typical of Starbucks’ home turf, Steven Greenebaum rolled his Prius into a middle school parking lot one Sunday morning last month. Then he set about transforming its cafeteria into a sanctuary and himself into a minister. He [Read More…]
Meet the Muslims Keeping the Peace at Christianity’s Holiest Site
July 5, 2013 by
Who knew? Details: If you follow the boisterous groups of cross bearers and prayer-humming nuns who weave through the narrow streets of Jerusalem’s Old City, you’ll eventually end up in a rare clearing that holds one of Christianity’s holiest buildings: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Orthodox and Catholic Christians consider the complex to be [Read More…]
