[Click here for readings] Last month, the Wall Street Journal took note of something most people may not be aware of. It reminded the world of the story of Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. Nadarkhani was born in Iran 35 years ago. His family was Muslim but, at a young age, he converted to Christianity. He eventually married, had a family, and became a pastor of a series of small evangelical churches in Iran. In October of 2009, he launched a... Read more
If you’re counting the hours until they head back to school, Mom and Dad, this one’s for you: Read more
The New York Times has some interesting details about Mitt Romney’s aggressive effort to woo Catholics: Mr. Romney had been courting Cardinal Dolan since April. That month, the two had a private meeting, previously undisclosed, at the chancery in New York, across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, said Peter G. Flaherty, a senior adviser to the Romney campaign who is Catholic and who served as Mr. Romney’s liaison to the religious community when he was governor of Massachusetts. “We’re going to... Read more
For insane publicity stunts like this one. Something I never thought I’d see, let alone enjoy: the Polish cast of “Les Miserables” singing “One Day More,” in Polish, in a mall, as a flashmob. I don’t speak Polish, but I think they’re singing, “Come to our show, come to our show, come to our show” again and again and again. Read more
The man who created and voiced one of my favorite Muppets — The Count — has gone to the great felt factory in the sky. Details: Jerry Nelson, the puppeteer who gave voice to dozens of characters on “Sesame Street,” “Fraggle Rock” and “The Muppet Show,” died at home in Cape Cod, Mass., on Thursday night after suffering from emphysema for several years. He was 78. A statement on the Sesame Workshop’s website (the company that produces “Sesame Street”) paid... Read more
Details: Christians must do everything they can to avoid the destruction of Syria’s religious pluralism, a Catholic priest forced to leave after spending 30 years in a monastery north of Damascus said this week. Father Paolo Dall’Oglio speaks with emotion about a country that he says enshrines “the ideal of Arab ecumenism” and the lifetime he spent building bridges between Christians and Muslims in his mountaintop church in Mar Moussa. The thick-bearded 57-year-old fights back tears as he remembers the... Read more
A remarkable story of a minister leading a Middle East pilgrimage who refused to be separated from a member of his flock who was kidnapped. Details: For the past several years, Pastor Michel Louis has been leading Boston area Haitian Christians on annual pilgrimages to the Middle East, tracing the footsteps that Jesus walked more than 2,000 years ago. This year, during an excursion in northern Egypt, the 61-year-old Haitian-born pastor of Boston’s Free Pentecostal Church of God did more... Read more
Details, from the Catholic Review: About 12 years ago, Hanna Mignogno was listening to a speaker at a conference when she felt compelled to get up and walk outside. She sat on a wall facing a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, listening to the call from God to enter religious life grow louder and louder. “I started thinking about it and couldn’t turn it off,” she said. “I was thinking about it and it was right. It was just... Read more
You may remember this story from last year. Now an update: A couple has settled a discrimination lawsuit it filed against a Vermont inn that refused to host a wedding reception for the two women. The couple claimed the inn operators discriminated based on sexual orientation. The settlement calls for the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville to pay $10,000 to the Vermont Human Rights Commission as a civil penalty for violating Vermont’s Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act, as well as... Read more
A friend who is a veteran sent this to me, describing it as “an oldie but a goodie.” It was new to me. I have to say: it got to me. Enjoy. Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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