View image | gettyimages.com From The Telegraph: A town in Tuscany is offering a “baby bonus” of €2,000 (£1,420) to encourage larger families, as Italy frets over its low birth rate. But there are conditions – couples must be Italian and committed Catholics who were married in church, and the bonus only kicks in with the birth of their third child. The initiative has been dreamed up by the parish priest of Staggia Senese, a medieval walled town that lies... Read more
Here’s a fascinating conversation with Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna and the president of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference. Cardinal Schönborn is perhaps best known as the editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He is also a member of the Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops and will attend the ordinary synod that will be held Oct. 4-25. National Catholic Register’s Joan Frawley Desmond interviewed him recently. A snip: You have spoken of... Read more
The good people at the Times of London posted this correction today: No sweat. Thanks for clearing that up. Read more
View image | gettyimages.com A sobering glimpse inside a town in northern Iraq that is now empty of Christians, from Christian Today: Qaraqosh had been home to Iraq’s largest Christian community, with at least a quarter of the country’s Christian population living in the city and its surrounding towns. Its exodus prompted further concerns about the future of Christianity in the Middle East, and calls for the international community to open their borders to those fleeing persecution. Father Nageed Michaeel,... Read more
[getty src=”159490942?et=2Qq7Jr79SLZZUU42SoE4Xw&viewMoreLink=off&sig=GERF4ikpaAPsgbveDJP44lIlhU7YELAuA0sNmWYigK4=&caption=true” width=”594″ height=”396″] View image | gettyimages.com From The Telegraph: A town in Tuscany is offering a “baby bonus” of €2,000 (£1,420) to encourage larger families, as Italy frets over its low birth rate. But there are conditions – couples must be Italian and committed Catholics who were married in church, and the bonus only kicks in with the birth of their third child. The initiative has been dreamed up by the parish priest of Staggia Senese, a medieval... Read more
Here’s a fascinating conversation with Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna and the president of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference. Cardinal Schönborn is perhaps best known as the editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He is also a member of the Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops and will attend the ordinary synod that will be held Oct. 4-25. National Catholic Register’s Joan Frawley Desmond interviewed him recently. A snip: You have spoken of... Read more
The good people at the Times of London posted this correction today: No sweat. Thanks for clearing that up. Read more
[getty src=”453519278?et=7Wp-ZeDwRDNIG8x1RCUjYw&viewMoreLink=on&sig=Hlk6K-q650xlIAOHK27LF2lAxFalkHgYcofsXi1E0Rw=&caption=true” width=”594″ height=”405″] View image | gettyimages.com A sobering glimpse inside a town in northern Iraq that is now empty of Christians, from Christian Today: Qaraqosh had been home to Iraq’s largest Christian community, with at least a quarter of the country’s Christian population living in the city and its surrounding towns. Its exodus prompted further concerns about the future of Christianity in the Middle East, and calls for the international community to open their borders to those fleeing... Read more
From Pew: Earlier this year, we took a look at the top three religious traditions that dominate the U.S. Now, using the metro areas variable of the American Values Atlas (AVA), we turn to our country’s cities, where we find a similar trend: Catholics and the religiously unaffiliated dominate. Here’s the breakdown: Catholicism is the top religious group—or tied for the top religious group—in 15 of the major metro areas. The religiously unaffiliated is the top “religious” group—or tied for the top religious group—in... Read more
From Pew: Earlier this year, we took a look at the top three religious traditions that dominate the U.S. Now, using the metro areas variable of the American Values Atlas (AVA), we turn to our country’s cities, where we find a similar trend: Catholics and the religiously unaffiliated dominate. Here’s the breakdown: Catholicism is the top religious group—or tied for the top religious group—in 15 of the major metro areas. The religiously unaffiliated is the top “religious” group—or tied for the top religious group—in... Read more
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