Hellish flashbacks on the Christian persecution front

October 7, 2013 By tmatt

Churches were burning in Pakistan, while African Christians died and radical forms of Islam threatened monasteries, sanctuaries and villages in Egypt, Syria and Iraq. That was 1997. Human-rights scholar Paul Marshall kept hearing one question over and over when he addressed this rising tide of persecution: Why didn’t more American Christians protest as their sisters and brothers in the faith were jailed, raped, tortured and killed? Some Christians, he said, were distracted by apocalyptic talk in which persecution was a... Read more

The pope, the media and balance on pro-life ministries

September 30, 2013 By tmatt

It was the telephone call heard around the world, because the pope made the call. On the other end of the line was a single woman in central Italy, who mailed Pope Francis a confused, anguished letter after learning she was pregnant by a man who turned out to be married. The man demanded that she have an abortion and she refused. Then a strange telephone number appeared on her caller ID screen. It was the pope, who called to... Read more

Concerning God, sex, worship and babies

September 23, 2013 By tmatt

Pollsters have been asking Americans questions about God, sex and babies for a long time and the answers used to be pretty predictable. Early in the 20th Century it was easy to predict which flocks of believers would produce the most children — with Mormons reporting the highest numbers, followed by Catholics, then Protestants and so forth as fertility rates declined. But things changed as the century rolled on and America became more pluralistic and, in elite zip codes, secular.... Read more

The evil the church already knows in Syria

September 16, 2013 By tmatt

For days, Christians with ties to Syria waited for news about the fighting in Maaloula, a village near Damascus that is famous for being one of three still in existence in which locals speak ancient Aramaic, the language of Jesus — International reports were sketchy and American media reports were all but nonexistent. Then the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group critical of President Bashar al-Assad and his government, reported that the village had fallen on Sept. 7th... Read more

Lessons learned by professional church spies

September 9, 2013 By tmatt

The first thing Chuck Lawless noticed when he entered the church foyer was that the welcome center was empty, which made it pretty hard for a newcomer to feel welcomed on a routine Sunday morning. After several minutes of hanging around trying to look conspicuous, a staff member at this particular Pennsylvania congregation approached him and asked if he needed help. Lawless asked a perfectly normal newcomer question: Was there a small-group Bible study of some kind that he could... Read more

The Anglican wars roll on (and Holy Communion for dogs)

September 2, 2013 By tmatt

The German Shepherd’s name was Trapper and he came to St. Peter’s Anglican Church with his owner, a newcomer at the historic Toronto parish. At the end of the Mass, Trapper went forward with everyone else for Holy Communion. That’s when the vicar, in what she later described as a welcoming gesture, served the dog some of the consecrated bread that Anglicans believe has — in a mysterious manner — become the body of Jesus Christ. So one parishioner complained... Read more

Apple, iSacraments and this lonely age

August 26, 2013 By tmatt

Probing the mysteries of Christmas, Pope Benedict XVI asked his flock gathered in 2006 to ponder what this season might mean to people living in the Internet age. “Is a Savior needed,” he asked, “by a humanity which has invented interactive communication, which navigates in the virtual ocean of the Internet and, thanks to the most advanced modern communications technologies, has now made the earth, our great common home, a global village?” What the world really needed, quipped Gizmodo writer... Read more

Concerning those screaming babies in Mass

August 19, 2013 By tmatt

It was a blunt, honest, raw question and Deacon Greg Kandra knew it would stir deep emotions and fierce arguments among Catholic readers. The Catholic mother of six stressed that she sincerely wanted to know: “Why don’t parents take screaming babies out of church?” Nearly 200 online comments later — with Kandra moderating comments to keep the dialogue constructive — legions of Catholic writers are still airing their “screaming babies” differences at his “The Deacon’s Bench” website and on other... Read more

Protecting church flocks from real killers

August 12, 2013 By tmatt

It was a Saturday morning and the Rev. Jaman Iseminger had just dropped by to help some volunteers as the cleaned up the cemetery next door to the Bethel Community Church in Southport, south of Indianapolis. Then a homeless woman entered the church and confronted him. She pulled a gun and killed the 29-year-old pastor, leaving behind a wife and a 2-year-old daughter. “There are all kinds of tragic details … but here’s what’s really haunting about that case,” said... Read more

Sobering words for Brazil’s bishops

August 5, 2013 By tmatt

If Roman Catholicism can be compared with a fleet, then the Brazilian church has long been it’s largest aircraft carrier — with an estimated 123 million Catholics, more than any other country on earth. But that isn’t how Pope Francis described this church during one of the less-publicized addresses during his epic World Youth Day sojourn in Rio de Janeiro. Instead of a rich and powerful vessel for the old establishment, he told Brazil’s bishops that their church is now... Read more