Just north of Columbia, S.C., there is an unincorporated community called Mitford. As far as author Jan Karon knows, this is the only place in North America that bears the name of the mythical North Carolina mountain town she has made so famous with her novels. The real Mitford has a Baptist church and a barbecue joint and that’s about it. “Now what more do you need, I mean, if you really stop and think about it?”, asked Karon, before... Read more
Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings rarely cover religious rites, but they would certainly show up if Rome decided to use Pope Benedict XIV’s “Degradatio ab ordine pontificali.” This 1862 rite for the “Degradation of a bishop” is not for the liturgically faint of heart. In it, a bishop who had committed disgraceful acts was stripped of the symbols of his office — mitre, crosier and ring. The prelate leading the rite would say: “Rightly do we pull off... Read more
For two millennia, if you knew a church’s name then you knew something about the people inside its doors. Church names stood for timeless saints and traditions — from the Church of the Nativity to the Church of the Resurrection. A potluck supper at St. Patrick’s would be different than one at Santi Giovanni e Paolo or Our Lady of Guadalupe. In some flocks, a name might tell a church’s location or hint at its origins. The Southern Baptist Convention’s... Read more
Instead of creating a mere educational program, the Baptist minister set out to write something historic — a patriotic rite for use across the United States. This ritual included a proclamation from the president, the singing of “national songs” and prayer or Bible readings. But the pivotal moment would come after veterans raised the Stars and Stripes, when the assembled students recited their new pledge of allegiance. As written by the Rev. Francis Bellamy, it said: “I pledge allegiance to... Read more
No wonder Anakin Skywalker seems so confused. Every time the Jedi apprentice turns around, a spiritual master tells him to trust his feelings, search his feelings or follow his feelings. Trouble is, the young super-warrior in “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” is a tornado of feelings. He feels love. He feels hate, ambition, desire, frustration, fear and fury. Yet when he follows his heart, the Jedi tell him to set aside his desires and do his duty. Well, do... Read more
The clergy sexual abuse statistics were staggering. Local reports from angry, hurt and humiliated laypeople were too horrifying to ignore. So the assembled church leaders decided that they had to say something, they had to call for some kind of action because they were facing a nasty moral crisis. “We encourage those religious bodies dealing with the tragedy of clergy abuse in their efforts to rid their ranks of predatory ministers,” said their June 12 resolution. “We call on civil... Read more
For years, Father Joseph F. Wilson studied the U.S. Catholic clergy register, following the career of the priest who once delivered an unforgettable sexuality lecture at the Dallas seminary. This mid-1980s forum was attended by all diocesan clergy and embraced by the local bishop, Wilson recalled, even though the speaker warned that the Vatican was reining in his ministry to gays. One urgent question from that talk: Did gay Catholics have only three true options – chastity, sin or suicide?... Read more
WASHINGTON — There are rumblings from western Afghanistan that the office for the “Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” is back. That may not sound bad. But this is the network that enforced the Taliban’s codes for clothing, grooming, family life, prayers and myriad other details of daily life. It used beatings, torture, imprisonment, discrimination and other forms of terror. On the evening news, the Taliban is defeated and on the run. But the reality on the ground... Read more
It was a logical question for the Dalai Lama to ask his Jewish visitors, yet it caught them completely off guard. Poet Rodger Kamenetz has pondered his question for a decade: “Can you tell me the secret of Jewish spiritual survival in exile?” “Notice that the Dalai Lama asked about spiritual survival, not cultural survival,” said Kamenetz, author of “The Jew in the Lotus,” a classic travelogue of uncharted terrain between two spiritual traditions. “What he was really asking was,... Read more
The Gate of Humility into the Church of the Nativity is just over four feet high and was added in 1272 A.D. to help repel raiders. Visitors must stoop or bow in submission. Once inside, most tourists – about 1.25 million a year, in peaceful times – quickly queue on the right side of the 5th century Orthodox basilica and wait to enter the Grotto of the Nativity beneath the high altar. I passed through the gate two years ago... Read more
Terry Mattingly
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