There is nothing unusual about a Catholic leader urging priests to draw closer to their flocks, to focus on day-to-day issues that bridge the gap between pulpit and pew. Still, it caught Vatican insiders off guard when Pope Francis, a week after his installation Mass, used a somewhat pungent image when discussing this problem. “This is precisely the reason for the dissatisfaction of some, who end up sad — sad priests — in some sense becoming collectors of antiques or... Read more
When describing how his disciples should serve the needy, Jesus told a parable about a Good Samaritan who rescued a traveler who had been robbed and left for dead. This businessman didn’t care that his act of kindness took place in public and that the injured man didn’t share his faith. This raises an haunting question for those involved in the church-state struggles surrounding the Health and Human Services mandate requiring most religious institutions to offer their employees, and often... Read more
It seems to happen whenever Steve Beard hangs out with friends — especially folks who don’t go to church — talking about movies, television and whatever else is on their minds. “It may take five minutes or it may take as long as 10, but sooner or later you’re going to run into some kind zombie comment,” said Beard, editor of Good News, a magazine for United Methodist evangelicals. He is also known for writing about faith and popular culture.... Read more
Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey knew that the first black player in major league baseball was going to go through hell. That’s why the cigar-chomping, Bible-thumping Rickey set out to find a man who would keep believing — when facing bitter, scathing racial hatred — that the powers of heaven were on his side. As baseball writers have often noted, Rickey needed someone who could turn the other cheek, as well as turn a double play. In writer-director Brian... Read more
The word on the Brooklyn streets in 1959 was that a crazy preacher from Pennsylvania was helping addicts find the power to kick heroin and gang members to trade their weapons for Bibles. Reporter John McCandlish Phillips heard the talk in local churches and took the tip to his metro editors at The New York Times. This was more than a religion story, he argued. This was something truly new in urban ministry in a rough corner of the city.... Read more
Every year or so, editors are asked to sit patiently while market researchers dissect thick reports about what consumers say they want to see in their newspapers. That was already true back when Harry Moskos was editor of The Knoxville News Sentinel. But he immediately noticed something strange, when handed the executive summary of one late-1980s survey. Two words near the top of the subjects valued by readers caught his attention — “religion” and “family.” Yet the professionals interpreting the... Read more
There must a law, deep in the cosmic base code, that if parents dress their nine children in Easter white — especially when the New England snow is melting — at least one will fall into the mud. “It was tough,” said Simcha Fisher, describing this Easter’s obstacle course, “but we survived all that and made it to Mass.” This was not an ordinary Mass, of course. The Fishers — with children ranging from 15 months to nearly 15 years... Read more
The most recent Jewish Community Study of New York held few surprises for those who have followed the sobering Jewish trends of recent decades. Yes, the 1.5 million or so Jews living in New York City and surrounding counties included a rising tide of people living in interfaith relationships and some had even begun calling themselves “partially Jewish.” Participation in liberal Jewish congregations declined, again. Jews who said it was “very important” to affiliate with Jewish institutions fell to 44... Read more
The rise of Pope Francis has certainly raised new questions for Vatican watchers, such as: How significant is it that he has not been wearing cufflinks? In the past, this kind of detail “would be seen as frivolous,” noted Rocco Palmo of Philadelphia, whose “Whispers In The Loggia” site is must reading for Catholic insiders. Now, this pope’s commitment to beyond-symbolic simplicity is causing religious leaders, journalists, diplomats and Catholics at every level to wrestle with the importance of his... Read more
Like many computer pros whose lives revolve around the Internet, Marc Yoder eventually created a weblog in which to share his views on life, technology, faith and other cultural issues that happened to cross his path. His “Marc5Solas” site — the musings of a self-proclaimed “nobody from nowhere” — drew a quiet hundred readers a week. Then the 42-year-old Yoder wrote his “Top 10 Reasons our Kids Leave Church” post, based on dozens of face-to-face conversations with college students and... Read more
Terry Mattingly
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