Religion
Are attacks on churches brand-new or old news?
Terry Mattingly Security cameras at St. Columba Catholic Church in Brooklyn showed five people, in the dead of night, trying to force their way inside. When they failed, the suspects settled for breaking a stained-glass window and attacking a nearby cross. Police noted that this Jan. 27 crime was the latest of many New York…
Read MoreMost Catholics have stopped worrying about saving souls
Terry Mattingly As a rule, evangelists from Texas don’t go shopping for bourbon before a speech. But that’s what Marcel LeJeune and some friends did when the Catholic Missionary Disciples leader spoke at a Franciscan University conference last summer in Steubenville, Ohio. Things turned serious while chatting with a saleswoman when he asked how she…
Read MoreAntisemitism and safety fears surge among US Jews, survey finds
TIFFANY STANLEY Associated Press Nearly two-thirds of American Jews feel less secure in the U.S. than they did a year ago, according to a new national survey. The American Jewish Committee, a prominent advocacy organization, conducted the survey last fall just as the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7. The number of American Jews who…
Read MoreAsh Wednesday and Valentine’s Day fall on the same day this year. Here’s what you need to know
HOLLY MEYER Associated Press Feb. 14 is a holiday heavyweight this year due to a calendar collision of events. Yes, it’s Valentine’s Day, the fixed annual celebration of love and friendship, marked by cute couples, eager elementary school students — and critics who deride its commercialization. But it also happens to be Ash Wednesday, the…
Read MoreYes, Joe Biden is an ‘On Eagle’s Wings” American Catholic
Terry Mattingly With its lilting pop melody and sweet God talk, “On Eagle’s Wings” is the hymn that conservative Catholics love to hate and Catholic progressives often wave like a red flag. President Joe Biden loves it. “My prayer, my hope is we continue to believe our best days are ahead of us — that…
Read MorePope praises journalists for their silence on some scandals
Terry Mattingly The hellish relationship began with a kiss — a strange exchange between a teenager preparing to become a Loyola sister and the Slovenian Jesuit who was already her confessor. “The first time he kissed me on the mouth, telling me that this was how he kissed the altar where he celebrated the Eucharist,…
Read MoreLife inside the ‘God made Trump’ matrix
Terry Mattingly With its digital homage to the late Paul Harvey’s “So God Made a Farmer” soliloquy, the “God Made Trump” video drew roars of support at key Iowa rallies for Donald Trump. “And on June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, ‘I need a caretaker,’ so God gave us…
Read MoreCan Christian colleges ‘keep the faith’ in modern America?
Terry Mattingly As America’s second-oldest Lutheran college, Roanoke College in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley proclaims that it is “never sectarian” in outlook, while maintaining that “critical thinking and spiritual growth” are essential. The “Spiritual Life” webpage also offers this advice: “We encourage you to follow your own personal spiritual path while here at Roanoke.” The college…
Read MoreVatican’s top expert on AI ethics is a friar from medieval Franciscan order
By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Friar Paolo Benanti wears the plain brown robes of his medieval Franciscan order as he pursues one of the most pressing issues in contemporary times: how to govern artificial intelligence so that it enriches — and doesn’t exploit — people’s lives. Benanti is the Vatican’s go-to person…
Read MoreCelebration Community Church seminar Jan. 16
(PANA) — A seminar for the public dealing with senior citizen issues will be held in Celebration Community Church, Fourth and Clark Sts. in Pana at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 16. Speakers include Christian Hammon, affiliated with Edward Jones as a Social Security specialist. Also, Amy Graham, Senior Life Solutions, will make a presentation.…
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