Celebration meets sadness - Bishop orders 52 parishes to close or merge, due to debt, diminishing congregations
CLEVELAND - The small group of mostly elderly worshippers, a polished floor creaking under their slow steps, was barely enough to fill two pews for a midweek Mass in a Roman Catholic church rich in the history of Hungarians who came to the United States for a better future or to flee communism.
Community of Faith - Faith - It’s not a spectator activity
Last Sunday, in many Christian churches around the world, children marched into worship carrying palm branches and singing songs of praise to recall the events of the first Palm Sunday. On Friday, the tone was much more solemn and somber as believers observed Good Friday. At our church the altar was stripped bare, a black veil hung upon the cross, candles were gradually extinguished, and the service ended with a loud sound of thunder signifying the breaking of Christ’s tomb. Worship on Sunday will be a stark contrast with white banners, Easter lilies, the sound of trumpets, and the joyful greeting of “He is risen!”
Community of Faith - Take another look: There’s hope yet in this troubled world
Tomorrow the Christian community celebrates the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. After 40 days of wandering in the wilderness, when the Christian walks into worship on Easter he or she will feel as though the wandering is over and home has been found. Many Christians use Easter to focus on new life and new beginnings. For me, this year, Easter gives me hope.
Religion briefs
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Missoula church plans 'Finest Hour’ events
“Missoula’s Finest Hour” has for several years been Missoula Bible Church’s theme at Easter. It says to our community: Easter is a great time to find out what God’s love has provided for us through Christ.
Community of Faith - Take an alternative procession through Holy Week traditions
“Holy Week.” The words themselves represent something counter-cultural to an ever so consumeristic, violent, fearful and radically individualized culture. A week given over to the Holy? With Palm and Passion Sunday tomorrow, we begin this week culminating with Easter a week later. With this week we are invited into a wholly different way of encountering life and faith. This time set apart and called Holy invites us into a rhythm unlike anything else and I doubt we would ever have come up with the story of Holy Week on our own. Left to our own devices, we would not create a world religion based on self-emptying love, on servanthood, on the Divine and Human One embracing suffering, resulting in new life emerging out of death. We are presented with profound paradox in this story and a re-ordering of our social structures where the last are first, the first last and nonviolence and the love of enemy are but a few of its defining characteristics.
Community of Faith - Symbols of renewal surround Passover
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the ways in which we experience time. We all move forward, along with time, there is no stopping nor denying that fact. But, we experience time in different ways at different points in our lives. After the long cold of winter, we, like the world around us, experience an emergence into spring. The doldrums of winter begin to shake off as signs of new life gradually emerge around us.
Religion Briefs
Saturday, April 4, 2009
More than a buzz word - While definitions vary, Baptist seminary joins new trend with program in spirituality
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A new doctorate program at a conservative Baptist seminary will explore the life lessons of the Bible at a time when self-help spirituality is being popularized by celebrities like Oprah.
Catholics hungry for tradition stay loyal to fish fry
LITTLETON, Colo. - The line starts forming when the doors open at 5 p.m. and it doesn’t let up, snaking around the hall at St. Frances Cabrini Parish. Men in blue vests - members of Knights of Columbus Archbishop Casey Council 9349 - ask people whether their sacrifice will be of the fried or baked variety.
Community of Faith - Digging for gold that lasts
What is it about greed? What is the source of its power within us and over us? The better angels of our nature know the Beatles were right when they sang “money can’t buy me love.” Yet we also find a way to rock and roll with them when they cry “just give me money� that’s what I want!” What gives?
Religion Briefs
Saturday, March 28, 2009
For greater good - Chaplain plans secular centers nationwide
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The monthly schedule is church-like, with its parenting classes, guest speakers and small group meetings to hash out shared beliefs. But God isn’t part of this Cambridge congregation.
Early-day sisters took to the streets for charity
In an office I often frequent is a large poster of a traditionally clad Catholic nun. A few weeks ago, when I was posing for our parish directory, the young photographer asked me why I didn’t “wear a, I don’t know what you call it, ... ” I’ve been asked if I had been “assigned” to Blessed Trinity and if I live with other sisters.
French physicist wins $1.4 million religion prize
PARIS - A French physicist and philosopher of science was named Monday as winner of a religion award described as the world’s richest annual prize given to an individual.
Religion Briefs
Saturday, March 21, 2009
New generation of monk - Karmapa Lama willing to take leadership, but faces sectarian disputes
SIDBHARI, India - Like his 16 previous incarnations, this Karmapa Lama has spent his life immersed in the Tibetan Buddhist arts of meditation, study and prayer. Unlike them, he likes to relax playing war games on his PlayStation.
Community of Faith - Pulled by place, Oregon provides more than scenery
Do you ever feel the pull to return to a location that has its grip on you?
Alabama preacher stirs things up with sex sermons
GOOD HOPE, Ala. - It’s one thing for a church in a big city like Dallas or Atlanta to tackle the ticklish topic of sex. It blends in with the urban scene.
Religion Briefs
Saturday, March 14, 2009
More than religion - Special instruction at church brings kids with disorder into the fold
WARWICK, R.I. - Two autistic boys sat inside a parochial school classroom this month. In a setting stripped of unnecessary furniture and toys to avoid distraction, they studied pictograms of a bearded Jesus in a red sash and images of their family members and people helping each other.
Adventures of Clothman - Times of crisis don’t have to be bad times
Not only is the economy in the toilet, but some great hand has pushed the handle and flushed it. This crisis is so huge that every one reading this has experienced it in a personal way. The last time we all shared a financial meltdown of this magnitude was the Great Depression.
Toss selfish ambition to enter Lent
We have quite a bit of activity happening in our church these days. Yes, some of that has to do with the fact that it is the religious season of Lent; some of it also has to do with more appealing weather; and some of it has to do with folks who generously give of their time to make a difference - not only in our place of worship, but throughout the community.
Religion Briefs
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Church offerings - Religious leaders across Montana face fiscal tightening
HELENA - When Deacon Andy Dorrington peers into the offertory basket after Sunday morning Mass, he can’t help but wonder if the recession isn’t taking a bite out of his parish’s financial well-being.
Community of Faith - Steps of Lent take us on individual journeys
“Remember Mortal, you are dust and to dust you shall return.” These words were spoken to me on Wednesday night as a black cross made from burnt palms and oil were rubbed upon my forehead at an Ash Wednesday worship service marking the beginning of the season of Lent in the Christian calendar. During Lent, the traditional disciplines that many Christians seek to live by are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. In our high-tech, video saturated, post modern world, these disciplines seem antiquated, but they do offer us ways to die to some part of ourselves so that something new can rise to life. From death to resurrection - this is the age old drama of Lent and Easter. Here are some thoughts and questions that I have pondered as I approach this mysterious season of Lent. I write them as a doorway for you to think about how you might observe Lent this year.
Religion Briefs
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Tricky conversion - Survival mode prompts some schools to attempt transformation into charters
BALTIMORE - Maryland is considered the cradle of Roman Catholic education in America, but if that heritage is to endure, decisive action must be taken soon to address falling enrollment at Baltimore’s parochial schools, the archbishop said.
Community of Faith - Habitat went from saving a marriage to housing the needy
On Feb. 3 of this year, Millard Fuller died. Fuller was the person who started Habitat for Humanity in 1976. Over the years of his leadership Habitat has helped more than 300,000 families move from deplorable housing into simple decent homes they helped build and can afford to buy and live in. Millard Fuller was a great man.
Religion Briefs
Saturday, February 21, 2009
