Michael Kessler writes in the Washington Post about the changes in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships under the direction of Joshua DuBois. Kessler says it is “refreshing to hear DuBois repeatedly speak of his office as seeking to create “responsible partnerships”.
The Detroit News reports on a man who is the music director of an Episcopal church who has been charged with sexual abuse of minors.
The National Catholic Reporter, citing a study by Giving USA Foundation, says that religious organizations reported a 5.5-percent increase in donations last year, a marked contrast from the nationwide 2-percent decline in charitable giving.
In the past fifteen years, gay marriage has increased in popularity in all fifty states. No news there, but what was a surprise to me is where the largest changes have occurred. The popularity of gay marriage has increased fastest in the states where gay rights were already relatively popular in the 1990s.
The Rev. Ed Bacon, Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, CA, met with members of the Obama administration at the White House yesterday along
“Unjust discrimination is fundamentally wrong.” So say the Roman Catholic bishops of England and Wales in evidence to parliament on the equality bill. But doesn’t this terminology imply there might be another category of “just discrimination” which is slightly less awful, or even in some circumstances righteous?
Stephen Tyrone Johns, the steadfast security guard who died at the museum, laid down his life to protect visitors to that sacred space. I ask that all of our churches commemorate his heroic self-sacrifice by including a special prayer for Mr. Johns, his family and friends in their Eucharistic celebrations this Sunday.
When Ralph White was a teenager at All Saints Parish in Wynnewood, he says, he was sexually abused on a number of occasions by the Rev. Gibson Bell. Rev. Bell influenced White’s mother to have her son placed in a mental institution. Later, White’s mother disowned her son and willed her estate to Rev. Bell.
Now I’m reading the stories of women whom Dr. Tiller aided. While these stories don’t cancel the need for Christians to wrestle with abortion and possibly to support restrictions through legislation, the stories shake us loose from any moral high ground we thought we had reached in our own decisions—and sensitize or resensitize us to human suffering.
To be very frank, the bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada, by providing clear guidelines for the very real pastoral and liturgical care of our relationships, have shown far more pastoral sensitivity and courage … To be even more frank, this Committee and those responsible for its actions owe lgbt Christians a sincere apology and acts of repentance for this latest handling.