The main duties of a priest are to administer the church’s sacraments — which include baptism, confession and holy communion — while also visiting the sick and providing pastoral care to parishioners. How does all that work during the COVID-19 pandemic when most priests are in the high-risk age category for contracting the deadly virus?
Read More(ANALYSIS) We are living in surreal times. The world as we knew it just over a week ago has been brought to a halt by the COVID-19 pandemic. After the virus devastated China’s Wuhan province, it spread to Europe and now the rest of the world. Our daily lives have been disrupted in a way never seen in our lifetimes.
Read More(REVIEW) I Still Believe is a beautiful and necessary Christian love story that corrects some of the problems of other Christian films. Still, the movie suffers from the same weaknesses that plague the secular young adult romance genre.
Read More(REVIEW) Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated with beer and parades, often neglecting the true meaning of the day. For Ireland and its largely Catholic population, Patrick is their patron saint. He is a man many people think they know. This new docudrama tries to get to the true story of a man who converted an entire country to Christianity.
Read MoreWith the future obscured by unprecedented uncertainty — or the certainty that things will get much worse — what approach is best for counseling from a faith perspective?
Read MoreAs a noun, cloister means a covered walk in a convent with a wall on one side and a colonnade open on the other. As a verb, it means to go into seclusion. The connection between a monastery — during Lent no less — and self-isolation makes a place like The Met Cloisters in New York more relevant than ever.
Read More‘You don’t ever think that’s the last time you’re going to see somebody,’ Izzy Stevens says.
Read More(OPINION) With proper precautions, religious traditions can and have continued. For priests, a pandemic is not only an impediment to their duties but is central to their calling.
Read MoreThe Jewish holiday Purim celebrates Esther’s rescue of the Jews from genocide in 5th century Persia. Her intervention highlights the good that humans can do. While many Purim events were cancelled to protect from the spread of Coronavirus or COVID-19, this community decided the threat was small and the lessons too great to stay home.
Read More“Apollo’s Fire: O Jerusalem!” a Grammy Award-winning ensemble, brings to the stage the musical roots of each of Jerusalem’s four quarters with poetry and sacred songs from the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Arab sections of Jerusalem’s Old City from the 13th to the 17th centuries.
Read More(OPINION) The Democratic primary race has shifted rapidly. The changes have implications for the general election in November, which we can try to make some sense of by examining polling across religious groups.
Read More(OPINION) The billionaire’s funeral raised the question of his personal legacy as well as his spiritual life. Based on interviews over the years, Welch, who grew up Catholic but did not practice for years, began to privately cultivate a Christian faith later in life with his wife Suzy, a Baptist.
Read More(REVIEW) Best-selling author and NY Times op-ed contributor Timothy Egan lets us tag along on his journey from Canterbury to Rome in his latest book, A Pilgrimage to Eternity. He’s on his camino – the Via Francigena, an ancient pilgrimage of over a thousand miles beginning from the English world’s oldest church and ending at St. Peter’s Square.
Read MoreBen Affleck’s new film, The Way Back, takes a classic trope and exploits the old cliche for a slightly new take on an old tale: the film focuses less on the redemption of the team and more on the redemption of the coach.
Read MoreAmid the death and devastation brought by a tornado, a grieving Tennessee congregation still trusts in God.
Read MoreLast year, Advent Lutheran Church fed more than 8,000 people, more than 20 times the number of its congregation. While food prices are rising, their funds are declining, and New York’s hungry — battling rents rising faster than wages— keep coming.
Read More(OPINION) The late actor’s tragic death could have been an occasion to examine where his story ended - with the sort of faith he had avoided for much of his long life.
Read MoreFaith communities and interfaith coalitions from Washington to Texas, New York to California, are dedicating portions of their property to permanent or long-term homes for the homeless. Experts on homelessness and housing say this movement could make faith communities crucial to solving California’s — and maybe the nation’s — homeless crisis.
Read MoreThe Bethel Christian Academy case illustrates the broader fight that often pits the government and taxpayer-funded programs with religiously-affiliated schools that adhere to a doctrinal covenant opposing same-sex marriage. The state calls it discrimination, while the school argues that its religious freedom has come under attack.
Read More(OPINION) A new study appears to show that the number of young people departing from religious affiliation is holding steady. This is big news if true, but it’s too soon to say.
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