(RNS) — Slightly more than half of Americans (53 percent) rate the moral values of priests, ministers, and other clerics as “very high” or “high.” That percentage is a slight bump from 2009, when only 50 percent of Americans said men and women of the cloth are ethical paragons, the lowest number in Gallup’s 32 years of measuring professional reputations.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Benedict XVI, while still a cardinal, sought in vain to expedite the process for defrocking priests guilty of grave crimes, according to a 1988 letter published in the official Vatican newspaper.
HUNT, TEXAS — David W. Jordan, the president of Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly in Hunt, Texas, has announced his retirement effective fall 2011, concluding 12 years of service.
MANILA (ENI) — Asian Christian leaders have challenged what they describe as a distorted interpretation of the Bible's Genesis story about God telling Adam and Eve to "subdue" the earth and to "have dominion" over other living species and non-living resources on the planet.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (RNS) — The Southern Poverty Law Center is adding the Family Research Council and four other conservative religious organizations to its list of hate groups because of “falsehoods” in their anti-gay statements.
LOUISVILLE — Examples of grassroots mission partnerships can be found all over the world — some carefully planned, some springing up spontaneously. From looking at what’s happening in Latin America, Africa, and Asia — from the people she’s met, and from what she’s seen on the ground level — Miriam Adeney has some advice for congregations about how to form mission partnerships.
New York, NCC — In the wake of the tragic murders in Tucson Jan. 8 of six people and the wounding of 14 people, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, two hymn-prayers are being made available by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, Presbyterian pastor and hymnist. The following two hymn texts are available for use by churches supporting the National Council of Churches and Church World Service.
LOUISVILLE – Phyllis Schneck, a member of Northminster Church in Tucson, Ariz., was among those killed in the shootings on January 8 that left six people dead and 14 injured.