Short reports and links
‘Ashes to Go’
USA Today – Episcopal priests offer ‘Ashes to Go’ as Ash Wednesday begins Lent
Read more – http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-02-21/lent-ash-wednesday-ashes-to-go/53195664/1?csp=34news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+%28News+-+Top+Stories%29
Two Americans to be canonized on October 21, 2012
Insight Scoop – Blessed Marianne Cope and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha are two of seven to be declared saints this fall. The list of the seven people who will be declared saints ranges from a Filipino layman to European founders of religious orders to the first Native American. Two of the seven holy men and women are associated with the U.S. Blessed Marianne Cope, was a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse, N.Y., and spent many years caring for the lepers on the island of Molokai, Hawaii, while Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, was a 17th-century Mohawk girl who converted to Catholicism and died at the age of 24. Their canonization ceremony will take place on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012. Cardinal Edward Egan, the Emeritus Archbishop of New York, could not keep a smile off his face as he stood in the sun outside of St. Peter’s after the consistory. He eagerly pointed out that “out of the seven saints, two are New Yorkers.”
Read more –
http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2012/02/two-americans-to-be-canonized-on-october-21-2012.html
My Take: The myth and reality of the Catholic vote
CNN (blog) – The melting pot has even transformed Catholics’ relationship to their church. Polling numbers released Friday by CNN about the White House contraception dust-up illustrate this: Only 11% of Catholics polled said they should always obey official church …
Read more – http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/20/my-take-the-myth-and-reality-of-the-catholic-vote/
In 200-year tradition, most Christian missionaries are American
Reuters – At a church on the New England coast 200 years ago, five young men became ordained as Congregational missionaries and set off on cargo ships to India as the first organized group of American missionaries to travel overseas. Their departure signaled the start of the U.S. missionary movement, and today the United States sends more Christian missionaries abroad than any other country, experts say. The United States sent out 127,000 of the world’s estimated 400,000 missionaries abroad in 2010, according to Todd Johnson, director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
Read more – http://kgmi.com/In-200-year-tradition–most-Christian-missionaries/11461869?newsId=128950
Another View: The many faces of marriage in America
Hanford Sentinel – A quarter-century ago, 65 percent of Americans thought interracial marriage was unacceptable for themselves or for other people.
Yet in the span of a generation, as intermarriage has become more common and the United States has grown more racially diverse, a dramatic change in attitudes has taken place. Today, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 87 percent of Americans say that the rise in interracial marriage has either been good for society or made no difference, while only 11 percent think it’s a change for the worse.That’s the thing about the tide of history: It tends to flow from intolerance to acceptance. The same shift that occurred in opinions about interracial marriage is happening in attitudes about same-sex marriage. Just ask folks in Washington and New Jersey.
Presbyterians uphold pastor’s censure for gay weddings
Reuters – A sharply divided high court of the U.S. Presbyterian Church on Tuesday upheld the ecclesiastical rebuke levied against a lesbian minister for performing same-sex weddings in California. The decision affirming the censure of the Rev. Jane Spahr means that Presbyterian ministers continue to face church discipline for following their conscience in treating gay and lesbian couples the same as heterosexuals when it comes to marriage.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/22/us-usa-gaymarriage-presbyterian-idUSTRE81K1YT20120222
Pastors in Maryland address vote on same-sex marriage
Washington Post Local – Prince George’s County’s church community has been reflective of Maryland’s split on the issue, with preachers such as Thomas railing against same-sex marriage from the pulpit as busloads of churchgoers have traveled to Annapolis to speak out against something they believe tears at the fabric of the nation’s values. Yet other black church leaders in the region have stood with proponents of same-sex marriage, championing equality as legislators have moved to approve it.
Read more – http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/pastors-in-maryland-address-vote-on-same-sex-marriage/2012/02/19/gIQAjueIOR_story.html
Is same-sex marriage legislation inevitable?
KSL Statecraft – The hot-button issue of same-sex marriage is once again at the forefront of politics, as two states recently passed legislation recognizing marriage for gay couples and a federal appeals court in California overruled Proposition 8. With more states slowly recognizing marriage for gay couples, the question hanging in the balance is whether same-sex marriage legislation is inevitable?
Read more: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=757&sid=19260592
Franklin Graham Questions Obama’s Christian Faith
PoliticalPunch – The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, questioned the president’s religious faith today, saying he was unsure whether Obama was a Christian.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/franklin-graham-questions-obamas-christian-faith/
Also : http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/franklin-graham-questions-obamas-christian-faith/
Pastor : I’ll ‘hold my nose,’ vote for Mormon Romney
Faith & Reason – I’ll hold my nose and vote” for Mitt Romney, says Southern Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress, who made headlines in October for calling the Mormon Church a cult. Jeffress, head of a Texas megachurch, was playing “who’s a Christian?” — the hot talk show quiz for evangelicals on Tuesday — with MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell.
Read more – http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2012/02/baptist–jeffress-mitt-romney-mormon-cult/1#.T0Sa_W9YCf0