Russian Orthodox Church's gay wedding:

  • Same-sex marriage chapel demolished | The Chapel of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was apparently knocked down after local churchmen decided it had been defiled (The Daily Telegraph, London)

  • Russian church defrocks priest who married gays | Denis Gogolev and Mikhail Morozov have said they paid Father Vladimir Enert $490 to marry them last month in church—an act the Russian Orthodox Church branded blasphemous (Reuters)

Church shooting during communion:

Crime:

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  • Armed visitor threatens Cathedral, priest | No one injured; Marietta man to be arraigned today in church arson (Savannah Morning News, Ga.)

  • Also: Armed man arrested at Ga. cathedral | Stuart Vincent Smith set fire to the pulpit and bishop's chair in a historic Roman Catholic cathedral (Associated Press)

  • Witness: Priest boasted drinking prowess | Roman Catholic priest accused in the alcohol-related death of a college football player had dozens of bottles of liquor on hand and boasted he could match his student guests drink for drink, a teammate testified (Associated Press)

Life ethics:

Politics and law:

  • Now it's just 'Bless America' on some city signs | To the dismay of some city employees, several signs in city hall bearing the message "God Bless America" underwent a make-over recently when City Attorney Chet Adams said the signs might be construed as a city-sanctioned endorsement of religion (The Reno Gazette-Journal)

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Church life:

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  • Fighting loneliness, finding Christ | Twenty-five hundred Canadian churches are running Alpha right now, and 100,000 people are taking the course (The National Post, Canada)

Sexual ethics:

Anglican woes:

  • Area Episcopal priests protest recent decisions | Episcopal priests representing some 40 congregations in central and southern Illinois met in Urbana over the weekend and adopted a resolution against naming unmarried persons living in sexual relationships to church leadership roles. The resolution also disapproves of blessing homosexual relationships (The News-Gazette, Champaign, Ill.)

  • Sacred summit | Local Episcopal church convenes in controversy, but SW Florida members focus on faithful business of missions, growth (The News-Press, Ft. Myers, Fla.)

  • Debate on gay bishop unresolved | Alaska diocese members to remain in "prayerful conversation" (Anchorage Daily News)

  • Alaska Episcopal Church grapples with gay bishop issue | Alaska's Episcopal Church leaders are in Juneau for their annual convention, and foremost on the agenda is the explosive subject of homosexuality (Associated Press)

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  • Episcopalians at crossroad | Local church still torn over vote for N.H. gay bishop (Jackson Sun, Tenn.)

  • Split between Pope, archbishop | Receiving the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the frail Pope had difficulty speaking as he stressed that "new and serious difficulties have arisen on the path to unity" within the Christian faith (Sunday Mail, Australia)

  • Archbishop living in the past, says Spong | Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen spoke to a world that no longer existed, a controversial bishop once banned from preaching in Brisbane said today (The Sydney Morning Herald)

  • Church 'faces gay hunger strike' | Richard Kirker, general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, said "civil disobedience" was possible (BBC)

Catholicism:

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  • Vatican gerrymandering | Gerrymandering likely is not part of the Vatican idiom — they'll have some other expression for it, something Latin and ambiguous — but it is what Pope John Paul II has done: terminally gerrymandered the College of Cardinals that will elect his successor (Michael Valpy, The Globe and Mail, Toronto)

  • Could the next pope be an African? | Nigeria's newly appointed cardinal has expressed caution on the chances of a fellow African churchman succeeding the ailing John Paul II to become the Roman Catholic Church's first black pope (Sunday Times, Johannesburg, South Africa)

  • Installation draws reverence, awe | Rigali, parade of priests & bishops applauded by members of all faiths (Philadelphia Daily News)

  • Also: Rigali installed as Philly archbishop (Associated Press)

  • Thank God at least one church still sticks to its guns | Those who say that to survive the Catholic Church must take note of the popular will are talking nonsense (Garth George, New Zealand Herald)

Abuse scandals:

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