6 of 6

Catholicism:

• Pope calls Christian divisions 'painful' | Pope John Paul II implored Christians on Sunday to overcome the "painful trial" of their divisions, aggravated by such issues as the election of a gay Episcopal bishop and the hostility between Catholic and Orthodox faithful in eastern Europe (Associated Press)
  
  
• Catholic priest, author critically hurt in traffic accident at OIA | Benedict Groeschel is a familiar figure to viewers on the EWTN Global Catholic Network, where he has appeared for the past 20 years (The Orlando Sentinel)
  
  
• Update: Author-priest hit by car still critical (The Orlando Sentinel)
  
  
• No bishop has gone as far as Burke | Days after hearing the Vatican would send him to St. Louis -but before the papal announcement of his appointment - Archbishop-elect Raymond Burke notified his La Crosse, Wis. diocesan priests to refuse communion to three pro-abortion rights Catholic Wisconsin state legislators (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
  
  
• Mugabe, Aristide: Two controversial Catholics | They are both Catholics and have conducted their politics with such a breath-taking lack of propriety they have raised eyebrows, if not hackles, among many Catholics, including the Vatican (Mbaiso, The Daily News, Zimbabwe)
  
  
• L.I. bishop meets priests critical of his leadership | Bishop William F. Murphy called the meeting "very helpful" and said it explored "areas of agreement about the direction of the diocese and also differences of opinion." (The New York Times)
  
  
• Top court reserves judgment on Catholic Church liability | The Supreme Court of Canada reserved judgment late Wednesday in a case that could open the Roman Catholic Church to liability for sexual abuse committed by its priests (CBC, Canada)
  
  
• Archbishop starts Round 2 of war with BBC | The Most Rev Vincent Nichols, who criticized the BBC in September for its "anti-Catholic bias", said that the organization had a lot to learn from the way the Church had dealt with child abuse cases (The Telegraph, London)
  
  

Austrian beatification:

• Pope to beatify 'buffoon' who was Austria's last emperor | Critics suspect political agenda behind campaign (The Guardian, London)
  
  
• Historians question the beatification of Blessed Charles | The last emperor of the Habsburg dynasty, Charles the First of Austria, is to be beatified by the Pope. News that the deceased monarch will become Blessed Charles has prompted many to question the pontiff's choice (Deutsche Welle, Germany)
  
  

Eastern Orthodox:

• Macedonia's renegade bishop arrested | Macedonian authorities on 11 January arrested renegade Orthodox Bishop Jovan after police raided his apartment, where he had been holding secret Sunday masses with monks and nuns loyal to the Serbian Orthodox Church (Transitions Online: Balkan Reconstruction Report, Prague, Czech Republic)
  
  
• Orthodox leader to honor Fidel Castro | The spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians will honor Fidel Castro with a church order in recognition of Cuba's construction of a new cathedral, regional church leaders said (Associated Press)
  
  
• Brisk baptism | Starting in the wee hours of Monday, Russian Orthodox believers celebrated Epiphany in rivers and lakes around the country, where priests blessed the waters through cross-shaped holes in the ice (The Moscow Times)
  
  
• Israel recognizes Greek Orthodox patriarch … two years on | Israel's long-standing refusal to endorse Irineos, describing him as the "candidate of the Palestinians," caused deep animosity in the Greek Orthodox church, which has the largest Christian community in the Holy Land (AFP)
  
  

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Suggest links and stories by sending e-mail to weblog@christianitytoday.com

What is Weblog?

Check out Books & Culture's weblog, Content & Context.

See our past Weblog updates:

January 19

January 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12

January 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5

January 2 | December 31 | 30 | 29

December 26 | 23 | 22

December 19 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15

and more, back to November 1999

first page |  6 of 6

share this page

January (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48