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• Cleric slipped out of U.S., continues to work in Mexico | 'Everyone knew you had to stay away from Aguilar' (The Dallas Morning News)
• Church aid, legal lapses leave cleric free to roam | 'That's when your hair stands on end and your blood boils' (The Dallas Morning News)
• Robert Bullock, 75; priest, critic of church's role in sex scandal | Father Robert Bullock, the Roman Catholic priest who became an outspoken critic of the church's handling of the sexual abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese, has died. He was 75 (Los Angeles Times)
• Priest in grand jury probe critical of media | A retired Catholic priest at the center of a federal investigation into the possible coverup of sex abuse allegations by leaders in the Boston Archdiocese is lashing out at what he calls the ''media condemnation'' of his character (Associated Press)

Eric Rudolph tried in Birmingham for abortion bombing:

• Abortion bomb suspect Rudolph to face Alabama trial | Eric Rudolph, accused of the fatal 1998 bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama, abortion clinic, will be tried in Birmingham before a jury selected from other parts of the state, a judge said on Tuesday (Reuters)
• Rudolph trial won't leave Birmingham | Eric Robert Rudolph will be tried in Birmingham with jurors to be picked from throughout north Alabama, not just a three-county area, a federal judge decided Tuesday (The Birmingham News, Al.)

Missions & ministry:

• Is VBS soul care or daycare? | Churches look for solutions as kids flock to summer programs (The Dallas Morning News)
• Prison pursues faith-based program | Officials hope to cut recidivism rate of Northampton County Prison inmates (The Express-Times, Bethlehem, Pa.)

Spirituality:

• Exhibit chronicles NYC religious centers | A new photo exhibit chronicles many of the hundreds of places around the New York borough dedicated to a higher spiritual authority — churches, synagogues, mosques (Associated Press)
• Little bits of soul | Religion may take its lumps, but the ruthlessly irreverent South Park also addresses fundamental questions of faith (The Orlando Sentinel)

Music:

• A trinity of videos for one religious rap | Of the three music videos that Kanye West plans to release with his single, "Jesus Walks," the second, set in the deep South, is the most controversial (The New York Times)
• Pope singles out Madonna for criticism | The lapsed-Catholic diva has come under scrutiny from the Vatican because of her support of Kabbalah (Jeannette Walls, MSNBC)

Religion & politics:

• Christian leaders put faith in elections | Gay marriage, abortion, stem cell research, banning of prayer in schools and the belief that righteous judges are being kept off the courts have enraged many conservative Protestants and Catholics who see the 2004 election as their best chance for political redemption (Palm Beach Post, Fla.)
• Catholics are deciding for themselves | We Catholics are quite capable of using our own conscience -- it's called "primacy of conscience" and was well-defined at Vatican II. Right or wrong -- and wrong we may be -- it's ours (Mary McDonough Harren, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.)
• Texas Republicans urged to drop 'Christian nation' | A leading Jewish group on Tuesday asked the Republican Party in President Bush's home state of Texas to stop calling the United States a "Christian nation" in its platform (Reuters)
• Church hot topic of council flare-up | A special-events law's approval comes with religious and political baggage from members (Daily Pilot, Newport Beach, Ca.)
• Politicians no longer avoid separation of church, vote | Embracing religion is viewed as more an asset than albatross in the 2004 campaign (Houston Chronicle)

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June (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48