CHICAGO -- James MacDonald, the senior pastor and founding member of Harvest Bible Chapel, has been fired, the church announced early Wednesday morning. The announcement comes nearly one month after church elders said MacDonald, a popular preacher who attracted thousands of worshipers to his network of churches in Chicago and the suburbs each ...Read more

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The Harrisburg diocese on Tuesday announced the launch of its victims compensation program, one of several created across the state in the wake of a damning grand jury report on child sex abuse by Roman Catholic clergy members.

"While we understand that financial compensation will not repair or erase the heartache and damage ...Read more

The "tragic gap." I believe the term was coined by sociologist and higher- education advocate Parker J. Palmer, referring to that frustrating experience commonly known as being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

There are rocks around us -- heavy, unmovable, seemingly permanent. Likewise there are hard places around us -- beaten down, ...Read more

Church attendance in America has been in a secular decline for decades -- and South Florida is no exception.

With less than 40 percent of residents reporting active church attendance, Miami ranks near the bottom among major metropolitan areas in expressing being religious. That puts it just above places like the Bay Area, Seattle, and Las Vegas...Read more

America is flush with personal stories, those bits and pieces of history often told 'round a crackling campfire or on a grandma's warm lap. Nonetheless, as memories gray and young'uns colorful images fade, repeated tales stretch -- with a wink or two.

But what if these tales had been captured in black and white?

Back in the day, Paul Fisher ...Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. -- When Oakland diocese officials issued a news release before dawn Thursday announcing that Rev. Alex Castillo, who headed the faith formation and other programs, had been placed on administrative leave for inappropriate contact with a minor, they had not yet alerted police.

It would take another five hours after the 5:14 a.m. ...Read more

Super Bowl weekend has a lot of people dreamin' big -- the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams for the big win, fans for the best tailgate party ever. At kickoff it's a fervor you can almost taste.

But beyond what the TV cameras catch for anxious viewers nationwide on game day, there's a different "dreamin' big" that is about kicking ...Read more

A year ago on the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination, when I interviewed a number of local African-Americans about the memories they still carried of the day, I felt honored to be getting such a personal history lesson about a monumental time in our nation's history.

At the time of King's murder, some were children ...Read more

When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. asked fellow clergy to come to Selma in 1965 to help push for voting rights, the Rev. Clark Olsen was among those who answered the call.

On the national holiday honoring King, Olsen died, according to the Asheville Citizen Times. The Unitarian Universalist minister, who lived in Asheville, was 85.

While...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas on Friday released the names of 22 priests in its files who have had substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of minors made against them in the past 75 years.

"Each name on this list represents a grave human tragedy," said Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann in a statement ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The Archdiocese of Hartford Tuesday released the names of 48 priests "credibly accused" of sexual abuse, leading to the archdiocese paying out $50.6 million to settle more than 140 claims.

The archdiocese also announced it would hire a retired state judge to review priest personnel files in an effort, according to Archbishop ...Read more

ENCINITAS, Calif. -- Fifth grader Eden Cohen and her friend, Stella, sunk their shovels into a hole they were digging recently to plant a pomegranate tree at Coastal Roots Farm.

Then they simultaneously lifted their shovels, causing a collision that spilled dirt and sparked a cascade of giggles.

The friends joined about 600 others at the Tu B'...Read more

It plays like a Hallmark movie. Guy meets independent woman, unexplained coincidences, love blooms, and then a happily ever after. It's what ardent viewers -- always tissues in hand -- love about these romantic films.

Hallmark Channel lovers, this column is for you. A true-to-life story -- minus the snowball fight.

It begins in warm, sunny ...Read more

When the new Congress convened this week, it included several firsts with its youngest elected member, its first two Muslim women and its first two Native American women among them. Women now make up about a quarter of Congress, while the Senate and House of Representatives together include more blacks, Latinos and Asian Americans than ever ...Read more

CHICAGO -- In the weeks since Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan released a scathing report faulting the Illinois dioceses for failing to investigate hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, a daunting question has lingered on the minds of parishioners: Which priests were accused?

Unlike a sweeping grand jury report in ...Read more