LOS ANGELES -- A 32-year-old man filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony and an ex-priest who was returned to parish duties even after admitting to molesting children.

Mahony went on to reassign Michael Baker to several other Roman Catholic parishes, where he abused more boys, many of them ...Read more

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis did not endorse a proposal to let married men serve as priests in the Amazon region, in what would have been a special exception to a long-standing celibacy rule for clergy.

The exception, albeit limited to the Amazon region, would have likely enraged traditionalists, who already see Francis' papacy as too liberal. ...Read more

"Don't be discouraged by your incapacity to dispel darkness from the world; light your candle and step forward."

This wisdom from contemporary Hindu spiritual teacher Amma hangs on my fridge as a constant reminder of how to live in this troubled world.

For at least 100 years writers have used some version of the proverb "It is better to light ...Read more

DETROIT -- Since its formation in 1836, no woman or openly gay priest has ever been elected to lead the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan.

That changed Saturday, when the Rev. Bonnie Perry was ordained and consecrated as the body's 11th bishop, overseeing more than 16,000 baptized members across the state.

She succeeds the Right Rev. Wendell N. ...Read more

If you could be anywhere right now, where would that be? Would you rather be someplace else?

Recently, I asked that question to open a sermon. Uh-oh.

Because what if your honest answer, even during church is, "Yes, I'd rather be at the football game!" Or, "I'd rather be on a cruise, or in the mountains, or at the Oregon Coast -- reading, ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- A Muslim organization is calling on the Minnesota Catholic Conference to repudiate a sermon by a Rice County priest in which he describes Islam as the "greatest threat in the world" both to the United States and Christianity itself.

The Rev. Nick VanDenBroeke, pastor of the 100-year-old Church of the Immaculate Conception in ...Read more

"Tis the season!" was said over and over during December.

"To everything there is a season. ..." said the wise one in ancient Holy Scripture (and wrote Pete Seeger nearly six decades ago).

"Four Seasons" describes many things from a hotel chain to a symphony by Vivaldi.

Aside from a term for spices, season is mostly used in two ways related ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- While Nelson Perez was a priest in Philadelphia more than a decade ago, he often came to confess his sins at the Shrine of St. John Neumann, the fourth bishop of Philadelphia, whose body is entombed inside the shrine in the city's Northern Liberties section.

At the time, Perez had no idea -- he'd one day succeed Neumann himself....Read more

Approximately 10 to 15 school districts in Kentucky are currently offering Bible literacy courses, but a bill introduced in the 2020 General Assembly would replace them with classes on "various religious texts" of the many religions practiced in the state.

State Rep. McKenzie Cantrell, D-Louisville, said she introduced House Bill 243 this week ...Read more

VATICAN CITY -- Retired pope Benedict XVI never agreed to appear as the co-author of a controversial book on priestly celibacy, his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, said Tuesday.

It was a remarkable disavowal of a work seen by many as both an attack on Pope Francis' authority and a serious breach of Benedict's promise to remain "...Read more

Thinking back on my boyhood in West Richland, Wash., I sometimes wonder how growing up during the Cold War shaped my worldview.

Probably not much.

My eyes were filled with wonder when I saw thousands of army troops covering our whole area in war games. But even though news accounts of the day spoke of our U-2 spy plane being shot down over ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Sexual issues lead to many divorces. That includes the threatened split in the United Methodist Church. Divided on same-sex marriage and the status of LGBTQ believers, the nation's third largest Christian denomination -- after Catholicism and the Southern Baptist Convention -- may soon break up.

"No one celebrates separation. I ...Read more

I like to learn from mistakes ... especially other people's. And from my experience that dates back to typewriters and dinosaurs roaming the Earth, it's a sure-fire way to avoid trouble.

That's why, when my husband and I were thinking about getting a new bicycle rack come spring, a device that would mount on top of our Jeep, I had misgivings; ...Read more