Changing landscape: As churches shrink and pastors retire, creative workarounds are redefining ministry
As older clergy get set to retire in the US, there are few younger seminarians to replace them – and few churches that can afford to pay them. ELIZABETH E EVANS reports for Religion News Service…
Sight-Seeing: Can chatbots write inspirational and wise sermons?
JOANNE M PIERCE, professor emerita of religious studies at College of the Holy Cross, says, in an article first published on The Conversation, explains what the limitations are…
Abuse experts look to coming Catholic synod to promote accountability on abuse
Vatican CityRNS Abuse prevention experts gathered in Rome said on Thursday that the Synod on Synodality’s potential to reform power structures and promote dialogue could also improve abuse prevention and accountability in the Catholic Church. The Synod on Synodality, launched by Pope Francis in 2021, has sought out the views of Catholics all over the […]
Heavens above! Church of England clergy demand pay rise for first time in history
London, UKReuters Even the clergy are not immune from Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, which has now forced Church of England vicars to make a formal pay claim for the first time in their nearly 500-year history. The trade union Unite, which represents more than 2,000 clergy and lay officers in the Church of England, said on […]
“Iron sharpens iron”: As Pennsylvania’s ‘Bible belt’ evolves, clergy look to one another for mutual support
ELIZABETH E EVANS, of Religion News Service, reports that after the difficulties of the pandemic and amid a widening gap between people of different political persuasions, the clergy of one small town in this historically religious region have found mutual support in a ‘ministerium’ dedicated to community unity…
Ugandan Government says it won’t renew UN human rights office mandate
Kampala, Uganda The Ugandan Government has said it will not renew the mandate of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uganda wrote to OHCHR offices in Kampala on 3rd February indicating that it would not renew its mandate. In the letter, the government noted the […]
US clergy favour medical treatment for depression study finds
United StatesRNS About 21 million adults in the US have had at least one major depressive episode, the National Institute of Mental Health reports. A new study now finds that those who have gone to a priest or pastor for advice will most likely have been encouraged to seek out mental health professionals and take medicine […]
In the US, Louisiana churches leave Methodist denomination amid schism
New Orleans, Louisiana, US AP The United Methodist Church, a mainstay of the American religious landscape, has cut ties with 58 churches in its Louisiana conference amid a nationwide schism within the Protestant denomination. The disaffiliations, approved in a virtual conference session Saturday, were the latest in a series of decisions that many Louisiana churches have made […]
US report: Catholic clergy’s unquestioned – and uneducated – power spurs abuse
United StatesRNS A new report based on interviews with some 300 Catholic priests, nuns and laypeople concludes that clergy aren’t adequately prepared to wield the power they exercise and need more education on questions of sex and gender. The report, Beyond Bad Apples: Understanding Clericalism as a Structural Problem & Cultivating Strategies for Change, released […]
“Liturgy of Domestic Church Life”: Couple’s model for living faith at home could change Catholicism one family at a time
CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ, of Religion News Service, speaks to Gregory and Lisa Popcak about their vision for empowering the laity by sacralising the small things families do every day…