Worried about exposure to foul language, immodest dress, peer pressure, and other inappropriate behavior, Susan Brown didn’t want her two daughters attending public schools — even though she’s a substitute teacher in a public school in Minnesota.
When Venezuela’s bishops spoke out against postponing the inauguration of ailing President Hugo Chávez, the president’s supporters accused them of meddling in politics, while government opponents praised their comments.
At a new church development coaches’ gathering (January 21–24) in St. Pete Beach, Florida, pastoral leaders spent a day learning from renowned Princeton theologian Darrell Guder, on how to start missional communities.
Baptized into Christ: A Guide to the Ecumenical Discussion of Baptism, by theologian Rev. Dr Dagmar Heller of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD), was the topic of a book launch and reception Jan. 11 at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland.
Unlike patients who have a choice about getting the flu shot, many health care workers didn't have a say this year.
In the weeks after the Presidential election, a bipartisan group of eight Senators were appointed to craft a proposal for comprehensive immigration reform. While one Republican and one Democrat have dropped out of negations, the Gang of 6 released a statement late Sunday night (January 27th) that they had reached a deal on a framework on moving forward with legislation. The Washington Post reported that: "The document is intended to provide guideposts that would allow legislation to be drafted by the end of March…" A press release will be held on January 28th to further outline their four page agreement. …
Thirty American Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders – including Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons – warned today that “twilight has fallen on the possibility of a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” They called for “a bold new U.S. initiative for a two-state peace agreement before it is too late.”
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Rabbi David Saperstein, and Dr. Sayyid Syeed, together with the other leaders, declared, “The current dangerous stalemate, including the legacy of past failed peacemaking efforts, undermines our security and that of others, destabilizes the region, fuels terrorism and extremism, allows continuing Israeli settlement expansion, and prolongs Palestinian disunity. These realities and the absence of negotiations threaten to kill the prospect of a viable two-state peace agreement, the only realistic solution to the conflict.”
The voicemail on my home phone Jan. 14 introduced the caller as Jim White from Gardenerville, Nev. He hoped his cold call was reaching the writer of “On the (soggy) ground in New York City,” which appeared in this space Nov. 13, 2012. That story details a Presbyterian Disaster Assistance team’s initial outreach to the people on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens.
Dora Arce-Valentín has arrived in Geneva to take on full-time responsibility for the Office of Justice and Partnership of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC).
The cornerstone of West End Temple reads “1960,” but the interior of the synagogue in New York City’s Rockaway Beach neighborhood looks like a construction zone — walls and floors gutted down to the wooden studs, bathroom fixtures gone, warped pews piled in the banquet hall.