Vatican employees won’t receive the special bonus they are traditionally awarded when a new pope is elected, the Vatican confirmed on April 18, under orders from Pope Francis to give extra money to charity instead.

Participants in a previously-scheduled consultation here last week on mutual mission between the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Presbyterian Church in Korea (PCK) expanded their talks to include a joint statement on the current crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

Kenilworth Presbyterian Church in Asheville, N.C., was not so different from many Presbyterian churches ― founded 80 years ago, it swelled to more than 500 members in the 1950s, then over the years began a slow steady decline that by 2010 left the church with just 35 members. And yet, Pastor Allen Permar Smith told the Moderator’s Colloquium on Ecclesiology April 23 at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary (APTS), “Kenilworth Presbyterian Church believed it could have a profound impact in the community and the world. In short, the members still believed they could ‘do church.’”

With the help of pagans, Jains and people of a range of other faiths, the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions has raised more than $144,000 in two weeks using a crowdsourcing campaign in a desperate bid to survive a financial crisis.

“Some of us have been looking forward to this day for years,” the Rev. Dr. Rhashell D. Hunter told those gathered for the opening session of the African American Mentoring Event on April 21. “To identify and equip African American women and men who might serve in the future as heads of staff or in executive leadership has long been a dream for many of us.”

Feasting on the Word Curriculum: Teaching the Revised Common Lectionary — a groundbreaking, lectionary-based curriculum that’s centered on the popular Feasting on the Word commentary series — is adding valuable new features to its curriculum line for churches this fall. 

Presbyterians in the United States and Korea have a long history of shared mission as followers of Jesus Christ. Leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Presbyterian Church of Korea gathered from April 17 – 19, 2013 to pray and think together about future directions our shared mission might take.

The mission consultation occurred at a time of increased tension on the Korean Peninsula. Out of a shared faith and concern, the gathered group wrote a joint statement on the peace of the Korean Peninsula.

In their hunger for the spiritual nourishment provided in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, Christians often miss an equally important element of the ritual ― its call to discipleship, the Rev. Marney Wasserman told the Moderator’s Colloquium on Ecclesiology Tuesday (April 23) at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary (APTS).

A group of about 70 Presbyterians let the world know: the faithful will be active participants in efforts to end violence against women. The inter-generational group took part in the annual session of the Commission for the Status of Women (CSW) held in March at the United Nations.

“It’s very important that there is a spiritual voice for women,” Annanda Barclay, who was part of the delegation of Presbyterians, said. “I think all too often – especially in our national arena – that spiritual, faithful voice gets lost or drowned out. It doesn’t get heard as loud as opposing views.” 

“Even as we face enormous challenges as a denomination — where our first response might be to restructure our structures or rewrite our bylaws — these structural things are the last thing we need to do,” Presa told the opening session of the Moderator’s Colloquium on Ecclesiology, scheduled from April 23-25 at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary (APTS), a sponsor of the event. “What we need is to first consider Christ’s durable and enduring call of what the church is to be and to do.”