Word: churches
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...Abraham to explore finding faith and God outside of the church? Abraham is such a fascinating figure. Three world religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - all claim him as a patriarch. He was raised in a religious home. And yet he rejected religion in order to pursue a personal relationship with...
...suddenly departing politicians and CEOs, the standard line is to "spend time with family." Now the Catholic Church may have its own version of this unconvincing, stock answer. On Aug. 31, Joseph Martino, the controversial bishop from Scranton, Pa., stunned longtime church watchers by announcing that he was resigning his post because of problems with insomnia and fatigue...
...Catholic leader, who has gained national prominence for his outspoken pro-life advocacy and aggressive criticism of pro-choice Democratic politicians, is still more than a decade away from reaching the church's automatic retirement age of 75. Martino's abrupt resignation, along with the fact that he was not reassigned to another position within the church, has some church insiders suggesting that the highly unusual move was far from voluntary - and quite possibly the work of a Vatican that has been decidedly less openly critical of the Obama Administration. (See pictures of Obama with the Pope in July...
...Whether Martino is leaving willingly or not, his departure means that one very vocal critic of the Administration has lost his bully pulpit. That may come as a relief to some within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) who have become increasingly disturbed by the politicization of some church leaders this year, most notably in protests against President Obama's invitation to speak at Notre Dame and the role of some church officials at Senator Ted Kennedy's funeral service and burial. (Read "After Kennedy's Death: Silence from the Pope...
...During the 2008 campaign, Martino focused particular attention on vice-presidential nominee Joseph Biden, a Scranton native and Catholic Democrat. The bishop declared that Biden would be denied communion if he tried to receive it at any church in the diocese, which covers the northeast quarter of the state - "I will be truly vigilant on this point," said Martino. And he warned his parishioners that there would be dire consequences for supporting Biden and the Democratic ticket. In October, Martino directed that a letter be read at all Sunday masses, charging that a vote for a pro-choice politician...