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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: clergy

clergy stories: 15 news summaries

Lutheran
Branch Allows 'Monogamous' Gays as Clergy

Branch is US' largest, with 4.8M members

Aug 21, 09 7:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - The largest US Lutheran denomination will allow gays in “life-long, monogamous” relationships to serve in clergy and other leadership positions, the Washington Post reports. Delegates at the convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America approved the measure 559-451; the denomination, which has 4.8 million US members, previously... More »

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gay priests • clergy • homosexual clergy • Lutheran Church • Evangelical Lutheran Church in America • monogamy

Episcopal Church Lifts
Ban on Gay Bishops

Deeper rift with conservatives looms

Jul 15, 09 5:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - Leaders of the Episcopal Church voted overwhelmingly yesterday to allow the ordination of gay and lesbian bishops, risking further fissures with conservative parishes and the Anglican Communion. The new policy reverses a 2006 compromise that prohibited the consecration of homosexual clergy, in line with other Anglican churches. Episcopalians will vote... More »

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Episcopal Church • Anglican Church • Gene Robinson • Christian conservatives • Episcopalian • clergy • bishop • homosexual clergy • gay

Episcopal Splinter Group
to Ban Gay, Female Clergy

Ex-Pittsburgh bishop
to lead new church

Jun 22, 09 1:25 AM CDT
(Newser) - Hundreds of former Episcopal parishes are meeting to form the Anglican Church in North America this week, parting ways with their previous church to ban women and gays in the clergy. Robert Duncan, the former bishop of Pittsburgh, is leading the congregation of 300—including 50 bishops—and is expected... More »

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women • Episcopal Church • Anglican • clergy • homosexual clergy • gay • Anglican Church in North America

 Vatican Can 
 Be Sued 
 for Abuse: 
 US Court 

Ruling finds that Vatican can be held responsible for priests' actions

Mar 5, 09 3:35 AM CST
(Newser) - A federal court has ruled that the Vatican hierarchy can be sued for sexual abuse committed by priests, the Los Angeles Times reports. Judges decided that a man—who says he was molested by a priest in the '60s—can proceed with his lawsuit against the Vatican, even though it's... More »

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Catholic Church • Vatican • sexual abuse • lawsuit • priest sex abuse • clergy

Lutheran Panel Backs Gay Unions, 'Married' Gay Clerics

Task force seeks compromise on issue of non-celibate gay clergy

Feb 20, 09 3:27 AM CST
(Newser) - A task force from the nation's largest Lutheran denomination has recommended the church give its blessing to same-sex unions, reports the Los Angeles Times. The panel also recommended that the Evangelic Lutheran Church in America allow gays—currently only permitted to serve as clergy if they are celibate—to serve... More »

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gay marriage • homosexuality • Christians • clergy • homosexual clergy • Lutheran Church • gays • Bill Maher Grid

Pope Names Bishop Who Lauded 'Punishing' Katrina

Hurricane destroyed nightclubs, abortion clinic, notes pleased Austrian

Feb 2, 09 5:32 AM CST
(Newser) - Days after welcoming back to the church a bishop who denies the Holocaust existed, Pope Benedict has sparked controversy again for promoting a controversial Austrian ultra-conservative cleric. Gerhard Maria Wagner claims the Harry Potter series spreads satanism and that Hurricane Katrina was punishment for New Orleans' lax morals. More »

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Harry Potter • Hurricane Katrina • Pope Benedict XVI • Vatican • Catholicism • Tsunami • clergy • bishop • controversy

ANALYSIS

Protestants Hold Inauguration Monopoly

Priests, rabbis have been missing from ceremony for 20 years

Jan 20, 09 7:42 AM CST
(Newser) - Barack Obama's swearing-in will be the sixth straight inauguration where rabbis and Catholic priests will be absent from the dais, reports Time. For decades it was traditional to have Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish representatives at the ceremony, but Billy Graham’s invocation (and benediction) at George Bush’s 1989 inauguration... More »

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Protestants • clergy • inauguration • Rick Warren • rabbi • Catholic priest • President Obama • Inauguration Day

 Critics Rip Pope's 
 'Homophobic' Speech 

Pontiff's call for defense of gender roles seen as stoking homophobia

Dec 24, 08 7:51 AM CST
(Newser) - Gay and Christian groups have slammed Pope Benedict XVI's remarks that defending the “natural order” of man and woman is as important as protecting the rainforests, the Times of London reports. British Catholic leaders have countered that the pontiff didn’t explicitly mention homosexuality in his annual Christmas speech,... More »

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gender • Pope Benedict XVI • homophobia • Catholic Church • homosexuality • Catholicism • gender roles • clergy • gays

Pope Apologizes for 'Evil' Clergy Sex Abuse

Pontiff tells Australia child abusers have damaged the church

Jul 19, 08 6:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI used unusually strong language today in condemning the sexual abuse of children by Australia's Catholic clergy, reports the AP. The pontiff said the clergy's "grave betrayal of trust" had damaged the Catholic church. "I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have... More »

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Pope Benedict XVI • Australia • Catholic Church • child abuse • sexual abuse • clergy abuse scandal • clergy

Pope to Church: Pedophilia Was 'Badly Handled'

He urges bishops to 'foster healing' and work to improve trust

Apr 16, 08 7:53 PM CDT
(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI had strong words for America's Roman Catholic bishops today, asserting that the clerical sexual molestation scandal had been "very badly handled" in many cases, the AP reports. "It is your God-given responsibility as pastors to bind up the wounds caused by every breach of trust,... More »

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Pope Benedict XVI • Catholic Church • religion • child molestation • pedophile • culture • clergy abuse scandal • clergy • Catholics • bishop • Roman Catholicism • Pope Benedict's US visit

$500M Bush Library Deal Expected Today

Southern Methodist University trustees voting on controversial project

Feb 22, 08 2:58 AM CST
(Newser) - Southern Methodist University's trustees are expected to vote today to bring George W. Bush's presidential library to the Texas institution, reports the Dallas Morning News.  The agreement will be "a great day for SMU," said the university's president. But the road to a final agreement at Laura... More »

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Texas • Laura Bush • libraries • clergy • Southern Methodist University • presidential library • George W. Bush

In Shift, Clergy Gives
More Dollars to Dems

Donations favor Obama, Clinton over Huckabee

Dec 22, 07 2:05 PM CST
(Newser) - In a shift from 2004, Republican presidential and congressional hopefuls are losing clergy support as measured by campaign donations, Politico reports. According to FEC data, clergy and religious groups have given Dem candidates $367,000 but the GOP just $288,000. Of the Dem haul, Barack Obama leads with $107,... More »

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religious right • Mitt Romney • Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • Democrats • Republican • religion • Mike Huckabee • campaign contributions • clergy • Election 2008

NY Diocese's Coloring Book Warns of Abuse

Angel tells kids not to be alone with an adult; priest not mentioned

Dec 5, 07 9:06 AM CST
(Newser) - A coloring book handed out by the Catholic Church to kids in New York warns them not to be alone with an adult in a room with the door shut, Newsweek reports. It doesn't specifically name priests as a risk, but it does depict an angel warning an altar boy... More »

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education • Catholic Church • New York • children • clergy abuse scandal • priest • priest sex abuse • clergy

Stacy Told 3 Drew Had Killed Ex

Peterson bragged of getting away with murder

Nov 29, 07 10:04 AM CST
(Newser) - Before her disappearance, Stacy Peterson revealed to three people, including a clergyman, that her husband had bragged of killing his ex-wife and making it look like an accident, a source tells the Chicago Sun-Times. Drew Peterson, now a suspect in his fourth wife’s disappearance, was already living with a... More »

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murder • accident • clergy • Kathleen Savio • Stacy Peterson • Drew Peterson

Anti-Franco Fights Erupt
at Vatican Ceremony

Anger over church role supporting Spanish dictator as it honors clergy

Oct 29, 07 4:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - Old wounds were ripped open and fights erupted yesterday as the Vatican beatified 498 priests and nuns killed in the Spanish Civil War. Scuffles between Catholics and leftists broke out near the Vatican's largest-ever beatification ceremony in St. Peter's Square. The Vatican, which supported dictator Francisco Franco during the war,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Pope Benedict XVI • Catholic Church • Vatican • beatification • Spanish Civil War • clergy • martyrs • Gen Francisco Franco • Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins • Association for History Memory

15 Stories


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