Religion

> To suffer lovingly is to suffer no longer. To flee from the cross is to be crushed beneath its weight. From Bartholomew O'Brien's little book: The Cure of Ars, Patron Saint of Parish Priests.

Statistics show that Protestant clergy are more likely to commit sexual sins than their Catholic counterparts, but they don't often make the news. Probably because the Protestant misconduct doesn't often involve teenage boys, but at times, the other side of the Tiber makes the news: >

This sounds like a bad novel: > More than two-dozen Hasidic men are in a holy mess after allegedly breaking into a Brooklyn synagogue, apparently as part of an ongoing power struggle among warring Satmar sects. > Cops arrested 26 men who allegedly celebrated a holy day Tuesday by

> The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland covered up the sexual abuse of young people by priests over several decades in one diocese, a state probe concluded. > A 270-page report published on Tuesday details the Church's handling of 100 allegations of abuse against 21 priests dating

How does that song go? "Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me. Give me publicity, I'll get my face on T.V." > A Japanese woman buried herself in an underground pit in India for three days to try to create

It beats rock music and hug fests and gyrations in the pews: > Father Peter MacLeod-Miller, 43, keeps a donkey, lambs, goats and alpacas in a paddock at his rectory and takes them to the church in Barrow. > Australian-born Father MacLeod-Miller said: "Animals are central

> Despite Vatican teachings that allowing homosexuals to adopt children is ''gravely immoral," the social services agency of the Archdiocese of Boston has allowed 13 foster children [out of 720] to be adopted by same-sex couples in the past two decades, saying state regulations prohibit the

The new pagan god of recreation versus the old pagan gods of the Indians. Based on what I read in this article, I'm hoping the old fellas win. NYT Link [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/national/23peaks.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1130066538-35KAJWtHCco/JM2vJfEGgQ] . Excerpt:

And we think we have it tough dealing with Ted Kennedy: > Coptic Christians, who make up about 5-10% of Egypt's people, are not hiding in a corner and hoping the violent Islamists who threaten society there will, Inshallah, go away. Instead, last year their pope protested

Just wishful thinking on the part of southern evangelicals? Or perhaps they were trying to prop up Miers as much as possible, and in some of their circles, there is no higher praise. > Harriet Miers was not raised as a Catholic. > Catholic Church records and the White House