Mid-City Christian

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Founder of Promise Keepers, dead at 84

Five things we learn about Pope Francis from his new memoir
NPR: Pope Francis’ autobiography, “Hope,” reached bookstores in more than 80 countries on Tuesday (January 14), an uncommon move for a sitting pope as papal memoirs are typically published posthumously.
CNN: Pope Francis tells in memoir how documents on abuse and corruption cases were handed to him

Bill McCartney, legendary football coach who founded Promise Keepers, dead at 84
Religion News Service: A religious conversion in his 30s helped inspire McCartney to found Promise Keepers, which drew millions of men to events in the early 1990s.

Why some doctors have started asking patients about their spiritual lives
NPR: In an effort to treat patients holistically, a unique program within the Indiana University Health system pairs patients with members of local faith groups who spend time with patients over a 12-week period.

Texas Supreme Court to decide legal battle over El Paso migrant shelter’s future
National Catholic Reporter: Texas Supreme Court justices on Monday heard oral arguments in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s effort to shut down an El Paso migrant shelter network he has accused of violating state law by helping undocumented migrants, one of several targeted attacks on organizations that work with immigrants.

Prominent Filipino pastor accused of false teaching*
Christianity Today: Ed Lapiz, who popularized a more accessible preaching style and is known for indigenizing or “Filipinizing” Christianity, is courting controversy by rejecting the God of the Old Testament.

Monday, January 13, 2025

Southern California wildfires destroy or damage many houses of worship

They lost their Altadena church in the Eaton fire. They still gathered to worship*
The Los Angeles Times: The Eaton fire reduced the 78-year-old Spanish Colonial Revival sanctuary to ash. And it took the homes of at least 15 members of the small, aging United Church of Christ congregation.
NPR: Southern California wildfires destroy or damage many houses of worship

Some US lawmakers want more Christianity in the classroom. Trump could embolden their plans
The Associated Press: Conservative lawmakers across the U.S. are pushing to introduce more Christianity to public school classrooms, testing the separation of church and state by inserting Bible references into reading lessons and requiring teachers to post the Ten Commandments.

On a mission from God: Inside the movement to redirect billions of taxpayer dollars to private religious schools
ProPublica: Rarely seen letters show how the voucher movement started in the 1990s as a concealed effort to finance urban parochial schools and expanded to a much broader push.

‘God is still on the throne’ and other post-election platitudes
Sojourners: Pastors and Christian leaders who respond with cliches like “God is still on the throne” are often well-meaning but those responses are theologically unsound.

India kicks off a massive Hindu festival touted as the world’s largest religious gathering
The Associated Press: Over about the next six weeks, Hindu pilgrims will gather at the confluence of three sacred rivers — the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati — where they will take part in elaborate rituals, hoping to begin a journey to achieve Hindu philosophy’s ultimate goal: the release from the cycle of rebirth.

The baptism of Jesus explained by the Pope with “face and voice”

ZENIT Staff

Allocution on the occasion of the recitation of the Angelus on Sunday, January 12, 2025

“Begin again»: Pope Francis inaugurates extraordinary general audiences on Saturdays on the occasion of the Jubilee

ZENIT Staff

Extraordinary General Audience on Saturdays on the occasion of the Jubilee, January 11, 2025 on Begin again

Pope Francis Intervenes in Two of the Most Vocationally Flourishing Congregations: The Incarnate Word and the Women’s Branch

ZENIT Staff

Monsignor José Antonio Satué Huerto, Bishop of Teruel and Albarracín, has been designated Papal Legate for the Incarnate Word Institute, whereas Sister Clara Echarte will be the Papal Legate for the Handmaids of the Lord and of the Virgin of Matará, the women’s Institute of this same Religious Family. Both Communities, of diocesan right, have roots in the diocese of San Rafael, Argentina. Currently they operate from their main quarters in Valletri-Segni, Italy.

USA: “9 Days for Life” Unites Hundreds of Thousands in Prayer for the Protection of Life

ZENIT Staff

In the Catholic Church, a ‘novena’ consists of prayers over nine successive days, and this particular novena is an opportunity for prayer and penance in observance of the annual Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children on January 22.

Vocations grow in Burkina Faso despite terrorism

ZENIT Staff

Almost 40% of the young men at the inter-diocesan philosophy seminary come from dioceses in the “red zone” which are badly affected by terrorism. Despite all the difficulties, the number of seminarians in the country continues to grow. Just at St Peter and St Paul, the number of seminarians has increased from 254 in the 2019-2020 academic year – when terrorism began to affect the Church in Burkina Faso – to 281 for 2024-2025.

Brazilian Nun Becomes World’s Oldest Person, Embraces Life of Prayer and Quiet Devotion

Enrique Villegas

Born on June 8, 1908, in São Francisco de Assis, Brazil, Sister Inah’s early years were anything but promising. Doctors believed she wouldn’t survive infancy due to her frail health. However, defying all odds, she has lived through two world wars, the advent of electricity in her hometown, and the rise of modern Brazil

Cardinal Timothy Dolan to Open President Trump’s Inauguration with Prayer

Tim Daniels

Dolan’s role underscores the spiritual underpinnings of an inauguration often framed as a secular ceremony. “Faith is a gift—it’s God’s initiative, not ours,” Dolan said. “It’s not our energy that drives it; we simply must accept and cooperate.”

Sodalitium of Christian Life Begins Its General Assembly: To Press On with Its Process of Renewal with the Intervention of the Holy See

ZENIT Staff

Among the most relevant points on the agenda are the election of a new Superior General and his Council for the 2025-2030 period. Revisited, likewise, is the Community’s current state and the “text of revision and modifications of the Constitutions,” which will be presented for its approval.

9 practices to avoid when fighting the devil

Exorcists: 9 practices to avoid when fighting the devil

An association of exorcists issued a warning Jan. 6 to “offer necessary clarifications to be able to act well in providing divine mercy through the ministry of exorcism.”

Pope Francis: Baptism a ‘new birthday,’ faith the ‘greatest gift’ for children

“Today, each of you parents and the Church herself give the greatest, greatest gift: the gift of faith to children,” Pope Francis told families.

Syria’s Christians voice relief, seek further security guarantees after political shift

Christians in Syria continue to seek more concrete guarantees, although opinions differ on what form these guarantees should take.