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☆ In the American Church, the Pope Has Critics Among Leaders and Laypeople
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Ruth Graham | More About Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Pope Francis’s relationship with the conservative wing of the American Catholic church was already on shaky ground when reports surfaced this week of his plan to evict one of his most prominent critics from a Vatican-subsidized apartment in Rome. Cardinal Raymond Burke, who led dioceses in St. Louis and Wisconsin before moving to Rome, is a lion of the faith among conservative Catholics who see him a defender of tradition and orthodoxy in a dangerously unmoored church. The move comes just weeks after Francis fired another outspoken critic, Bishop Joseph Strickland, who was removed from his post in Tyler, Texas, following a Vatican investigation into his leadership. Both decisions prompted a public outcry from conservative church leaders, making it clear that restoring unity in the divided American Church will take more than swatting down a few high-profile clerics. The pope’s increasingly open pushback against theological and liturgical conservatives in the church has nurtured a deep wariness of his leadership among conservatives in the church, who exist at all levels of Catholic life in America.

Persons: Pope, Cardinal Raymond Burke, Francis, Bishop Joseph Strickland Organizations: American Catholic Locations: Rome, St, Louis and Wisconsin, Tyler , Texas, America

Almost as soon as Pope Francis became the head of the Roman Catholic church in 2013, Raymond Burke, an American cardinal, emerged as his leading critic from within the church, becoming a de facto antipope for frustrated traditionalists who believed Francis was diluting doctrine. Francis frequently demoted and stripped the American cleric of influence, but this month, the pope apparently finally had enough, according to one high-ranking Vatican official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Francis told a meeting of high-ranking Vatican officials that he intended to throw the cardinal out of his Vatican-subsidized apartment and deprive him of his salary as a retired cardinal. The newspaper’s report comes only weeks after Francis removed another vocal conservative critic, Joseph Strickland, the bishop of Tyler, Texas, after a Vatican investigation into the governance of his diocese. “If this is accurate, it is an atrocity that must be opposed,” Bishop Strickland said in a post on the social media platform X on Monday.

Persons: Pope Francis, Raymond Burke, Francis, Cardinal Burke, Francis ., Joseph Strickland, ” Bishop Strickland, ” Organizations: Roman Catholic, Vatican Locations: Italian, Tyler , Texas, “

Pope Francis, who has made reaching out to L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics a hallmark of his papacy, has made clear that transgender people can be baptized, serve as godparents and be witnesses at church weddings, furthering his vision of a more inclusive church. The pope’s embrace of transgender people’s participation in the church was revealed in a Vatican document that he approved on Oct. 31 and that was posted online Wednesday. The decision “signals Pope Francis’ desire for a pastorally focused approach to L.G.B.T.Q.+ issues is taking hold,” he added. The immediate public response from American bishops, who have taken more restrictive stances on transgender issues, was generally muted.

Persons: Pope Francis, ” Francis DeBernardo, Pope Francis ’, ” Organizations: Roman Catholic Church, New Ways Ministry, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Locations: Maryland

☆ Southern Baptist Leaders Quietly Seek Shield From Abuse Suits
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Ruth Graham | More About Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For six months, almost no one took notice of the brief filed quietly by Southern Baptists in a case winding its way to the Kentucky Supreme Court. The woman later sued several parties, including the Louisville Police Department, saying they knew about the abuse and had a duty to report it. None of it appeared to have anything to do with the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. The brief, reported by The Louisville Courier-Journal in October, landed like a bombshell in Southern Baptist circles. The brief, abuse survivors and those critical of the church say, offers the first clear look at the church’s true position on whether its leaders can be held accountable for abuse.

Persons: “, ” Organizations: Southern Baptists, Kentucky Supreme, Louisville Police Department, Southern Baptist Convention, The Louisville Courier, Southern Baptist Locations: Kentucky, Southern

☆ ‘Like Winning the Lottery’: Mike Johnson’s Ascent Excites Conservative Christians
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-05 | by ( Ruth Graham | More About Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, a little-known congressman named Mike Johnson took the stage at Christian Center Shreveport to celebrate. “This is a day we’ve been waiting on for a half-century,” he told the ebullient congregation, adding that there was no place he would rather be than with them. He beamed as he read portions of Louisiana’s new law punishing abortion providers with a minimum of one year in prison and a fine of at least $10,000. He closed with a prayer that cited scripture and Ronald Reagan. Mr. Johnson’s sudden ascent last month to speaker of the House, second in line to the presidency, was a surprising turn in a career built quietly in courtrooms, as a lawyer representing socially conservative causes, and through the Louisiana Statehouse and the House of Representatives, to which he was elected in 2017.

Persons: Roe, Wade, Mike Johnson, ”, “, Ronald Reagan Organizations: Christian Center, Louisiana Statehouse, Representatives Locations: Christian Center Shreveport

In the moments before he was to face a vote on becoming speaker of the House this week, Representative Mike Johnson posted a photograph on social media of the inscription carved into marble atop the chamber’s rostrum: “In God We Trust.”His colleagues celebrated his candidacy by circulating an image of him on bended knee praying for divine guidance with other lawmakers on the House floor. And in his first speech from the chamber as speaker, Mr. Johnson cast his ascendance to the position second in line to the presidency in religious terms, saying, “I believe God has ordained and allowed each one of us to be brought here for this specific moment.”Mr. Johnson, a mild-mannered conservative Republican from Louisiana whose elevation to the speakership on Wednesday followed weeks of chaos, is known for placing his evangelical Christianity at the center of his political life and policy positions. Now, as the most powerful Republican in Washington, he is in a position to inject it squarely into the national political discourse, where he has argued for years that it belongs.

Persons: Mike Johnson, ”, Johnson, “, Mr Organizations: Republican Locations: Louisiana, Washington

☆ Five Years After Pittsburgh Synagogue Attack, Recovery Mixes With Fresh Grief
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Ruth Graham | More About Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

It has been five years since a gunman stormed into the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 worshipers and wounding six others in the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history. One of the three congregations that met at Tree of Life hired its first rabbi. Weeks after more than 1,400 people were killed in a Hamas terror attack in southern Israel, many American Jews have felt their sense of safety shattered. Muslim organizations raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for victims in the weeks after the attack; Catholic parishes organized special collections. “There was this true sense, especially as American Jews, that we belong.”The last few weeks have been profoundly disorienting, Mr. Bernstein said.

Persons: Weeks, ”, Michael Bernstein, Bernstein, Bernstein’s, Jeffrey Myers, “, I’ve Organizations: Fox News Locations: Pittsburgh, Israel, Gaza, United States

The Synod on Synodality, the sprawling meeting in Rome, has become a flashpoint among different factions of the church’s leadership. Attendees have a broad mandate to discuss the future of the church, including ordaining women as deacons and outreach to L.G.B.T.Q. Relatively progressive leaders, including those appointed by Pope Francis, see the synod as a hopeful moment that could lead to much-needed changes. Cardinal Blaise J. Cupich of Chicago, a close ally of Pope Francis, is among the 14 American bishops attending the meeting. But in a moment when the American church is especially polarized at the top, the synod is also laying bare the divide in the pews, and the scale of the challenge facing the pope.

Persons: Buś, Stan’s, Pope Francis, Cardinal Blaise J, Cupich Locations: St, Synodality, Rome, Chicago

In the hills north of Kansas City, Mo., a small abbey has become a destination for Catholics hoping to see a miracle. Sept. 9, 2023In life, Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster was known to her fellow nuns for her devotional poetry, her sense of humor and her fierce piety. “I’m Sister Wil-hel-mina,” she was known to say. When they opened the coffin, expecting to find bones that could be easily cleaned and placed in a new box, they instead found what looked and even felt remarkably like Sister Wilhelmina herself. Her face was recognizable, even after years in a damp coffin, and the sisters said that her beloved habit was “immaculate.”

Persons: Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, “, Wil, ”, Sister Wilhelmina, Ephesus, Mary , Queen, Wilhelmina Organizations: Benedictines, Kansas City . Locations: Kansas City, Mo, hel, mina, Kansas

☆ Pope’s Remarks on ‘Reactionary’ U.S. Catholics Rankle, and Resonate
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Ruth Graham | More About Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Pope Francis spoke of “a very strong, organized, reactionary attitude” that opposes him within the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and, in comments that became public this week, warned against letting “ideologies replace faith,” some American Catholics recognized their church immediately. “He is 100 percent right,” said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and commentator who is considered an ally of Francis. The opposition to Francis within the American church now, he said, “far outstrips the fierceness of the opposition to Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict,” the two previous popes. When Father Martin visits Rome these days, he said, the first question many people there ask him is, “What is going on in the U.S.?”It’s essentially the same question that prompted the pope’s sharply critical remarks, which were made impromptu last month and published this week by the Vatican-approved Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica.

Persons: Pope Francis, ”, James Martin, Francis, Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict, Father Martin, It’s Organizations: Roman Catholic Church, Jesuit, Vatican Locations: United States, Rome, U.S, Cattolica

ROME — Pope Francis has expressed in unusually sharp terms his dismay at “a very strong, organized, reactionary attitude” opposing him within the U.S. Roman Catholic Church, one that fixates on social issues like abortion and sexuality to the exclusion of caring for the poor and the environment. The pope lamented the “backwardness” of some American conservatives who he said insist on a narrow, outdated and unchanging vision. They refuse, he said, to accept the full breadth of the Church’s mission and the need for changes in doctrine over time. “I would like to remind these people that backwardness is useless,” Francis, 86, told a group of fellow Jesuits early this month in a meeting at World Youth Day celebrations in Lisbon. In other words, ideologies replace faith.”His words became public this week, when a transcript of the conversation was published by the Vatican-vetted Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica.

Persons: ROME — Pope Francis, “, ” Francis, ” Organizations: . Roman Catholic Church, Vatican Locations: Lisbon, “, Cattolica

The week after devastating wildfires swept across Maui, Hōkūlani Holt walked to the center of a grassy courtyard about 12 miles from Lahaina, just over the island’s steep mountains. A kumu hula, or hula teacher, Ms. Holt gathered about 50 listeners into a half-circle, and exhorted them to “lift your voice.” They each held a cup of water, a connection between the body, soul and ʻāina, Hawaiians’ expansive idea of the land. Several men and women blew hollowed-out bamboo pipes called pū ʻohe, producing a deep, trumpetlike sound. Then, led by Ms. Holt’s voice, the group began to chant. After the country’s deadliest fire in more than a century — at least 115 people have been confirmed dead, with hundreds still missing — practical recovery responses were clicking into place: food distribution, debris cleanup, a visit from the president.

Persons: Hōkūlani Holt, Holt, ”, Holt’s Locations: Maui, Lahaina

☆ Southern Baptist Convention Leader Resigns Over False Résumé
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Ruth Graham | More About Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

is the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and serves as a bellwether for priorities among American evangelicals. The executive committee, which has more than 80 members, conducts business for the denomination between its annual meetings. His ascension even as an interim leader was touted as a historic milestone for the 178-year-old denomination, which was founded as a defender of slavery. Mr. McLaurin is the committee’s third leader in a row to step down in tumultuous circumstances. At a meeting in Dallas this spring, the executive committee rejected its own search committee’s recommendation for the next leader, assembling a new search committee whose work is ongoing.

Persons: McLaurin, Ronnie Floyd, Frank Page, ”, “ It’s, Lord Jesus Christ, McLaurin’s, Robertson, committee’s Organizations: Southern Locations: Dallas, Nashville

☆ Vivek Ramaswamy Leans Into His Hindu Faith to Court Christian Voters
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-09 | by ( Ruth Graham | More About Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Smith was intrigued. He liked the way Mr. Ramaswamy “stands up against the wokeness” and his plan to send the military to the southern border to combat drug cartels. He respected Mr. Ramaswamy’s acumen as a businessman worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Then Mr. Smith, 25, searched for Mr. Ramaswamy’s faith. Mr. Smith is an evangelical Christian who recently started a small church that meets at his parents’ house.

Persons: Bristol Smith, Vivek Ramaswamy’s, Ramaswamy, Smith, Ramaswamy “, Christian, ’, “, ”, Trump’s, Mr Organizations: Christian, Republican Locations: Maryville, Tenn

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