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By DANIEL BURKE c. 2011 Religion News Service (RNS) If she had listened to her parents, Sister Jenn Graus might never have professed vows last month to join the Congregation of St. Joseph. Though lifelong Catholics, Graus’ parents had met few nuns or sisters near their home in Sterling Heights, Mich., and assumed most were…

WASHIGNTON (RNS) The architect of the Obama administration’s new consumer protection bureau met with faith-based groups Tuesday (Feb. 8) in a bid to shape the agency’s work as a moral crusade. “The most recent financial crisis caused many to question the moral underpinnings of our financial dealings with each other,” Elizabeth Warren, a former Harvard…

TORONTO (RNS/ENInews) Decrying the “sex-saturated world of contemporary Western culture,” Canada’s Roman Catholic bishops are urging church members — married and single — to live chastely. In an eight-page pastoral letter released last month, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops urged young Canadians to dress modestly, to choose uplifting entertainment and to seek the Sacrament…

By ADELLE M. BANKS c. 2011 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) President Obama has named top U.S. church leaders to an advisory council on faith-based programs, but the list of appointments is also drawing questions about a lack of diversity from minority faiths. The 12 names released late Friday (Feb. 4) include top officials of…

By OMAR SACIRBEY c. 2011 Religion News Service (RNS) Is the jazz standard “Baby It’s Cold Outside” a heart-warming ode to winter romance or the worst example of American hedonism? After hearing the song at a Colorado church dance in the 1940s, Egyptian exchange student Sayyid Qutb viewed the song as a moral indictment of…

(RNS) The proposed Park51 Islamic community center and mosque project near Ground Zero is again looking for a top imam after Sheik Abdallah Adhami resigned the post less than one month into the job. Adhami, 44, said in a statement he was leaving to devote more time to writing his book, “which assists English readers…

(RNS) The Catholic bishops of Ohio are calling on Gov. John Kasich and state lawmakers to abolish the state’s death penalty. The bishops said they concur with recent comments by Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, who charged the state’s capital punishment law is discriminatory and applied unevenly and should be replaced with a penalty…

LONDON (RNS) The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, worried about the growing influence of Harry Potter and his team of young wizards, has published a guide aimed at helping teenagers deal with 21st century witchcraft. The British church’s publishing arm, the Catholic Truth Society, said its booklet, “Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Dangers,”…

By STEPHANIE BARRY c. 2011 Religion News Service SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) A defendant accused in a racially motivated arson on Thursday (Feb. 3) took the witness stand and told a federal judge he had no role in the 2008 blaze that razed a predominantly black church hours after President Obama was elected. Michael F. Jacques…

By ADELLE M. BANKS c. 2011 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) President Obama spoke at length on Thursday (Feb. 3) about the daily contours of his Christian faith, brushing off the skeptics who question the authenticity of his beliefs. “My Christian faith … has been a sustaining force for me over these last few years,…
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