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Articles by Peter SMith
Famed radio, TV priest Fulton Sheen is beatified
ST. LOUIS—As tens of thousands of Catholic worshippers stood Thursday in a football stadium-turned-temporary cathedral, all eyes focused on a teenage boy walking solemnly toward the makeshift altar, accompanied by his parents and siblings. James Fulton Engstrom carried an ornate vessel containing the relics of his namesake, the man whom the Catholic Church credits with his miraculous survival as a newborn—Archbishop Fulton Sheen, who died in 1979.
US Catholic bishops consecrate nation to the Sacred Heart
ORLANDO—The nation’s Catholic bishops gathered Thursday afternoon in Orlando for a liturgy consecrating the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, drawing on a centuries-old devotion to mark the country’s 250th anniversary. Organ, brass and choral singing thundered inside a modern Orlando shrine during the service, a centerpiece of the spring assembly of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
US Catholic bishops consecrate nation to the Sacred Heart
ORLANDO (AP) — The nation's Catholic bishops gathered Thursday afternoon in Orlando for a liturgy consecrating the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, drawing on a centuries-old devotion to mark the country's 250th anniversary. Organ, brass and choral singing thundered inside a modern Orlando shrine during the service, a centerpiece of the spring assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
'America's Notre Dame' gets rehab, gargoyles and all
COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Gargoyles have watched over this small Kentucky city for more than a century from their lofty perches on a cathedral known as "America's Notre Dame." A new renovation will ensure they keep their posts for years to come on the meticulously restored facade of the towering stone sanctuary. Workers in recent weeks have been installing new terra cotta gargoyles as one of the final steps of a major, two-year restoration of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption.
Council of Nicaea's legacy continues 1700 years later
Centuries of church schisms show that if there's a doctrine to be fought over, there's a good chance Christians will fight about it. That repeated splintering is what makes the Council of Nicaea — a meeting of bishops 1,700 years ago in present-day Turkey — so significant today. And why Pope Leo XIV is traveling on Nov. 28 to the site of this foundational moment in Christian unity as part of his first major foreign trip as pope.
Southern Baptists target porn, sports betting, same-sex marriage and 'willful childlessness'
Remnants of the epic showdown in Dallas 40 years ago Southern Baptists will be meeting on the 40th anniversary of another Dallas annual meeting. An epic showdown took place when a record-shattering 45,000 church representatives clashed in what became a decisive blow in the takeover of the convention — and its seminaries and other agencies — by a more conservative faction that was also aligned with the growing Christian conservative movement in presidential politics.
Church works to preserve murals reflecting faith, social commentary
MILLVALE, Pa. (AP) — When the scaffolding came down inside the unassuming hilltop church near Pittsburgh, it revealed a raging storm of biblical proportions. A wide-eyed Moses holds the Ten Commandments aloft in righteous fury, ready to shatter the tablets when his followers abandon God for a golden calf. Lightning sizzles and a tornado surges in the background. The late artist Maxo Vanka created the mural in 1941, based on a scene from the Book of Exodus.
Churches try new ideas as they face declines in members, money
When the Episcopal Church recently announced cuts to its national staff, it was the latest in a long-running cycle among historic U.S. Protestant denominations — declines in members leading to declines in funding and thus in staff. And it wasn't alone. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) also announced recent cuts to staff at its headquarters and in its global missions program.
Who are the Mennonites in a Texas community where measles is spreading?
The Mennonite population being affected by a measles outbreak in West Texas is part of a larger, loosely affiliated group of churches worldwide with varied beliefs and leadership structures — and with sometimes strained or distant relations with health officials and other public authorities. Who are the Mennonites? Mennonites are part of the wider Anabaptist family of churches, which emerged in 1525 as the radical wing of the Protestant Reformation in Central Europe.
Scholar's church closes its doors
They gathered one last time Sunday — the handful of mostly elderly members of First Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon, Ill. The members, joined by well-wishers, said the Lord's Prayer, recited the Apostle's Creed and heard a biblical passage typically used at funerals, "To everything there is a season ...
Why US Catholics are planning pilgrimages in communities across the nation
The Most Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, archbishop of Hartford, walks in a procession during a Pentecost Vigil at Blessed Michael McGivney Parish in St. Mary's Church, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in New Haven, Conn. The Eucharistic Procession from St. Mary's Church is one of four pilgrimage routes crossing the country and converging at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis on July 16.
DEEPA BHARATH and PETER SMITH, Associated Press June 13, 2022Updated: June 13, 2022 6:03 p.m. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 1of5Willie McLaurin, interim president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, speaks during the Southern Baptist Convention in Anaheim, Calif., on Monday, June 13, 2022.
By the thousands, Americans have been seeking religious exemptions in order to circumvent COVID-19 vaccine mandates, but generally they are doing so without the encouragement of major denominations and prominent religious leaders. From the Vatican, Pope Francis has defended the vaccines as “the most reasonable solution to the pandemic.” The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America declared categorically that its followers would not be offered religious exemptions.
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