ENI for the latest news about churches and religion.
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, told the bishops' biennial assembly on 1 February that the widening of the gap between rich and poor is "a matter of serious concern for the church."
Posted on 2 February 2012 @ 12:00 am
Roman Catholic bishops in Malawi have endorsed a government move to allow men to get circumcised in hospitals as a prevention measure aimed at HIV/AIDS.
Posted on 1 February 2012 @ 12:00 am
A group of theologically conservative American Christian leaders is joining with animal rights defenders to advocate against cockfighting, calling the practice of watching and betting on roosters who fight to the death antithetical to biblical values.
Posted on 31 January 2012 @ 12:00 am
It is harvest time for strawberries in the northern Philippine town of La Trinidad, so strawberry farmer Alice Rivera will start repaying a loan extended by a Geneva-based ecumenical church loan fund.
Posted on 30 January 2012 @ 12:00 am
posted on January 30, 2012 in Columns, The Messy Table
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Lent begins on February 22nd this year – close enough that we might start thinking about it and far enough away that planning is still possible. Last year, I gave you a list of Lent readings and an idea, but this year the plot is a little more straight forward.
posted on January 23, 2012 in Columns, The Messy Table
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Society is really good at making us worry. And stressed and depressed and all-over anxious. And, of course, by society I mean all of us. Psalm 111 works against all that. The Psalmist takes you by the shoulders and shakes until you wake up sane.
posted on January 16, 2012 in Columns, The Messy Table
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Sometimes lectionary floors me. The juxtaposition of passages can be brilliant or bizarre – and when I saw what was slotted for this coming week, I had to laugh. From poor old post-whale Jonah to fishers of men…
posted on January 9, 2012 in Miscellaneous, The Messy Table
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I’ve been getting a lot of donations recently from the congregation – crafty things for the Sunday School. Each Sunday, I seem to come home with more plastic bags of squishy things to be sorted through.
posted on January 2, 2012 in Columns, The Messy Table
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Ten years ago, the Spouse surprised me with a ring. New Year’s Eve, the night of high romance and optimism, and we were already engaged.
posted on December 26, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table
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The space above our table is perfect for our advent calendar. I mentioned earlier that we might make one, and this is what we came up with.
posted on December 19, 2011 in Columns, Miscellaneous, The Messy Table
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This past week, I was hit by love three times.
The first happened when I was at the school near our church. I was popping in for a visit, after setting up some crafts at the church, and I had my huge messenger bag over my shoulder. I have a collection of buttons pinned there, and one of them is a drawing of an anatomical heart.
posted on December 12, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table
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The gate in the garden keeps crashing open and slamming shut. Leaves are blowing up the street at full throttle , and then come swirling back the other way again. The wind is fierce and fickle.
posted on December 5, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table
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Thinking about performance, I came across Marni Kotak. She is a performance artist who tackles questions about the lines between life and art.
Late in October, in an art gallery in Brooklyn, she gave birth.
posted on November 28, 2011 in The Messy Table
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Advent begins. And together we wait.
Which sounds a bit tedious and pious, and anyways, it doesn’t always feel like waiting, does it? It can feel like the mad dash through an overly-full season ending with the too much of everything experience of Christmas.
But, in church, we try to slow it down a bit. Make Christmas something we can wait for. It makes sense to wait for a birthing story. Usually, that’s how these stories are lived.
posted on November 21, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table
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Yesterday was Stir Up Sunday. Also known around Presbyterian circles as goodness-is-Advent-really-next-week-Sunday. But for our Anglican neighbours, it’s about pudding.
More or less.
posted on November 14, 2011 in The Messy Table
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We climbed a hill on Saturday. It felt good to stretch the legs. There was no great need to climb it, no real goal in doing so. But we had a Saturday morning, and there was a hill nearby. A new friend mentioned recently that she had climbed it with her husband and new baby. She said that the city looked beautiful from the top, so it seemed like a good idea. My kids like to climb hills. And so do I. So we did.
posted on November 7, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table
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Will Braun has recently written an opinion piece called Sunday is not a Day for School for Canadian Mennonite. He is a Winnipeg writer and used to work as editor of Geez Magazine. He often writes about faith and culture from a refreshing and sometimes confronting angle.
posted on October 31, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table
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Blue is building something. It might be the Eiffel Tower. It often is.
We are in the living room together, Beangirl and the Spouse have gone off to school, and we have the day before us. Of course, it’s Halloween – so costume ideas are a bit occupying. At breakfast, Blue was feeling inspired.
I’m going to be a witch. No, I’m going to be Mary. No, I’m going to be a pumpkin. No, I’m going to be a jack-o’-lantern!
Not sure what I did that my son wants to dress up as the mother of our Lord.
But it would be an awfully sweet costume.
posted on October 24, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table
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Midway through visitor month chez nous and feeling very blessed with all the people coming through my house. I do like full tables. It’s so hard to have a full table and not do dessert. A few nights ago, it was an apple and walnut cake, slathered in treacle frosting and topped with golden candles for our visiting six year old and for my Blue. My soon-to-be three-year-old Blue.
posted on October 17, 2011 in Columns, Miscellaneous, The Messy Table
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Morning comes, and bedwarm cuddles for all. Then breakfast and the happy rush of places to go. I take Beangirl off to school and on the way, she runs to catch up with the boy down the street so that they can giggle their way to class together. Blue and his Daddy march off to campus together, where nursery waits with finger-paints, and a library then for the Spouse.
posted on October 10, 2011 in Columns, Miscellaneous, The Messy Table
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October is visitors’ month in our new home. It’s happily inevitable when you move to a new place. Though, come to think of it, our summer was pretty full of visitors, too. And we rationalized that as being happily inevitable when you are moving away from an interesting place. Either way, I’m happy because it means that there will be more people around my table. That’s the stuff of thanksgiving for me.
posted on October 3, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table
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My key ring’s getting a bit bashed up. I bought it six years ago, when I had just completed the Camino de Santiago. As you can see, the yellow paint is chipping away. I liked the key ring a lot then – I’d just spent a month walking across Spain, following spray-painted yellow arrows all the way. They are there to keep the pilgrims on track. And, for the most part, they work.
posted on September 26, 2011 in Columns, Miscellaneous, The Messy Table
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Lately, I’ve been trying to follow some advice Eugene Peterson gave about giving the Sabbath a proper centrality for the week. He said to break your week into three tasks: anticipating, celebrating, and remembering.
posted on September 19, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table
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I couldn’t resist. Yes, the book titles were memorable enough on their own, but put them together and you get something all together inspirational. Somewhere between Agatha Christies and Wonderwoman takes on the government. Sometimes that’s just the inspiration I need.
