My daughter and I went to see “Food, Inc.,” this afternoon–it’s playing at the Angelika in downtown Houston. If you are interested in food, where it comes from, and the politics of food production and safety, this is a must see. Have we come far since “The Jungle”? Yes–but in the wrong direction!

A recent AP story notes that there is a severe shortage of chaplains in the National Guard. The shortage is most severe for Catholics (reflective of the shortage of priests generally) and mainline Protestant groups. Minority faiths are also drastically underrepresented: The Army National Guard has just six rabbis and no imams for its 362,000…

A neighboring church hosted a pastors’ brunch this morning with John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio. The purpose was to introduce Hagee’s organization, Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Most of those attending were Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Baptist. I went mainly to get acquainted with my neighbors–I knew going in that my theology goes…

The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix is assuming control of the All Saints’ Newman Center at Arizona State in Tempe, replacing the Dominicans with diocesan clergy. There are a number of links to stories and blogposts on Google (link). Some say the center was “gay friendly,” and that this was the primary issue; others say the…

LeRoy Froom’s magisterial series, Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, is back in print. “Ask and ye shall receive.” I asked. They did it!

Back in 2002, the USCCB Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs issued “Reflections on Covenant and Mission,” which looked at the current state of Jewish-Catholic dialogue. Some controversy ensued, and the document was yanked from the USCCB webpage. Now, that USCCB committee (with new members and staff) and the Committee on Doctrine, have issued “A…

Back in 2002 I demonstrated on this blog that Catholic apologist Robert Sungenis had plagiarized from many notorious antisemitic sources in a diatribe against a Catholic statement of dialogues with Jewish leaders. I combined those blog posts for this article. I have just been sent a link demonstrating that Sungenis is still at it.

Touchstone‘s “Mere Comments” posts an ENI story on hostility to ecumenism recently manifested by some clergy within the Greek Orthodox communion. “The only way our communion with heretics can be restored is if they renounce their fallacy and repent,” the group said in a “Confession of Faith against Ecumenism” that they circulated recently. “The Orthodox…

Report of some ecumenical relations between United Methodists and the ELCA. One bottom line seems to be that doctrine doesn’t matter. Another consistent element is that pastors of one denomination do their own thing even if called to serve a church of another denomination.

Hawaii has become the first state to ban the macabre spectacles of showing plastinated corpses for profit. ABC reports. Score one for morality and decency; may other states follow Hawaii’s lead.

The Vatican’s “apostolic visitation” of the Legion of Christ, founded by Fr. Marcial Maciel (now discredited in many ways), begins this week. Fr. Thomas Berg, a longtime priest of the movement, who recently left, has some insightful comments in an interview with Sandro Magister.

It’s said actions speak louder than words. And yet actions can sometimes be ambiguous without some words of explanation. That was true when Jesus started to wash the feet of his disciples (John 13)—they didn’t know how to take it. And so he explained what he was doing. Pay attention to what the text says…

The New York Times looks at the different approaches toward President Obama of the Vatican and the U. S. Catholic Bishops. Good analysis from Fr. Drew Christensen (who has much experience working in the Middle East): “The pope is trying to engage America’s capacity for good in the world at a time when it’s really…

The ACLU is going after a Virginia jail that censors Bible verses from inmate mail: STAFFORD, Va., July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia today demanded that officials at the Rappahannock Regional Jail immediately end their illegal practice of censoring religious material sent to detainees. In a letter…

Tomorrow is the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. Geneva is hosting a quincentenary conference which has completed it’s fourth day. Some samples (the blogger was clearly typing fast): “Piety in godliness is the result of attendance at public worship, preaching and the sacraments. It is meaningless to speak of righteousness without religion…

The AP says, “Pope orders reform after Holocaust denial flap.” Reuters says, “Pope shakes up office blamed for Holocaust denier.” Even John Allen’s headline says, “Pope removes officials seen as responsible for Holocaust-denying bishop row.” But the discussion at Commonweal suggests that this interpretation is wrong. David Gibson notes, “This was all in the works…

Pope Benedict XVI has issued a new encyclical, Caritas in veritate. Catholics are divided on whether he is leaning left or right (See the discussion being carried on at Acton, Commonweal, America, NCR, National Review, and GetReligion); the proper perspective is to see that Catholic social teaching incorporates principles of both the left and the…