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Pope Francis holds the weekly general audience at the Vatican on Jan. 26, 2022. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Pope Francis said on Wednesday that parents of LGBTQ children should not condemn them but offer them support. He spoke in unscripted comments at his weekly audience in reference to difficulties that parents can face in raising offspring.
Security measures adopted by Congregation Beth Israel in Houston have included installing surveillance cameras outside its premises. Credit: Briana Vargas for The Texas Tribune
On Jan. 15, a gunman held four hostages in a standoff that lasted around 11 hours at Colleyville’s Congregation Beth Israel, a synagogue northeast of Fort Worth not affiliated with Kutner’s. The FBI said Friday it is considering the incident a terrorist act and hate crime.
Former pope Benedict gestures at the Munich Airport before his departure to Rome on June 22, 2020. Sven Hoppe/Pool via REUTERS
Former Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged on Monday he had been at a 1980 meeting over a sexual abuse case when he was archbishop of Munich, saying he mistakenly told German investigators he was not there.
Attendees hold up a sign reading “I Am the Post-Roe Generation,” ahead of the March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2022. Annie Klingenberg for Sojourners.
Since 1974, anti-abortion activists have gathered each January in Washington, D.C., to protest the abortion rights granted under Roe v. Wade in January of 1973. With the Supreme Court set to issue a major ruling on abortion rights later this year that could overturn the ’73 ruling, attendees are hoping this will be the last annual anti-abortion march while Roe is the law of the land.
Pope Benedict XVI finishes his last general audience in St Peter's Square at the Vatican Feb. 27, 2013. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo
Former Pope Benedict XVI failed to take action against clerics in four cases of alleged sexual abuse in his archdiocese when he was archbishop of Munich, a report found on Thursday.
Abraham Bonowitz, director of Death Penalty Action, calls for Congress to pass legislation prohibiting the death penalty at the federal level in front of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 17, 2022. Catherine Buchaniec for Sojourners.
The Abolitionist Action Committee was marking the 45th anniversary of the first execution in the modern era: Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad on Jan. 17, 1977; he had been convicted of murdering two men in Utah in 1976, and the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty legal that same year.
Pope Francis meets with diplomats from more than 180 countries, at the Vatican, January 10, 2022. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS
Pope Francis on Monday condemned “baseless” ideological misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, backing national immunization campaigns and calling health care a moral obligation.
On Jan. 6, 2022, hundreds participated in the Candleight Vigil for Democracy event on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. Photo: Gregg Brekke / Sojourners.
A year after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the District of Columbia remained largely silent. President Joe Biden gave a speech condemning the attack, Democratic members of Congress led remembrances, and different groups held vigils near the Capitol; a small group held a vigil in protest to the incarceration of those who participated in the Jan. 6 attack.
A person holding a wooden cross adorned with the phrase “Jesus Saves” marches down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the U.S. Capitol building alongside supporters of former President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. Madison Muller/Sojourners.
Last January, over two dozen community members assembled near the large Martin Luther statue outside Luther Place Memorial Church in downtown Washington, D.C., for a morning of orchestrated silent prayer. Staggered six-feet apart in the sharp winter air, they were acutely aware that the Capitol was already abuzz with protesters waving Trump flags, holding signs invoking Jesus Christ, and outfitted in insignia from dangerous far-right organizations.
This year, to mark the one-year anniversary of Jan. 6, the church plans to hold a prayer service in reflection of the insurrection that took place less than two miles from their congregation at the U.S. Capitol building.
Headshots of Jeremy Courtney and Jessica Courtney, and the Preemptive Love logo. Screengrabs from Preemptive Love website.
Preemptive Love Coalition’s board of directors announced on Jan. 4 that the organization’s founders, Jeremy and Jessica Courtney, would not be returning to the organization in any capacity, after an investigation into the Courtneys’ leadership.
People react after the verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, found guilty of the death of George Floyd, at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis, Minn. on April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Adrees Latif
A collection of photos that defined 2021.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu speaks during a memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela at Westminster Abbey in London March 3, 2014. REUTERS/John Stillwell/Pool/File Photo
Desmond Mpilo Tutu, the Nobel Peace laureate whose moral might permeated South African society during apartheid's darkest hours and into the uncharted territory of new democracy, died on Sunday. He was 90.
Protesters demonstrate outside the Hennepin County Government Center during the jury deliberation of the Kim Potter trial on Dec. 22, 2021 in Minneapolis. Chris Tuite/imageSPACE/Sipa USA
A 12-member jury found Potter, 49, guilty of first degree and second degree manslaughter in the death of the 20-year-old Wright.
On Dec. 14, siblings Bekah, Caleb, and Joshua Liechty, collectively known as Girl Named Tom, became the first group to win NBC’s The Voice after 20 seasons of solo winners. In a blind audition, the siblings delighted the four celebrity coaches with their tight harmonies, but each of the three got a chance to shine throughout their performances. With the enthusiastic support of their coach, Kelly Clarkson, the trio presented new arrangements of beloved classic rock, country, and folk hits.
The Liechty siblings grew up attending Zion Mennonite Church in Archbold, Ohio, and brothers Caleb and Joshua are graduates of Goshen College, a Mennonite college. While Bekah and Joshua, who spoke with Sojourners, consider their faith identity to be “in exploration,” they continue to be rooted in Mennonite community.
A model wears a T-shirt available for purchase at Preemptive Love Coalition’s website. Image via preemptivelove.shop
Former employees at Preemptive Love Coalition, an international relief organization, have alleged that its leaders created an abusive environment. On Dec. 15, Ben Irwin, the organization’s former director of communications and public relations, wrote on Twitter and in subsequent posts to Medium, that Preemptive Love’s founders, Jeremy and Jessica Courtney, “abused, gaslit, threatened, and mistreated dozens of staff over the years.”
Rev. William Barber II, after being denied entry into the Hart Senate Office Building, leads a chant, saying, “We’re gonna be back!” in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 14, 2021. Miguel Petrosky/Sojourners.
Revs. William Barber II and Liz Theoharis, co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign, held a press conference and protest in the front of the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 14 to pressure Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to meet with and hear the concerns and demands from the West Virginian delegates and other members of the campaign.
The pair read from a letter citing the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46, calling on Manchin to pledge full support for the Build Back Better plan and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
A priest’s collar. Image via Godong/Alamy.
Last September, the Catholic Labor Network, a nonprofit dedicated to workers’ rights, trained six priests to perform “card checks” for workers looking to unionize. Since then, the priests have performed card checks for six local union efforts through UNITE HERE, a labor union that represents over 300,000 U.S. and Canadian workers in the hotel, food service, transportation, and other industries.
Blake Fox, 19, of Washington, listens to a live broadcast of the Supreme Court arguments in Carson v. Makin, a challenge to a Maine tuition assistance program that bars taxpayer money from being used to pay for religious instruction, in Washington, D.C., Dec. 8, 2021. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Conservative Supreme Court justices on Wednesday appeared ready to further expand public funding of religiously based entities, indicating sympathy toward a challenge by two Christian families to a Maine tuition assistance program that excludes private schools that promote religious beliefs.
The Catholic University of America in Washingtong, D.C. on July 11 2019. Photo: Mehdi Kasumov / Shutterstock.com
In the wake of controversy surrounding an icon at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus Law School, the school’s undergraduate student government passed a resolution Monday requesting university officials replace the painting with art that is “non-political and uncontroversial.”
Palestinian youth perform the traditional dance of Dabkeh near the Israeli barrier and a checkpoint that separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem, in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Nov. 25, 2021. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
A giant Christmas tree takes pride of place in Bethlehem’s Manger Square, between the Church of the Nativity and a mosque adorned with lights cascading down its walls.
But there is more to the Palestinian city than its biblical significance, say organisers of the Bethlehem Cultural Festival, which promotes other aspects of the place revered as the traditional birthplace of Jesus.