Friday’s News & Ideas - 1/30/2026

Maine clergy form spiritual ‘shield’ outside workplaces to protect immigrants from ICE
Religion News Service: Like religious leaders elsewhere, local clergy were quick to muster resistance to the rapid influx of immigration enforcement agents, even as they wrangle with the unusual geography of Maine.

Federal agents arrest Don Lemon over Minnesota church protest*
New York Times: The former CNN anchor has said he was not demonstrating, but reporting as a journalist, during the interruption of a service inside a St. Paul church earlier this month.

Burge’s ‘Vanishing Church’ shows high costs of politicized churches
Baptist News Global: The way many Americans see things, religion isn’t primarily about following God but “as a type of shorthand for political views,” “as a tribal marker for politics,” Burge said.

The pioneering path of Augustus Tolton, the first Black Catholic priest in the US — born into slavery, he’s now a candidate for sainthood
The Conversation: Augustus Tolton was ordained in Rome in 1886. Previously, the only Black Catholic priests in the U.S. had been men who presented themselves as white.

Buddhist monks continue Walk for Peace, continue journey through Virginia on day 96
13News Now: Buddhist monks, accompanied by their dog Aloka, continue their 2,300-mile pilgrimage to promote mindfulness and peace. Thousands have gathered to witness the monks’ chants, receive flowers or simply pause for reflection.

The Spark

This magnificent mural by Leonardo da Vinci will go on display for a brief window during the Winter Olympics in Milan
Visitors will be able to watch conservators as they use Japanese rice paper and demineralized water to remove salt that seeped into the ceiling and walls over the centuries, says Smithsonian Magazine.

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