Friday's News & Ideas - 9/3/2021
- Disaster relief & COVID
- McCarrick pleads not guilty
- Battle over religious exemptions
- Umpires’ prayer group
- Church helps raise totem
- Asylum seekers
Faith-based disaster relief groups balance COVID safety with speedy response to Hurricane Ida
Religion News Service: The surge in COVID-19 rates makes responding to disasters like Ida more complicated.
Ex-Cardinal McCarrick, 91, pleads not guilty to sex assault
Associated Press: Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the once-powerful American prelate who was expelled from the priesthood for sexual abuse, pleaded not guilty Friday to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy during a wedding reception in Massachusetts nearly 50 years ago.
BBC: Religious groups in UK failing children over sexual abuse, report says
Religious exemptions from coronavirus vaccines are expected to become a legal battleground*
The Washington Post: As more companies and states require employees to get coronavirus vaccines, some Americans are seeking a way out through religious exemptions to skirt mandates that they believe burden their beliefs.
Before balls and strikes, umpires make a call to pray*
The New York Times: For more than a decade, a group of Major League Baseball’s umpires has convened by phone to pursue spiritual solace.
Local church team helps raise totem pole in Alaska
Sierra Sun: Master carver Wayne Hewson spent two years carving the welcome pole for the church, one arm reaching out to welcome all people, the other arm extended heavenward to welcome God, with the four clans of the tribe carved on the body of the pole.
The Spark
A tale of two towns: Rochdale and Braintree expose UK’s uneven asylum system
Relatively wealthy Braintree has supported just one asylum seeker in recent months while deprived Rochdale hosted 734, The Guardian says.
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