Tuesday's News & Ideas - 11/14/2023

As Black church grapples with mental health, clergy are both subject and solution
Religion News Service: A new movement has taken on the taboo in many Black churches against talking about suicide.

Catholic dioceses are declaring bankruptcy. Abuse survivors say it’s a ‘way to silence’ them
The Guardian: The insolvency of California dioceses has caused some cases to be put on hold, even as a $175 million cathedral has risen over Oakland.

‘Operation Reconquista’ aims to return Mainline churches to ‘orthodoxy’
Baptist News Global: Conservatives from seven Mainline Protestant denominations marked Reformation Sunday this year by publishing their own 95 theses calling for reform in their respective denominations — except for those affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA, who published 9.5 theses to get more to the point.

How the Negro spiritual changed American popular music — and America itself*
The Atlantic: In 1871, the Fisk University singers embarked on a tour that introduced white Americans to a Black sound that would reshape the nation.

The literal drama of church history*
The Christian Century: A degree in theater would be a wonderful background for an aspiring church historian.

The Spark

Sacred space: Why libraries are essential to incarcerated writers
“You’d think working in a library where about a quarter of the clientele were serving prison sentences they would not outlive would be challenging, and, for the most part you’d be right,” writes Warren Bronson in Lit Hub.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers