Supreme Court to weigh in on legislative prayers

Washington — The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a new case on the intersection of religion and government in a dispute over prayers used to open public meetings.

Pope leads pep rally at Vatican, meets with Merkel

Vatican City — Pope Francis lamented that investment losses by banks trigger more alarm in the economic crisis than the struggle of people to feed their families, as he led a huge rally Saturday to invigorate the church's moral conscience, hours after he held talks at the Vatican about the economic crisis with Germany's leader.

Open heart is needed to accept any, everyone

I’ve been involved in ministry for more than two decades. The church has been my life. I have loved, hated, embraced, and attacked it; been welcomed by it, and been told I have no place in it. I escaped the church for a time — because of crisis and out of exhaustion — but God won’t seem to let me leave.

St. Clair Shores nun confronting death inspires others to seize the day

Sister Carol Juhasz, 63, a pastoral associate at St. Joan of Arc in St. Clair Shores, was stricken with breast cancer and given six months to live in March. Instead of keeping this most private of tribulations to herself, the irrepressible, dare say, irreverent nun has gone public with her disease.

Jewish school in Oak Park trains future rabbis

Farmington Hills — On a recent Friday afternoon, Rod Brown stood amid the racks of cotton shirts and shiny shoes at his shop on Northwestern Highway, murmuring prayers in Hebrew while leather straps encircled his arm.

Federal judge rules no rights violated at 2012 Arab fest in Dearborn

A group of Christian demonstrators’ free-speech rights weren’t violated when authorities asked them to leave the Arab International Festival in Dearborn last year, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Metro Jews begin Shavuot holiday

Aaron Schwartz and his family, like many other Metro Detroit Jews, plan to stay up late tonight for the two-day Shavuot holiday.

Africa, Asia see boom in priests as Europe withers

Vatican City — The number of Catholic priests in Africa and Asia has shot up over the past decade while decreasing in Europe, mirroring trends in the numbers of Catholic faithful that helped lead to the election of Pope Francis as the first non-European pope in over a millennium.

Pope Francis gives church hundreds of new saints

Vatican City — Pope Francis on Sunday gave the Catholic Church new saints, including hundreds of 15th-century martyrs who were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, as he led his first canonization ceremony Sunday in a packed St. Peter's Square.

New York man finishes writing out entire Bible by hand

At last, it is written. Four years after he began his project to write out every word of the Bible, Phillip Patterson penned the very last lines Saturday at an upstate New York church.

Southern Baptists hope to expand influence by planting churches in New England

Pastor Tom Cabral still tells people to meet him at “the bar,” even though it’s his church now. Locals best remember his worn building as a former sports bar where a 19-year-old once walked in and shot three suspected rival crack dealers.

Happiness is a choice we all must make for ourselves

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” That is a centuries old phrase from William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” In reality, Denmark doesn’t stink at all. In fact, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the Scandinavian nations of northern Europe are the happiest countries in the world.

Pope Francis to nuns: Don’t be old maids

Vatican City — Pope Francis has told nuns from around the world that they must be spiritual mothers and not "old maids."

Missionaries win payout, posted apology from Dearborn for Arab festival arrests

Dearborn — The city of Dearborn has reached a settlement and apologized to several Christian missionaries arrested at the Arab International Festival in 2010.

Unlikely New York scribe handwrites Bible in 4 years

Philmont, N.Y. — In the beginning, Phillip Patterson decided to write out every word in the Bible.

Egypt’s Christians celebrate Coptic Easter

Cairo — Pope Tawadros II led his first Easter Mass as head of the ancient Coptic Church in Egypt praying for security and prosperity on Saturday at the ...

Pope encourages protection of children from abuse

Vatican City — Pope Francis is calling for courageous defense of children to protect them from abuse.

Pink Sisters pray around the clock for St. Louis’ battered College Hill neighborhood

During the day, the blocks surrounding St. Louis’s Mount Grace Convent seem to reflect the tranquility inside the cloister walls. With the exception of the hum ...

Sinning does not prevent one from becoming a saint

My son asked me a question: “What is a saint?” It wasn’t a question I was prepared to answer. So I stuttered, “A saint is someone who does what God wants them ...

Metro Detroiters spread hope with Day of Prayer

Detroit — As spring sunlight illuminated the McNamara Federal Building courtyard Thursday and traffic bustled around him, Martin Brown bowed his head in a ...

Gay supporters protest Detroit archdiocese’s stance

Both widowed, Catholic and parents of a gay child, Tom Nelson and Linda Karle-Nelson met through a national nonprofit that supports families of homosexual, ...

No divine intervention: Detroit church members edged out on ‘American Bible Challenge’

Can biblical knowledge reap financial as well as spiritual rewards?

Drought across the West spurs resurgence of faith

Bernalillo, N.M. — Along the irrigation canal that cuts through this centuries-old New Mexico town, a small group of churchgoers gathers to recite the ...

Detroit church members competing in ‘American Bible Challenge’ tonight

Can Biblical knowledge reap financial as well as spiritual rewards?

Benedict comes home to new house, new pope

Vatican City — Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI comes home on Thursday to a new house and a new pope, as an unprecedented era begins of a retired pontiff ...

Former priest Dennis Ortman looks back in new book

Dennis Ortman is a man of many titles. He is a clinical psychologist, author of four books, a husband, stepfather of three and a former priest. Of course, it ...

Archdiocese of Detroit sells 4 buildings, consolidates offices

The Archdiocese of Detroit has announced the sale off four administrative and chancery office locations downtown and in Corktown as a part of consolidating its ...

Jerusalem unveils mysterious Hebrew stone

Jerusalem — An ancient stone with mysterious Hebrew writing and featuring the archangel Gabriel is going on display in Jerusalem as scholars debate the ...