The South African bishops had to correct one of their remaining “spirit of Vatican II” colleagues, who accused Pope Benedict of being a “restorationist.” The bishops called on “all Catholics to be equally bold in standing up for the doctrinal, social and the moral teaching of the Church. Doing so is a crucial part of the evangelizing mission of the Church for transforming society.”
In the last ten years, the number of Catholic marriages in Boston has fallen by 55%, but in other parts of the world a pilgrimage in Sri Lanka draws 450,000 and one in Viet Nam draws 55,000 .
In the Wall Street Journal , a young Evangelical writer explains The Perils of ‘Wannabe Cool’ Christianity . “My peers,” he wites, “many of whom grew up in the church, are losing interest in the Christian establishment,” and church leaders have responded with attempts at “a total image overhaul, where efforts are made to rebrand Christianity as hip, countercultural, relevant.”
Charles Krauthammer calls the building of a mosque a couple blocks in lower Manhattan Sacrilege at Ground Zero .
Though estimating the number of Christians in China is still difficult, “it is likely that “Christianity fever” will continue and that Christianity will grow as a significant presence in China,” reports the sociologist Peter Berger.
Even on Long Island, an Indian church that speaks Malayalam offers a colorful tribute to Mary . It began “with the usual blowing of the kumbu horn and the dancing of the koladi by the congregation’s teenage girls, dressed in saris and banging sticks.”
Singapore’s Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports is asking for help encouraging young people to date and marry . “Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in February urged citizens to ignore superstitions about the Chinese zodiac and make more babies during the Year of the Tiger in order to reverse falling birth rates,” reported ChannelAsiaNews.com.
A new study claims that teenagers having sex didn’t hurt their academic performance if they were in “committed relationships,” though it did if they were only hooking up.
