Religion News in Brief
The Associated PressBoston College has received a $20 million gift from the co-founder of a Massachusetts supermarket chain and his wife to help train teachers for Roman Catholic schools and universities.
The Jesuit university announced Tuesday that it will name its Center for Catholic Education after Patrick and Barbara Roche. The Roches say they made the donation because Catholic education has had such a profound effect on their lives.
Patrick Roche, a 1951 Boston College graduate, founded Roche Bros. supermarkets with his brother Bud, in 1952. The chain now has 18 stores.
The Roche Center for Catholic Education trains graduate and undergraduate students to administer and teach in Catholic schools and universities nationwide, while also conducting research on issues concerning Catholic schools.
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http://www.bc.edu/
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Georgia pastor in running for president of Southern Baptist Convention
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Georgia pastor will be nominated as the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention, according to Baptist news reports.
Bryant Wright, senior pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, will be nominated to succeed Johnny Hunt, who is completing his second one-year term. The election will be held during the denomination's annual meeting, June 15-16, in Orlando, Fla. No other nominees for Southern Baptist leadership have been announced to date, according to Baptist Press.
The 16.3 million-member Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant group in the country, but has struggled in recent years with small numbers of baptisms and stagnating membership rolls.
Wright, a native of the Atlanta area, holds a master's of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and a bachelor's degree from the University of South Carolina. He and his wife Anne have three children.
Hunt is pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga.
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http://www.bpnews.net/
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Notre Dame giving Laetare Medal to former National Endowment for the Arts leader Gioia
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — The University of Notre Dame will give its top award to a former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, a year after an anti-abortion scholar declined the award over the school's decision to give President Barack Obama an honorary degree.
Notre Dame said that Dana Gioia will be presented with the Laetare Medal during the school's May 16 commencement. Gioia, who had won several top poetry awards, was appointed NEA chairman by President George W. Bush in 2003. He held the position for more than six years.
His time leading the federal arts agency included two widely discussed reports that alleged a dangerously expanding population of nonreaders and championing jazz as a uniquely American art form. Gioia's collection of poetry, "Interrogations at Noon," won the 2002 American Book Award.
The Laetare Medal, which the university describes as the most prestigious honor for American Catholics, had been awarded annually since 1883. Previous winners have included President John F. Kennedy, anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean and Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.
Last year was the first time the medal wasn't given out.
Harvard University law professor Mary Ann Glendon, who was U.S. ambassador to the Vatican for two years under President George W. Bush, declined the award. Notre Dame had come under criticism from Roman Catholic bishops and others for honoring Obama over his support for abortion rights, among other positions contrary to church teaching.
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http://www.nd.edu/
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Clergy say Mercer Island's new Tent City rules infringe on religious freedoms
MERCER ISLAND, Wash. (AP) — Clergy on Mercer Island say the city's new rules about the roving homeless encampment known as Tent City violate their religious freedoms.
The Mercer Island city council voted for a measure requiring churches hosting Tent City on their property to ensure the encampment conducts sex-offender and arrest warrant checks on its residents. The council also voted to require that when Tent City moves, it must wait 18 months before returning to the same site. The encampment's host must also enforce bans on alcohol and drugs.
The Mercer Island Clergy Association says the rules infringe on the right of churches to minister to the homeless. Mayor Jim Pearman says the ordinance could be reconsidered.
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LA Marathon forcing some churches to skip Sunday morning services
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some of the more than 100 churches on or near Sunday's 26-mile Los Angeles Marathon route are telling their flock to skip worship services that day.
The Rev. Mary E. Haddad told her congregation at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills: "Remember the Sabbath and keep it aerobic." There will be no morning services March 21 because of crowds, street closures and lack of parking, but an evening service will be held.
Marathon organizers say 14 churches sit along the new route from Dodger Stadium to the sea, and 88 others are within a five-block radius.
Brentwood Presbyterian Church is encouraging members to spend part of its "marathon of service" weekend preparing food for homeless people, gleaning fruit in Oxnard or planting trees.