The Rev. Chris Carpenter, embattled former Roman Catholic priest at Christ the King Catholic Church in Mesa  who was excommunicated by Bishop Thomas Olmsted in April 2009, is well on his way to be consecrated a bishop of the Reformed Catholic Church.  The Roman Catholic Church regards the Reformed Catholic Church as renegade and “separated brethren” who are schismatically dividing the body of Christ.
Carpenter, who was once known as “Father Flick” when he also reviewed films for The Catholic Sun newspaper for the diocese, abruptly resigned his pastorate in Mesa in January 2006 and moved …

Bishop Thomas Olmsted of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix is playing host this weekend for folks who believe  ”The Manhattan Declaration:  A Call of Christian Conscience,” developed last year, gives clarity to all that they stand for, stubbornly traditional and orthodox as it is.  The 4,700-word document is a conservative Christian blueprint for “the case for traditional marriage, the sanctity of life and religious liberty,” they say.  About 400 will take part in an 8 a.m. Mass at St. Mary’s Basilica, with a legislative seminar to follow.
But the events will be …

There is still a world stage, and it provides a means for justice and righteousness to raise their light.  And a means to humiliate those who insist on perpetuating their forms of  tyranny and suppression of human rights.
How splendid that the Nobel Prize Committee in Norway has had the courage to award the coveted Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. How embarrassing to the communist regime in China for one of its citizens to win the planet’s highest award for his work in quest of political …

We’re all experts on religion. Right?   We’ve been in enough bull sessions to know we hold our own very well  when it comes to talking about our own and all the other faiths.  Few subjects rouse as much conversation as religions and our general attitudes of superiority about our own.
Comes now a new Pew  Research study of 3,412 people between May and June that determined that atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons appear to be the most informed about the religious world in general. What?  How could “non-believers” know more about religion that …

It came as a jolt last March to the congregation of Temple Beth Sholom in Chandler when authorities arrested their rabbi  right in the temple parking lot — guns drawn —  and subsequently charged him with rape of a minor, which was said to have happened 10 years before. The rabbi, then 45, was accused of raping a 7-year-old girl and family friend during a sleepover at his New York City apartment in March 2000
Now six months later, Rabbi Bryan Bramly is a free man, but will he be able to return to his Chandler temple …

The Rev. Vernon Meyer ranks near or at the top among theologians and Christian educators in Arizona. The founder  and director of the the Arizona Center for Theological Studies has been a popular teacher of scripture and Christian history.  Bright, articulate and progressive, he has been THE Catholic educator who has reached more non-Catholics through his teaching.
Until early this month, he was a highly respected Catholic priest who had maintained a rigorous schedule of  teaching workshops at parishes and the Franciscan Renewal Center, as well at ACTS, whose classes are at CrossRoads United Methodist …

Corporations are killing America. Powerful companies have manipulated their way to a commanding control over the institutions of this country. Their board room greed, their lack of conscience, their unbridled and shameless methods of total domination of greater parts of the economic landscape are a breathtaking  tragedy.  They’ve proven that capitalism without controls and rules is disastrous.
Their methodical lobbying and their huge campaign contributions have won them lawmakers who do their dealing to reduce regulations and oversight and make it easier to create multinational monopolies that cannot be touched. Government regulators are …

My conservative friends  first sent me emails about it.  They say, “How dare Muslims wipe the faces of Americans further in the tragedy of 9/11 by erecting a new 13-story mosque and community center a stone’s throw from Ground Zero in New York City!”
A very angry and pointed video arrived in my email that was venom-packed. Its point was  that the Muslims demonstrated the height of insensitivity and arrogance by encroaching on hallowed American turf and such affront should be rejected.
Did the survivors and people around the site where the World Trade Center once stood deserve …

The nation’s largest Lutheran body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, or ELCA, took another step Sunday toward claiming a major place at the forefront of faiths heeding the call to inclusivity and openness to all.  What took place in San Francisco is a direct result of the actions taken a year ago to allow gay and lesbian pastors to serve regardless of whether they are celibate.  The action was taken in a special “rite of reception.” Several others are expected this fall in Chicago and Minneapolis.
At the Lutheran convention in …

What to do with the old pastor? Keep him around or ban him from the premises lest his presence stymies efforts to go forward under new leadership?
Denominations vary sharply over their policies related to ministers who resign, retire or are dismissed.  Pastors loom large in the life of a congregation.  The framework of the leadership model could  make them all-powerful heads of staff or more as teaching pastors amid a team of assistant/associate pastors with strong elders.  More often than not, the pastor commands such a major place in the …