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Brother Mattingly has implored me to keep GetReligion in mind while I am here in Columbus, Ohio, reporting on the Episcopal Church’s 75th General Convention. My report on Sunday’s election of the first woman primate in the Anglican Communion should appear sometime Monday on Christianity Today‘s website.
This ESPN.com piece on Indianapolis Colts football coach Tony Dungy is one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of a writer stepping back from a situation and letting the story’s characters drive the narrative. The article is brutally frank about life, death and the importance of faith in this particular father’s life.
Our semi-retired blogger and ghost editor, the Rt. Rev. Douglas LeBlanc, is punching keys at the moment — only not for us. Anyone who wants to follow his work at the Episcopal Church’s General Convention should keep an eye on the websites of Christianity Today and, on the other side of the pond, The Church Times.
I am blessed and honored to have nine godchildren (that’s me with one of them and her mum). Oh how I love them, and I take my vows very seriously. As a Lutheran, being a baptismal sponsor means I am to pray for them daily, and assist with and ensure their catechesis. I am closer to some than others, but they all are the subject of my prayers. Having these godchildren is a huge part of my life. As such, I was so pleased to see a religion reporter write about being a godparent.
Veteran religion scribe Julia Duin of The Washington Times has written one of those stories that simply had to be written, taking readers inside what I once called the Anglican Web Wars.
The departure of President Bush’s close adviser and longtime speechwriter Michael Gerson ends an era in which an evangelical Christian had unprecedented access and influnce in shaping American foreign and domestic policy. Thanks to Gerson’s humility, he never came close to receiving the attention from journalists of the likes of Karen Hughes and Karl Rove, but few were as influential.
Well folks, I really don’t know what to say about this news except: Cue the theme from Jaws. Let’s go straight to the Hollywood Reporter story by Paul Bond, which I am amazed has not inspired more coverage. Where is Frank Rich?
Several GetReligion readers have sent me information linked to my recent post on the lasting influence of the late Monsignor Thomas Wells, an influential Roman Catholic priest in the Washington, D.C., area whose murder shocked the region back in 2000. I want to pass along one or two, since it is clear that his impact on others was personal, spiritual and intellectual. That’s a potent mix.
The year was 1979, the place was the Astrodome in Houston and, for legions of Southern Baptists on the left side of the nation’s largest non-Catholic flock, what took place there forever changed how they looked at church buses.
