On Friday night I felt like I was playing a part in a movie. I’d come to Santa Barbara six months ago from Wellington on a student exchange. I was really excited to become immersed in the Californian lifestyle. I wanted to go surfing, to drink Californian wine, and have fun at the “Number Two Read more
Back in 1990, about 8 percent of the U.S. population had no religious preference. By 2010, this percentage had more than doubled to 18 percent. That’s a difference of about 25 million people, all of whom have somehow lost their religion. That raises an obvious question: how come? Why are Americans losing their faith? Today, Read more
In a meeting room under Holy Name Cathedral, a rapt group of black Roman Catholics listened as Barack Obama, a 25-year-old community organiser, trained them to lobby their fellow delegates to a national congress in Washington on issues like empowering lay leaders and attracting more believers. “He so quickly got us,” said Andrew Lyke, a Read more
Thank God for Fred Phelps. That’s what I say, of the controversial, hate-mongering founder of the Westboro Baptist Church. But something tells me Fred Phelps already thanked God plenty of times for Fred Phelps, given the two were on such apparently close terms. After all, it was Phelps who so graciously enlightened the rest of Read more
Much has been written about the Millennials, the generation born in the 1990s — or as early as the 1980s and I suppose as late as the new millennium which gives them their name. You can find articles about their political views, their work habits, and their buying trends. You can also find complaints from Read more
The reverberations can be heard nationwide. As church employees and volunteers receive notices requiring them to attend safe-environment trainings, their responses have become familiar: “Again?” “Didn’t we just do that?” “I went through this where I teach; do I need to do it in the parish too?” “I barely come in contact with kids; why Read more
As president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, Carolyn Woo brings a strong sense of leadership and vision to the organization, which was founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops to provide international relief and development assistance. With a background in strategic planning and the experience of serving as dean of a major Catholic business school—the Read more
The United States does not have a Protestant majority for the first time since being founded by the Puritans as ever-growing numbers of Americans say they have no religious affiliation, according to a new study. The country is now only 48 per cent Protestant, with one in five of the population saying they no longer Read more
In the rancorous debate over how to get the sluggish economy moving, we have forgotten the wisdom of Henry Ford. In 1914, not long after the Ford Motor Company came out with the Model T, Ford made the startling announcement that he would pay his workers the unheard-of wage of $5 a day. Not only Read more
In a call for broader religious exemptions, the Catholic Health Association has backtracked from its initial support for the Obama administration’s compromise on a rule that mandates employer coverage of contraception and sterilization. The association said it is “imperative” that the administration abandon its “narrow” definition of religious employer and exempt not only churches but Read more