November 1, 2007 Jazz ministry plays an upbeat note for New Orleans

On a recent steamy September evening, St. Anna’s Episcopal Church did what it has been doing every Wednesday night for nearly two years, since the great storm raked the city: it fed people and it opened its doors to jazz.

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November 1, 2007 Helping out in a stricken city

On a hot fall day in September, Gordon Soderberg, 46, took a break from mowing – with a tractor – the weed-choked vacant lots in the Lower Ninth Ward where Hurricane Katrina’s flooding wiped out hundreds of houses.

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November 1, 2007 Wanted: spiritual leaders for U.S. military; signing bonuses available

One branch of the U.S. military has the advertising slogan, “The few. The proud. The Marines.”

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October 1, 2007 U.S. faith communities fast for end to Iraq war

A multi-faith coalition that includes Buddhist, Christian, Islamic and Jewish groups has called on faith communities in the United States to observe a one-day fast in October to protest against the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

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October 1, 2007 Family, religion make youth happy, survey says

A newly-released survey by the Associated Press and MTV, a music video channel aimed at young people, has found that religion and family are two of the strongest components contributing to the happiness of people aged 13 to 24 in the United States.

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October 1, 2007 More dissident bishops for U.S.

As bishops of the Episcopal Church prepared for a late September meeting in New Orleans that was to include Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, three more bishops were consecrated outside the American church to minister to dissidents in the United States.

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September 4, 2007 Cardinal avoids testifying in U.S. sex abuse lawsuits

The archdiocese of Los Angeles’ agreement to a $660 million US clergy abuse settlement will amount to $1.3 million for each plaintiff, and it prevents Roger Cardinal Mahoney, the archbishop of the Roman Catholic diocese, from having to testify on the issue.

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September 4, 2007 Bridge victims remembered at service

An interfaith service of healing was held Aug. 5 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis after the collapse on Aug. 1 of the Interstate 35 West bridge over the Mississippi River. As of Aug. 10, the death toll was eight.

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September 4, 2007 International focus turns to U.S. bishops

The rift within the worldwide Anglican church over homosexuality is focusing attention on this month’s meeting, from Sept. 20-25, of the Episcopal Church’s bishops, since the national archbishops, or primates, of the worldwide Anglican Communion gave the bishops until Sept. 30 to agree to their demands concerning sexuality.

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July 3, 2007 Muslims surveyed

Muslims in the United States appear to have been largely assimilated into the broader U.S. society, finds a new survey which also reports that nearly eight in 10 Muslim Americans overwhelmingly condemn the practice of suicide bombings.

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