(RNS) — This past year upended U.S. religious life in ways no one could have predicted and in some ways many have. A devastating coronavirus pandemic led to countless deaths, a shift to online services and, in some quarters, a mostly partisan-driven defiance of public health restrictions. It…

Year In Review: The Best Religion Journalism Of 2020 By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged (ANALYSIS) What a year for religion news! From the pandemic to the election, the major headlines of 2020 had huge faith angles. For this special year-end edition of Weekend Plug-in, I asked…

By Brandon Showalter, Christian Post Reporter Follow | Saturday, December 26, 2020 A SALT microchurch in Southern California | Paul TellefesenWhat is the future of the post-COVID Christian church in the United States?For a pair of millennial pastors, it meant leaving what they loved doing in pursuit of…

December 23, 2020 Not quite the story you may remember By Efraín VelazquezSo they weren’t kings after all. But they were royal, and royally rich, Nabataeans from the height of their people’s political power, sons of trade and the architectural genius of Petra, South Jordan’s carved city to…

On December 8, to mark the 150th anniversary of St. Joseph being declared the patron of the universal church, Pope Francis decreed a Year of St. Joseph and published a beautiful apostolic letter entitled, “Patris corde,” “With the Heart of a Father.”Ecclesiastical holy years are meant to influence…

The Advent season for the Christian faith community is really important. It’s the season before Christmas that symbolizes a deep sense of longing — a longing for something that is not here yet but is hoped for. Hope that is not seen as in Romans 8:24, but one…

On this last Christmas before he retires, his 48th year of presiding over alleluias and not-so-silent nights, the Rev. Raymond O’Donnell — Father Jerry to his flock — will stand before parishioners and visitors to deliver his homily for this sacred Christian holiday.He will begin by talking about…

It’s time for Christmas music! Technically, of course, if you’re traditional about these things, it’s time for Advent music. Advent is the beautiful four-week season that precedes Christmas, a time of waiting in darkness for the light of Christ to dawn. During this tumultuous year of 2020, the…

The GuardianNow we know: Republicans will never stand up to Trump. EverMillions of Americans have wondered at what point would congressional Republicans say ‘enough’? Trump’s acquittal makes the answer clear Senator Mitch McConnell accused Trump of a ‘disgraceful dereliction of duty’ in provoking the violence of January 6th…

A local Catholic priest who has a history of politicizing the pulpit said Wednesday he didn’t feel “any remorse” for referring to the coronavirus as the “China virus,” even though the term has been deemed racist and xenophobic.In a typed message recently posted on the front doors of…