The introduction of the new Roman Missal was the top religion story of the year, according to a survey of Catholic News Service editors and reporters.
Unsurprisingly,Pope Benedict XVI was voted the top newsmaker, as he has been every year since 2006. The late JP2, somehow, snuck in at number four, preceding Sister Elizabeth Johnson, the theologian.
NCR's John Allen says the Catholic priest shortage, which didn't make the CNS list, is the most important Catholic story of our time. B16 said he knows that Christmas this year will be “very difficult” for many families because of the faltering world economy.
Lowe's pulled its ads from“All-American Muslim”after a Florida Christian group complained that the reality show is too pro-Muslim. Others called for a boycott of the big box store andLowe's promptly apologizedforhaving “managed to make some people very unhappy.”
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Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of SpokaneFāVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Assistant Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.