Tag Archives: Leaders & Institutions

Two U.S. regional groups of the Seventh-day Adventist Church have recently approved the ordination of women pastors, moving faster than the worldwide church’s study of the issue.

The Pacific Union Conference, which includes California and four other Western states, voted 79 percent to 21 percent at a special session on Aug. 19 to “approve ordinations to the gospel ministry without regard to gender.”

Why would a Western woman leave her family, shave her head, and don the plain robes and simple lifestyle of a Buddhist nun? And what impact does her choice have on society?

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has spent most of his adult life trying to build interfaith and international bridges. But to many Americans, he is the public face of the so-called "Ground Zero mosque," one of the most controversial religious projects in recent U.S. history.

Nellie Gray, the longtime leader of the annual March for Life, which protests the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion, has died at age 88.

The March for Life website said Tuesday (Aug. 14) that Gray died “over the weekend.”

Evangelist Billy Graham, 93, was admitted to a North Carolina hospital after he developed a fever Saturday (Aug. 11) and is now being treated for bronchitis, said his longtime spokesman, A. Larry Ross.

“Mr. Graham continues to do well and the infection is responding well to treatment,” said Dr. David Pucci, the pulmonologist who is treating Graham at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., on Monday. Graham is in stable condition.

Bishop Blase Cupich ordains 18 men into the deaconate Tracy SimmonsTracy 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 …