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Articles on Clergy

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A priest and Catholic worshippers pray in front of an image of ‘Sangre de Cristo,’ burned in a fire on July 2020, at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Managua. Oswaldo Rivas/AFP via Getty Images

Nicaragua released imprisoned priests, but repression is unlikely to relent – and the Catholic Church remains a target

When President Daniel Ortega returned to power in 2006, church figures supported him. Violent repression after the 2018 protests has soured the relationship and made clergy targets for intimidation.
Who did the honors: clergy, a justice of the peace or just a friend? More and more weddings are performed by someone ordained online. Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Just about anybody in America can officiate a wedding, thanks to the internet – and one determined preacher

A professor who has researched the Universal Life Church unpacks why many couples now prefer to hand-pick loved ones to perform their ceremonies.
The number of women religious leaders is growing, but the 2018-2019 National Congregations Study, which surveyed 5,300 U.S. religious communities, found that only 56.4% of these communities would allow a woman to “be head clergy person or primary religious leader.” AP Photo/Young Kwak

Women are finding new ways to influence male-led faiths

Three female academics discuss how women are forging new pathways in faith leadership throughout religions that traditionally have been patriarchal.
Victims or their family members react to a Pennsylvania grand jury investigation that identified more than 1,000 child victims of clergy sexual abuse. AP/Matt Rourke

Civil lawsuits are the only way to hold bishops accountable for abuse cover-ups

In the wake of new revelations about clergy sex abuse and cover-up in Pennsylvania, civil lawsuits brought by abuse victims may be the only effective way to hold Catholic church officials accountable.
Pope Paul VI banned contraception for Catholics in the 1968 encyclical, “Humanae Vitae.” AP Photo/Jim Pringle

How the Catholic Church came to oppose birth control

July marks 50 years of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical prohibiting contraceptive use. For many years prior to it, the church had not been so explicit on its stance. How did it become such a thorny issue?
Four years ago, Kay Goldsworthy became the first Australian female bishop – so why are UK women bishops banned? AAP Image/Lincoln Baker

Why Anglican women can be bishops in Australia but not England

Twenty years ago, Anglicans in Australia and England independently passed legislation to allow for the ordination of women as priests. Now the Anglican Church of Australia has just appointed its fourth…

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