ST Clare's Convent

Why we will no longer be a welcoming church

We’ve decided to quit being a welcoming church. No kidding. We’re giving it up. Like so many congregations, we’ve sunk an amazing amount of time and energy into becoming a welcoming church. We changed worship styles, trained greeters and ushers, wore name tags, brewed coffee, went to workshops on hospitality and put our friendliest people …

Seven Reasons Why We Should Not Accept Millions of Years

There is an intensifying controversy in the church all over the world regarding the age of the earth.

Why Are So Many Single Women are Leaving the Church?

A few years ago, I attended the Women of the World festival in London. Arriving late, I hurried up to a panel called ‘Faith and Feminism,” which featured a panel…

How To Reach Unchurched People Who Don't Think They Need God

I read a survey the other day that made me literally sit up straight as I took notice. The number of people in Canada (my country) who profess “no religion” is now at 24%, up from 16.5% a decade earlier. That’s a massive shift in a mere ten years. As I reflect on it all,…

If We Can Worship Anywhere, Why Go To Church?

It doesn't just matter that we worship Jesus. It matters that we worship him with other people.

10 Ways to Be a Welcoming Church to Those With Special Needs

For those willing to welcome those with special needs, how can today’s churches better serve these families? One parent shares some tips.

ID Card Benefits for Religious Organizations

Find out how religious organizations and church groups are using ID card technology to help identify church members and keep them more secure.

Religious Freedom as Freedom to Discriminate?

Removing religious exemptions will not promote tolerance or inclusiveness. It will forcibly strip religious organizations of their ability to operate as religious organizations.

When a Young Woman Leaves the Convent

Women, especially young women, who have left the convent require a special kind of pastoral care, which is very different from working with married couples or families.

What's next for the sisters who lived at Fargo's Sacred Heart Convent?

Because of the generosity of the community, Sister Bernadette Trecker says, they’re gratefully doing OK financially. “If people are wondering, ‘What’s going to happen to those poor sisters? Are they out on the streets?’” she assures, they needn’t worry.

10 Tips for Creating Inclusive Religious Organizations

We are a stronger country when religious organizations of all faiths live up to our values -- when we are welcoming, diverse, moral, and respect one anot...

Why Religious Cops Live Longer Than Non-Religious Cops

Most of us serving as police officers have considered our mortality, especially in light of the dangers we face every day. No one is guaranteed a long life, but everyone strives to lengthen the days and years we get to spend with family and friends. All of us are interested in living longer. Recent studies […]

How Secular is “Religious”?

We don’t know how the ready access to information will ultimately change the human condition, but religions are already feeling the heat. A person today can, with a few keystrokes, discover facts about religions that, when I was young, were assiduously and successfully suppressed—particularly in those traditions common among disadvantaged people such as I was. …

Retirement doesn’t always mean rest for religious sisters

Ask a religious sister — one who is retired, or old enough to be retired at least — why she continues to serve in ways from praying for the church and the world to teaching English as a second language, and she might be confused by the question.

How Religious Are You?

Pew Research has developed a typology of religion based on "how religious" a person is, along with the nature of that religious belief.

How Religious Are The World Religions?

How religious are the world religions? Most “religions” do not conceive themselves as doctrinal systems.

What is Religious Liberty?

The Baptist Joint Committee advocates a “golden rule” of religious liberty: Do not ask government to promote your religion if you don’t want government to promote somebody else’s religion; and do not permit government to hinder somebody else’s religion if you don’t want government to hinder your own religion.

QUIZ: Can You Match These Habits With Their Religious Order?

‘Religious buildings can’t be built as encroachments’

The chief justice observed that the entire city had been totally disfigured due to unauthorized constructions which could not be seen to be rectified.