VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Catholic priests at World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations in Madrid will be specially empowered to lift the excommunication of anyone who seeks forgiveness for having undergone or assisted in an abortion. The special authorization from Cardinal…

More than 30 million children live with a stepparent in so-called “blended families,” according to Concordia Publishing House.  Although each blended family has a unique set of circumstances, each also faces similar challenges: Where should we live? Should we change…

The Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI) is holding an “information meeting” from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 13, at Concordia Publishing House in St. Louis. The meeting — which includes a light meal and beverages — is free and…

The Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Rast Jr. will be installed as the 16th president of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., during the Opening Service for the seminary’s 166th academic year on Sunday, Sept. 11. The service will take place…

“Adopted in Christ” was the theme and primary focus as nearly 200 pro-life Lutherans gathered Aug. 5-6 in Irving, Texas, for the 2011 national Lutherans For Life (LFL) conference. Irving is between Dallas and Fort Worth. Registrants came from across…

Karen Roemer, LCMS missionary and regional business manager for Eurasia, died Aug. 14 in Germany after a long battle with cancer.  She was 55. A funeral service is planned for 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 19, at the cemetery in…

(RNS) — Members of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) have elected an Ohio pastor as their new head bishop, making him the first non-provisional leader of the year-old denomination. The Rev. John Bradosky was elected Aug. 11 by 800…

(RNS) — A federal judge ruled Aug. 11 that the public transit system in Little Rock, Ark., violated the free speech of local atheists by refusing to run their advertisements on city buses. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright…

BERLIN (RNS) — It’s not the first time the choice of a royal spouse has caused a stir. But it might be the first such case where gay men, guns and German Catholic groups have played such an intertwining role.…

(RNS) — Women, long considered the dominant pew dwellers in the nation’s churches, have shown a dramatic drop in attendance in the last two decades, a new survey shows. Since 1991, the percentage of women attending church during a typical…

WASHINGTON (RNS) — The House has passed a bill that would create a special State Department envoy for religious minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia, where Christians have come under attack in recent years, particularly in Muslim…

(RNS) — Almost every major college and university offers a degree in religious studies. But secularism? Nary a one — until now. Starting this fall, Pitzer College, a small liberal arts school in Southern California, will offer a bachelor’s degree…

BERLIN (RNS) — For the first time since membership records have been kept, more Germans departed the Roman Catholic Church than were baptized into it in 2010, according to new data from Germany’s Catholic Conference of Bishops. The new statistics,…

(RNS) — Leaders of the Episcopal, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches in Alabama filed a federal lawsuit on Aug. 1 to stop enforcement of the state’s new immigration law, which they say could strike at the core of their ability…

(RNS) — A group of military atheists have won the backing of U.S. Army officials to hold a “Rock Beyond Belief” concert for nonbelievers at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg next year. The victory came after several church-state separation watchdog groups…

LIVINGSTON, N.J. (RNS) — It started as a simple gesture. But it could have implications far beyond the quiet New Jersey street where Patrick Racaniello affixed a wooden cross on a tree in his front yard. Livingston Township officials say…