In the News

It’s that time of year again: break out those brackets, pick your favorites and get ready to compete for serious bragging rights. College basketball? No, a tournament in which stakes are not as temporal as those of the NCAA, but instead reach all the way to heaven: Lent Madness.  For the fifth…

Two new candidates have emerged to succeed the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, introduced in this Boston Globe story.  The Rev. Timothy E. Crellin, vicar of St. Stephen's Church in the South End, and the Rev. Canon Margaret "Mally" Ewing Lloyd, who oversees diocesan staff and…

The Four Churches of the Southern Cross, a group of four small, local Episcopal churches, has developed a special church service for children who are autistic or have special needs. "Spirit of Grace" is held at 2 p.m. on the second Sunday of each month. The sponsoring group was conceived about one…

Facebook has added a customizable option with about 50 different terms people can use to identify their gender as well as three preferred pronoun choices: him, her or them.WBUR reached out to Cameron Partridge, a transgender chaplain at Boston University, who emailed back this response to the news:…

The Revs. Meghan T. Sweeney and Billie Mae Gordon are relatively new to their profession. So is their current situation as priest-in-charge and pastoral associate at All Saints Episcopal Church in Attleboro, a situation they called a "team approach," that may be part of a new normal for small…

The Boston Globe airs differing opinions in this follow-up story about the recent Beacon Hill rectory purchase made by Trinity Church in Boston. “We’re listening very faithfully to what everyone has to say, and we will continue to work with the vestry and the parishioners and our partners…

Since May, a giant aluminum sculpture depicting a cross-sectioned chambered nautilus has been lighting up the pediment of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston and turning heads at one of Boston’s busiest corners, G. Jeffrey Macdonald writes in this Religion News Service story in the…

The Boston Globe reports on Trinity Church's recent purchase of a new Beacon Hill rectory (a two-floor, three-bedroom condo within the buildings pictured by the Globe).  Trinity leaders explain their property investment decision as it relates to ongoing ministry of the historic church known…

“When Spencer preached, this man, who out of the pulpit was reserved, even formal, and gave the impression of being self-assured, became a person who seemed to wrestle with the same torments and doubts that his congregation had,” Elizabeth Hunnewell wrote in a preface for a collection of Rice’s…

The Diocese of Massachusetts' $7-million Mission Hub Initiative intends to kick-start more mission activity in underserved regions, strengthen ties among congregations and perhaps become a model for other dioceses where local mission partnerships are all too rare, Jeffrey MacDonald reports in this…