NEW YORK In recent years, Christians have had more babies than any other religious group worldwide. But by 2035, Muslims are projected to experience the higher birth rate, putting the world’s two largest religions on track to have a near equal share of the global population by 2060, according to a demographic analysis released Wednesday. […]

NEWCASTLE The Second Congregational Church, UCC in Newcastle has announced its Eastertide calendar of activities, open to the public. Palm Sunday, April 9, Worship Service and Childcare/ Sunday School: Beginning at 10 a.m., join the church for a special service beginning with a Palm parade and processional remembering Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Special music will […]

“Do not neglect to do good and share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Hebrews 13:16 Something happens when we sacrifice. We give up something for Lent and we acquire self-discipline and willpower. When we forgive another person we let go of our feelings of resentment, and we end up setting […]

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The 89-year-old president of the Mormon church is expected to return to his normal schedule after being released from the hospital. Eric Hawkins, a spokesman for the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, says that President Thomas S. Monson was released from the hospital in Salt Lake City […]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The lawyer for a rector charged with embezzling more than $500,000 from a priest retirement home near Philadelphia says his client is remorseful and remains on the job. Federal prosecutors have charged Monsignor William A. Dombrow with skimming money meant for Villa St. Joseph. The Philadelphia Archdiocese runs the facility to house […]

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina church leaders have told a Boy Scout troop and Cub Scout pack they’re no longer welcome to use their facilities as a home base after the Boy Scouts of America decided in January to allow transgender boys. The Charlotte Observer reports Coddle Creek Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Mooresville […]

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis will wash the feet of inmates at a prison known for housing mafia turncoats in an Easter week ritual meant to show his willingness to serve. The Paliano prison, located in a huge fortress outside Rome, houses many of Italy’s “collaborators of justice,” who can shave time off their […]

BRUNSWICK The Maine Jung Center has announced that Dr. Bernard Sartorius will be speaking on April 28 and 29 in Brunswick. In the summer of 2015, three members of the Maine Jung Center traveled to Switzerland to attend a conference at the C.G. Jung Institute of Zurich. There they witnessed presentations of Jungian analyst Bernard […]

PORTLAND Members of youth ministry and students at Maine Catholic schools will present the Living Stations of the Cross around the state leading up to Easter Sunday, April 16. The Stations of the Cross began as the practice of pious pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem to retrace the final journey of Jesus Christ to Calvary. They […]

DAMARISCOTTA Savory Maine will host a seder on the second night of Passover, April 11, from 5:30- 8:30pm. The Passover Seder is a ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish Holiday of Passover and it includes a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt from […]