Julia Duin

DUIN: Episcopalians eye gay bishop

The Rev. Mary Glasspool, an Episcopal priest who commutes daily from Annapolis to her office at the Baltimore-based Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, may be on the verge of a much longer journey.

December 3, 2009

DUIN: Fewer candidates for a religious life

Near the end of the annual Catholic bishops' meeting in Baltimore last week, Brother Paul Bednarczyk, executive director of the National Religious Vocation Conference, came to the podium to say what's working and not working in terms of drawing men and women into religious orders.

November 29, 2009

CITIZEN JOURNALISM: Reclaiming Catholicism

A new effort by the nation's Catholic bishops to protect marriage got plaudits recently from several prelates, including Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl.

November 27, 2009

DUIN: Priest sex abuse study eyes ‘context’

Last week, at the annual business meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, there was the oddest presentation at their Tuesday morning session.

November 26, 2009

China holds lawyer who tried to see Obama

American activists are demanding Obama administration action on the arrest of Chinese human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, who was dragged away from his home in front of his family after being drawn back to China by the possibility of a meeting with President Obama in Beijing.

November 24, 2009

DUIN: Women invisible in religion realm

Fifty percent of the evangelical Christian world is hidden. They're known as women.

November 22, 2009

Religious leaders vow civil disobedience on anti-life issues

More than 150 leaders across a spectrum of conservative Christianity on Friday released a 4,700-word document vowing civil disobedience if they are forced to take part in "anti-life acts" or bless gay marriages.

November 21, 2009

Lutherans second church to split over gays

Conservative members of America's largest Lutheran denomination announced Wednesday that they are splitting from the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, making it the second mainline Protestant church to undergo a major schism over the issue of homosexuality and related matters of biblical authority.

November 19, 2009

DUIN: Catholics celebrate their stand on health bill

It was hard to miss the jubilation in the halls of the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel this week. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was taking a lot of the credit for getting more than 60 Democratic votes on Nov. 7 for a last-minute amendment to President Obama's health care bill that says no federally subsidized insurance plan can cover abortion.

November 19, 2009

Bishops’ letter defines marriage

The nation's Catholic bishops approved a pastoral letter on marriage Tuesday as their pivotal effort in their battle to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

November 18, 2009

Cardinal: lobbying health reform is duty

Cardinal Francis George, president of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops, defended the bishops' decision to play an active role in shaping national health care legislation, saying Monday that the church must be the "leaven" in the country's political debate.

November 17, 2009

Catholic Bishops’ leader defends role in health debate

Cardinal Francis George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, defended the bishops' involvement in national health care legislation Monday, saying the church must be "leaven" in the debate.

November 16, 2009

DUIN: Orthodox unity sought in U.S.

Although I am the granddaughter of a German immigrant, I don't see myself as ethnically German. Why, then, are Orthodox churches so intensely ethnic decades after their members have left the old country?

November 15, 2009

Former clinic director: Church chilly to my pro-life turn

Abby Johnson, the former Planned Parenthood clinic director whose about-face on abortion prompted her to resign her job, says she's gotten flack for her decision from an unexpected quarter: her own church.

November 13, 2009

DUIN: Obama silent on One Child policy

It was the mute appeal to President Obama that was so heart-rending. It came in the form of a photo -- placed in a prominent spot during the congressional hearing -- of a young Chinese woman on a hospital bed gazing down at what had been her baby. To her left, on a bright yellow plastic bag, was a 7-month-old aborted child.

November 12, 2009

DUIN: For ‘cultural’ Jews, focus not on God

Last Sunday, my daughter and I visited a gathering of Jews who don't believe in God, where the rabbi identifies himself as a bisexual atheist and the first 45 minutes are spent doing Israeli folk dances.

November 8, 2009

Muslims stunned by Fort Hood shooting

Stunned Muslims were trying to understand Friday why a normally soft-spoken Army officer who served on his local mosque's charity committee allegedly fatally shot 13 people at the sprawling Fort Hood military base in Texas.

November 7, 2009

DUIN: Osteen’s book again upbeat

Joel Osteen is unquestionably the 21st century's Norman Vincent Peale, churning out book after book of homespun advice on how to set goals, conquer adversity and believe God for better times.

November 5, 2009

Patriarch calls for sacrifice to save Earth

Preserving the planet is linked to saving the human soul, the leader of the world's Orthodox Christians said Wednesday at the Brookings Institution.

November 5, 2009

Orthodox head brings ‘green’ views to D.C.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual head of the world's 250 million to 300 million Orthodox Christians, arrived in Washington on Sunday night bearing the standard as the world's foremost religious leader on environmental issues.

November 2, 2009