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June 1, 2017

Catholic farmer ousted from Michigan market over same-sex marriage views

Catholic farmer Stephen Tennes is suing the City of East Lansing, Mich. after he was banned from a farmers' market because of his refusal to host a lesbian couple's wedding

A Catholic farmer in Michigan is suing the city of East Lansing after he was barred from a municipal farmers market over his views on same-sex marriage.

Published in International
February 23, 2016

Bishop Bradley decries shootings in Kalamazoo, Michigan, prays for victims

Flowers are placed at a makeshift memorial Feb. 22 near the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Kalamazoo, Mich., where one person died in a random shooting. Five other people also were killed and two others were wounded during the Feb. 20 shootings.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Expressing shock and sadness, Bishop Paul J. Bradley of Kalamazoo offered prayers for the six people who were killed and two others who were injured by a gunman in the western Michigan city.

Published in International
January 20, 2016

Religious groups focus on Flint’s water woes

Flint resident Ruby Adolph carries bottled water and a replacement water filter she received at a fire station in Flint, Mich., on Jan. 13, 2016.

Catholic Charities is giving out water and food. The Flint Jewish Federation is collecting water and water filters. And the Michigan Muslim Community Council has distributed more than 120,000 bottles of clean water for Flint, Mich.

Published in International
May 18, 2012

Maronite patriarch urges Lebanese in US to help save Lebanon

An altar server attends to the Divine Liturgy celebrated by Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai at St. Sharbel Maronite Church in Warren, Mich., May 13. The leader of the Maronite Catholic Church, whose home base is Lebanon, was in the Detroit area for a past oral visit. Michigan has an estimated 100,000 Maronites and has one of the largest Arab populations in the States.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. - The spiritual leader of Maronite Catholics urged Lebanese in the Detroit area to play a role in the salvation of their homeland during his pastoral visit May 13.

Patriarch Bechara Rai said people of Lebanese origin or heritage in America should use their experience of the way people of various ethnicities, religions and political persuasions live peacefully together in the U.S. to help forge a new civil pact among the contending factions in Lebanon.

"You are living in the great country of the United States, and here the allegiance is not to the person, it is not to the party, it is to the country. It is from you the solution must come," Patriarch Rai told the more than 850 people who attended a banquet in his honor in Shelby Township.

Published in International
January 19, 2012

Ruling over Michigan teacher's firing could have far-reaching implications

The U.S. Supreme Court justices gather for an official picture at the court in Washington in 2010.

WASHINGTON - The direction the courts will take with other cases related to religious employment is far from clear, but the Supreme Court's Jan. 11 ruling opens a whole track of possibilities.

The decision in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC held that fired teacher Cheryl Perich could not sue under federal disability discrimination laws, because the Michigan Lutheran school where she worked considered her a "called" minister.

Writing for a unanimous court, Chief Justice John Roberts said the government cannot require a church to retain an unwanted minister because doing so "intrudes upon more than a mere employment decision. Such action interferes with the internal governance of the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs."

Published in International