How important is religious literacy?

Boston University professor Stephen Prothero says you need to be literate about religion in order to be an effective citizen. And he says religious literacy is on the decline in the U.S. In his new book, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't, he notes that while 20 million bibles a year are sold in the United States, many people are unable to name the authors of the Gospels or one of the apostles.



Read a Zenit report about religious literacy in Ireland and the U.S. here.

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Concerned about the future church?

You're not alone. Futurist Rex Miller writes:

The current church model (denominational, contemporary and postmodern) stands on the same modern platform along with every other institution that holds our world together. Our industrial mindset infiltrates the Church with its “efficient spiritual delivery” system approach. This efficient spiritual delivery system poisons the well of community life and threatens our spiritual eco-system. We should ask, “Are we creating the same kind of unintended negative consequences that every other institution now faces?” What if the activities of our traditional church model actually induces lostness?

Read more of Miller's thoughts and concerns about the future here.

If you want to hear him live, and you are in the Dallas area, click here.

Church kids are better behaved

According to LiveScience.com:

Kids with religious parents are better behaved and adjusted than other children, according to a new study that is the first to look at the effects of religion on young child development....



The kids whose parents regularly attended religious services—especially when both parents did so frequently—and talked with their kids about religion were rated by both parents and teachers as having better self-control, social skills and approaches to learning than kids with non-religious parents.

Read the entire story here.

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Read anything good lately?

TeachersFirst.com has list of all-time great works for students young and old. While this list contains many classics for adult and young adult readers, it also includes many contemporary works, as well as material suitable for milddle school students. And they have links to loads of specialty lists, including Banned Books Online, A Guide to Girl's Literature, and Hispanic Fiction for Young Adults.

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Why the church isn't dying

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest archdiocese, with over 4.4 million Catholics, celebrated two Rites of Election in order to accommodate all 1,294 catechumens and their sponsors. In addition to the catechumens, nearly 1,500 candidates in Los Angeles will be formally welcomed into the church Holy Saturday.

To read more about the tens of thousands of people who joined the Catholic Church last weekend, click here.

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How green is your parish?

Today, Palm Sunday, many churches will be using "eco-palms" in their liturgies.

Slightly more expensive than the average palm, eco-palms are the rage in churches across the United States because of the social and environmental benefits they represent. They are collected in a way that helps preserve the forest, and more of the sale price ends up in the pockets of the people who cut them.

Read the entire story in the New York Times.

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