Read two stories on Catholics and politics from the June 2006 edition of Sojourners magazine. One is “Who Owns The ‘Catholic Vote’?” by Maurice Timothy Reidy, an associate editor for the Catholic periodical Commonwealth. The other is “A Thorn in Both Their Sides” by Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr.

The Confessing Movement within the United Methodist Church is the leading conservative group of Methodists opposed to gay ordination (and related issues). The Confessing Movement was founded in 1994 and is based in Indianapolis. Patricia Miller is executive director.

Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal is an umbrella organization of Jewish groups dedicated to religious renewal of Judaism. It maintains a directory of affiliate communities. The main offices are in Philadelphia.

Read a June 16, 2006, story from the National Catholic Reporter by Washington correspondent Joe Feuerherd.

Michele Desmarais is the associate editor of the Journal of Religion and Film and an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. She specializes in Buddhism and other Eastern religions.

Read a March 24, 2006, Commonweal article by John J. DiIulio who is a former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and now teaches in the political science department at the University of Pennsylvania. He has also served on the domestic policy steering committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Rev. Richard A. Blake, a professor of film studies at Boston College, is a film historian and author of Afterimage: The Indelible Catholic Imagination of Six American Filmmakers. He reviews films for America magazine.

Read “States probe limits of abortion policy,” a June 22, 2006, analysis of the South Dakota law and other developments from Stateline.org.

Norton Rodriguez is the writer behind ChristianFilmmaker.com, an online ministry to filmmakers and other film professionals.