Read a Religion News Service story on the newly approved Mary apparition.

The Rev. Johann G. Roten, an internationally recognized expert on Mary, is director of research and special projects for the Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton, a Marianist Catholic college in Ohio. The library has one of the largest collections of resources on the Virgin Mary in the world, and it […]

Jay Marshall wrote Thanking and Blessing: The Sacred Art. He is dean of the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Ind., and a Quaker minister.

Sheryl Cates is executive director of the Texas Council on Family Violence, an organization that works to educate the community about domestic violence. It has formed partnerships with different faith groups across Texas and publishes a brochure for clergy about responding to domestic violence. It is based in Austin, Texas.

The Rev. Amanda Hendler-Voss is senior pastor at First Congregational UCC in Washington, D.C., and a member of the Wellspring Clergywomen’s Alliance of the Black Church and Domestic Violence Institute.

This December 2011 research report by North Caroline State University reports on the increase of incidents in which church members ask their religious leaders for financial advice.

Read a December 2011 story published in the Huffington Post about Pope Benedict XVI’s connection between the world economic crisis and the lack of religious faith.

Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh has taught and written extensively on the Buddhist understanding of love. His books on the subject include True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart and Teachings on Love. Nhat Hanh lives in Plum Village in France , but teaches around the world. Read an excerpt from True Love at Beliefnet.com. Nhat Hanh’s organization in the U.S. is […]

John K. Cochran is a professor of criminology at the University of South Florida in Tampa and has written widely on religion and crime.