“Secular Reasons to Mark Religious Days”
Read a Feb. 17, 2013, New York Times article about the debate over religious federal holidays in the U.S.
Faith: Catholicism
“Government Observances of Good Friday & Easter”
A segment on the web site About.com looks at the legal questions surrounding making Good Friday a state holiday.
“Pope Francis and Hispanic American Catholics”
Read about the decline of Hispanic-Catholic community that was once booming in this Feb. 26, 2013 Public Religion Research Institute article.
“Way of the Cross”
Read a New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia entry on the history of the Way – or Stations – of the Cross.
Esdras Betancourt
Esdras Betancourt is director of the Hispanic Ministries department of the Church of God, in Cleveland, Tenn.
Gerald R. Barnes
Gerald R. Barnes is executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs, whose mission is to assist the Catholic Church in its efforts to serve the large Hispanic population in the United States.
“Foot-washing edict divides local Catholics”
Read an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story from April 2, 2004 about Archbishop John F. Donoghue order of priests from that archdiocese to not wash women’s feet.
“Prelate disallows women in ritual washing of the feet is limited to males”
Read an April 10, 2004, Boston Globe story describing how Roman Catholic Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley declined to wash the feet of women on Holy Thursday, saying that Jesus had only male disciples.
“Washing of Feet and Hands”
Read an article on the history of foot-washing (and the connection between this ceremony and baptism) from the Catholic Encyclopedia.