Religion News Service

As Christian churches cancel in-person services to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus, many have embraced "virtual" Communion: Some celebrate via livestream; others encourage parishioners to bring their own bread to videoconference meetings.

While we are all focused on what is happening in the United States and Europe, we should realize that things are going to be much worse in the Middle East. The situation in refugee camps was already desperate before the pandemic; now it will be devastating.

In an online statement, conservative Catholic Cardinal Raymond Burke said that access to Mass and the sacraments must not be denied even as the world faces the coronavirus pandemic.

Were you — out of quarantine boredom perhaps — to Google "patron saint of pandemics," you might be surprised by the results.

It is easy to ignore death when we are young or in good health, but sickness and other disasters force us to recognize our finitude. A pandemic makes it impossible not to think about death.

Across the country, houses of worship like City Road and other faith organizations have shut down their in-person services but are mobilizing to assist vulnerable community members who require assistance with grocery shopping, paying bills, picking up prescriptions and other tasks during the outbreak.

On March 19, Trump administration officials continued to call out those who have violated government recommendations to avoid meeting in groups larger than 10 people, particularly younger Americans who have continued to dine out at bars and restaurants.

The call from a member of my community came at 11:30 March 15 evening. “The test came back positive. I have the virus.”

When students at Harvard University received an email from the school announcing that students had five days to pack up and move out of their residence halls, anxiety spiked across campus.

The decision to cancel church gatherings was not easy, but it was correct. Religious leaders who don't follow the advice of public health officials are being reckless and immoral by putting their congregants and others at risk.

A couple of weeks ago, Religion Communication Congress executive Shirley Struchen thought plans were set for the once-a-decade conference she had helped organize, just as she had two times before.

The process for composting a body was first introduced by the Seattle-based company Recompose. A dead body is broken down through a process known as Natural Organic Reduction by placing the body in a reusable vessel, covering it with wood chips and aerating it, which creates an environment for microbes and essential bacteria. The body, over a span of about 30 days, is fully transformed into soil.

"Social distancing" sounds un-Christian, but we need to listen to medical experts. As with doctors, the first rule of a Christian at this time is "Do no harm." That means not doing anything that might spread the virus to others.

Every week, thousands of Catholics from all walks of life swarm into St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican to participate in Mass with Pope Francis, who has put concern for the poor at the center of his papacy.

As anti-Muslim violence continues in India, the city of Albany, New York, has become the third U.S. city to pass a resolution denouncing the far-right Indian government's changes to citizenship laws that have drawn international condemnations alleging anti-Muslim bias.

If you look at the candidates for the Democratic nomination, it is hard to find any making an overt or even subtle appeal to Catholic Democrats. It is the dog that didn't bark.

I decided to give up Donald Trump for Lent, the 40-day period from Ash Wednesday (Feb. 26) to Easter Sunday when Catholics traditionally do penance.

In one of my earliest memories, my father is warning me about a famous man, "Remember, he still puts his pants on one leg at a time." I remembered this warning when I heard about the fall of another famous icon, Jean Vanier.

As the star of the play "Tolton: From Slave to Priest," actor Jim Coleman was portraying the life of the Rev. Augustus Tolton, the first known African American to serve as a Catholic priest in the United States.

One year after Pope Francis called for a summit of Catholic bishops at the Vatican, abuse survivors flocked to the Eternal City on Feb. 20 to report a lack of progress and accountability in the fight against clergy sex abuse.