Lead story

Ministers aid seafarers caught in Baltimore bridge crisis

Editor's note:

With the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge last week, seafarers from eight ships – including the Dali vessel that struck the bridge – are stranded in the Baltimore port. For the crew members, most of them international, home is a long way off and their journeys far from over. As government officials work to mitigate the broad effects of the crisis, Baltimore-based seafarer ministries are focusing on the immediate needs of the marooned crews. Part of a wider group of national maritime ministries, their constituency is usually in a constant state of movement – sailing from one port to the next. “The seafarers are used to working through the unknown kind of situations ‘cause they’re at the mercy of the tide and the weather,” Andy Middleton, a lay Catholic ecumenical minister who directs the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Apostleship of the Sea, told RNS’s Adelle M. Banks. “What they’re not used to is being in one place for this long.”

Religion News

Some state lawmakers want school chaplains as part of a ‘rescue mission’ for public education 

Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have proposed legislation to allow spiritual chaplains in public schools, a move that proponents say will ease a youth mental health crisis, bolster staff retention and offer spiritual care to students who can’t afford or access religious schools. By Hannah Fingerhut/The Associated Press

High court ruling on Haredi draft exemption may set Israel on course for new elections

The draft exemptions, long a flashpoint issue in Israeli politics, have become even more fraught since the start of the war in Gaza, as Israel has called up over 300,000 reservists to active service while still exempting Haredis studying Torah.  By David I. Klein/Religion News Service

In crime-stricken Haiti, Catholic priests and nuns are targeted as kidnap victims

Kidnappings by criminal gangs have continued to terrorize the country's residents, not least Catholic priests and other missionaries. In 2024 alone, at least 14 priests and religious brothers and sisters were abducted. By Eduardo Campos Lima/Religion News Service

French soccer federation limits support for players’ Ramadan observance. Critics see discrimination 

For Muslim soccer players in deeply secular France, observing Ramadan can be a challenge. The country’s soccer federation does not make things easy for international players who want to refrain from drinking or eating from dawn to sunset during the Islamic holy month. By Samuel Petrequin/The Associated Press 

LGBTQ-inclusive church in Cuba welcomes all in a country that once sent gay people to labor camps 

After the 1959 revolution, Cuba repressed gay people and many were sent to labor camps. But the communist-run island has made strides since then regarding LGBTQ+ rights, as epitomized by an inclusive church where the pastor recently married her wife. By Luis Andes Henao/The Associated Press

Commentary and Analysis

69% of US Muslims always give to charities during Ramadan, fulfilling a religious obligation

During the month-long period of fasting, the obligation of zakat takes on heightened significance.  By Shariq Siddiqui for The Conversation

One year ago, Pope Francis disavowed the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ – but Indigenous Catholics’ work for respect and recognition goes back decades

Indigenous Catholics have long argued they should be able to embrace both sides of that identity. By Eben Levey for The Conversation

For the Maya, solar eclipses were a sign of heavenly clashes − and their astronomers kept sophisticated records to predict them

The skies and the gods were inseparable in Maya culture. Astronomers kept careful track of events like eclipses in order to perform the renewal ceremonies to continue the world's cycles of rebirth. By Kimberly H. Breuer for The Conversation

Hanuman’s emergence as a pop-culture icon shows West is waking up to Hinduism

Dev Patel's movie is the latest positive depiction of Hindu ideals in the shape of the deity Hanuman. By Murali Balaji/Religion News Service

Photos of the Week: Holy Week

Catholic clergy hold candles as they walk during the Washing of the Feet procession at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

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