Subject: Christianity

• Dear God: Please Make Mark Morford Stop Writing About You

  December 20, 2007

• Hardline Catholics: Just Because You Gays Can't 'Marry' Doesn't Mean We Should Have to Pay Taxes!

  San Francisco and Catholics just ain't gettin' along these days (if they ever did). We recently wrote about the Catholic Right urging believers nationwide to tell Mayor Gavin Newsom he's responsible for the recent graffiti on Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the Castro because Newsom permits naked men to run amok at the Folsom Street Fair. Now some hardliners are saying San Francisco is not only offending their sensibilities, but their pocketbook -- since the city assessor wants to bi

  January 20, 2009

• Everyone Look Busy: 'Black Pope' Headed to San Francisco

  Born in Spain, educated in Japan, now 'Black Pope'America now has a black president. And next week San Francisco will be getting a visit from the Black Pope. No, this has nothing to do with the deeper meanings of the Vatican's white smoke and dark smoke, and Pope Benedict XVI was not a black member of the Hitler Youth. "Black Pope" is simply a nickname for the Superior General of the Jesuit Order -- and he's a-comin' here. According to the publicity folks at the University of San Francisco -- an

  January 30, 2009

• Doing the Math: Discrepancies in Contribution Dates, Values on Disclosures from Yes on Prop. 8, Mormons

  The Mormon Church's recent "Oh, that $190,000!" disclosure to the California Secretary of State regarding its contributions to pass Proposition 8 and derail same-sex marriage should lead to a renewed bout of number-crunching from the Fair Political Practices Commission. Well, here's where to start: The amount the Yes on 8 campaign reported receiving in nonmonetary donations from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not match the amount the Mormons reported giving. What's more, th

  February 2, 2009

• Following the Money: Disclosure Discrepancies from Yes on 8, Mormons Persist -- and Grow

  On Monday, we wrote about how the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints' recent disclosure of how much it contributed to Yes on Prop. 8 was nearly $90,000 more than the amount Yes on 8 reported receiving from the Church. After several days of sifting through additional forms provided by the California Secretary of State and communications with both the Mormon Church and the treasurer of Yes on 8, that discrepancy has not been cleared up. If anything, more discrepancies have been revealed. The

  February 6, 2009

• SF Gov InAction: Supes Huddle in Closed Session to Gossip About Catholic Church and Landmark Trees

  I wish I were a supervisor. Then I could have only three meetings this week. I kid, of course: It's hard work pretending to take this stuff seriously. Monday, Feb. 22 10:30 a.m. -- City Operations & Neighborhood Services Committee If I had to pick one word to describe this meeting, it would be "quirky." As well as accepting various grants (my favorite is a grant for "children's dental disease prevention services"), Ross Mirkarimi has a bill "urging San Francisco's Congressional and

  February 23, 2009

• San Francisco 'Lesbyterian' Seeks Ordination

  Lisa LargesEven if the Presbyterian Church refuses to ordain Lisa Larges a minister, there's no denying the San Francisco woman has shown the patience of Job. Larges -- a "practicing lesbian" and practicing Presbyterian at Noe Valley Ministry (does that make her a lesbyterian?) -- was first blocked from becoming a minister in 1992 because she was openly gay. But Larges has continued the fight against "faith-based discrimination" the whole time. On Friday, the church's regional judicial commissio

  March 20, 2009

• San Francisco 'Lesbyterian' Seeking Ordination Derailed on Procedural Grounds

  Lisa LargesA San Francisco lesbian's 23-year quest to be ordained a Presbyterian minister will have to continue for God knows how much longer. While the San Francisco Presbytery in January took the monumental step of approving Noe Valley's Lisa Larges as a candidate for ordination, the church's regional commission yesterday ruled that San Francisco erred in its approval on procedural grounds. While SF Weekly has not yet been able to obtain a copy of the eight-page, highly technical ruling, the u

  March 26, 2009

• Latter-Gay Saints

  August 22, 2007

• More Mons!

  August 15, 2007

• Pulpit Nonfiction

  August 15, 2007

• No sex, no drugs, and Shields & Yarnell. It must be hell.

  April 4, 2007

• Troubled Order

  October 4, 2006

• Letters to the Editor

  January 18, 2006

• Subpoenaed -- Again

  But he couldn't dodge a determined process server

  January 18, 2006

• Levada's Secret

  January 4, 2006

• House of the Accused

  When priests within the Salesian order based in San Francisco were accused of sex abuse, the leaders chose to keep quiet.

  January 4, 2006

• Letters to the Editor

  September 7, 2005

• The Reformation of Matthew Fox

  Against the odds, an Oakland theologian -- most famous as a critic of Pope Benedict XVI -- takes his inclusive notion of Christianity global

  September 7, 2005

• Blind Eye Unto the Holy See

  Pope Benedict XVI named him Roman Catholicism's top doctrinal watchdog -- even though, as San Francisco archbishop, William J. Levada resolutely looked away from sex-abuse complaints against a renowned priest and legal scholar

  July 13, 2005

• Letters to the Editor

  Week of Wednesday, April 13, 2005

  April 13, 2005

• Cardinal Opportunity

  April 6, 2005

• Letters to the Editor

  Week of Wednesday, February 9, 2005

  February 9, 2005

• Zipped Up

  S.F. Archbishop William Levada doesn't want the public to know about decades of alleged sexual misconduct by his clerics. But why are district attorneys in San Mateo, Marin, and San Francisco helping him keep secrets?

  January 19, 2005

• Institute of Hate

  Right-wingers are targeting liberal pastors -- including at least one in S.F. -- who favor gay marriage

  February 25, 2004

• Settling Things Quietly

  January 14, 2004

• Archbishop's Thorn

  August 27, 2003

• Holy War on the Peninsula

  S.F. Archbishop Levada wants an embattled priest to leave his post at a Belmont parish. The cleric refuses to go.

  July 30, 2003

• Prosecutors' Patience Wears Thin With Levada, Mahony

  June 25, 2003

• Nailed?

  Lawyers for hundreds of sex-abuse victims have California's Catholic dioceses in a dire financial bind. Can church leaders finagle an escape, or are they ...

  June 25, 2003

• 'Scuse Us, Folks

  Sex-abuse victims may be no-shows at Archbishop Levada's upcoming public apology to them.

  June 4, 2003

• See No Evil

  S.F. Archbishop William Levada styles himself as a leading advocate for openness among Catholic leaders on the clergy sex-abuse issue. So why doesn't he practice what he preaches?

  May 21, 2003

• Letters to the Editor

  Week of April 2, 2003

  April 2, 2003

• Bishop Bad Boy

  March 19, 2003

• Un-Orthodox Behavior

  Catholicism isn't the only religion with sexual abuse scandals. Three S.F. women are working to expose cases within the Orthodox Church.

  May 22, 2002

• Corpus Christi

  October 25, 2000

• South to the Future

  April 26, 2000

• Awkward Christian Soldiers

  December 22, 1999

• Letters

  April 28, 1999

• Letters

  April 21, 1999

• God and Country, Remixed

  The Christal Methodists and Ralph Johnson turn the rhetoric of politics and religious radio against itself

  April 14, 1999

• Cothran

  April 7, 1999

• Surgery Sans Blood

  Jehovah's Witnesses refused transfusions -- and led the way to bloodless surgery

  February 17, 1999

• The Holy War Over Gay Marriage

  Eighty Methodist pastors from Northern California plan to challenge church law by co-officiating at a lesbian wedding. It's an act of conscience that could sunder America's second-largest denomination -- and bring gay marriage to the center of national co

  November 4, 1998

• The Fairfield Wives

  Dr. John Parkinson, a civic and religious leader in the perfectly suburban town of Fairfield, told women they needed pelvic exams. Long exams. Several times a week. For years. And they believed him.

  August 5, 1998

• One Weird Church

  August 14, 1996

• Letters

  February 22, 1995

• Angels & Demons has a need for speed

  May 13, 2009

• S.F. Assessor Phil Ting Takes on the Catholic Church Tomorrow Morning

  Nobody expects Phil Ting!Tomorrow morning, assessor Phil Ting will be arguing in front of the San Francisco Appeals Board that the Catholic Church owes San Francisco up to $15 million in transfer taxes -- one of the largest tax bills in the city's history. The hearing will be held at 1 South Van Ness on the second floor atrium conference room starting at 10 a.m.  Ting says the Archdiocese of San Francisco transferred ownership of 232 properties among three different nonprofits without payin

  June 15, 2009

• S.F. Pro-Lifers Will Train To Channel Angel Gabriel This Weekend

  Susan StefanskiAngel Gabriel​ For many single gals in San Francisco, a dude in an angel costume attempting to dispense advice for her pregnancy would seem like a creative ploy for pocket change. Halo headgear a la the biblical Angel Gabriel are optional for the throngs of local Catholics expected to flock to the St. Mary's Cathedral on Saturday to train in the ways of Gabriel to persuade women to bring their pregnancy to term. Not a typical message in a large

  August 27, 2009