by Stephanie Barry and The Republican | Jan 10, 2011 | News
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) A federal judge ruled that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield must bow to the altar of historic preservation in a dispute over who controls the fate of shuttered church buildings. The diocese sued the city in federal court after the...
by Jack Flynn and The Republican | Nov 3, 2010 | News
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) The first of three men charged with torching a black church hours after President Obama’s 2008 election was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday (Nov. 1) for what the judge called a “particularly vicious act of stupidity.” Benjamin J....
by Patrick Johnson and The Republican | Sep 30, 2010 | News
BELCHERTOWN, Mass. (RNS) Lord Jesus Christ has been booted from the library for recurring bad behavior. Lord Jesus Christ, a 50-year-old transgender woman who had his name legally changed after a revelation from God, received an order on Sept. 8 from the Clapp...
by Peter Goonan and The Republican | Sep 6, 2010 | News
SPRINGFIELD (RNS) A Catholic high school official in Massachusetts says she was pressured to leave her job after marrying her female partner in August. Christine M. Judd, who served as athletic director and dean of students at Cathedral High School in Springfield,...
by Stephanie Barry and The Republican | Aug 20, 2010 | News
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) The Rev. Hillary Chrisley has traveled throughout the deep South, helping to rebuild churches torched by arson, but traveling to the heart of New England was an anomaly for the pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Santa Barbara,...