Biden attends church on Election Day (Politico) Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden began Election Day by going to church with his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, and two of his granddaughters. The family members entered St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Wilmington, Del., at 7:10 a.m. EST, according to pool reports and left the historic Roman Catholic Church at 7:27 a.m. Biden then walked across the street to the cemetery where his son, Beau, his first wife and his daughter are buried…

California priest removed from ministry; diocese issues restraining order (KFSN) A Catholic priest with a past got removed from his church in Selma this weekend over a story of sex, drugs, and weapons. “You don’t expect a priest to be packed, to have those type of weapons,” said legal analyst Ralph Torres. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno got a restraining order to protect church employees — all the way up to Bishop Joseph Brennan — from one of their own priests. Father Guadalupe Rios still has his name on the church marquee at St. Joseph’s Church in Selma, but the man himself is not allowed within 100 yards of the property…

Faith leaders play election peacemakers (AP) Yehudah Webster, wearing a neon vest with an “Election Defenders” tag around his neck, started his Tuesday outside a Brooklyn polling place. Only the gray yarmulke Webster wore hinted at his specific role: faith-based observer on a uniquely anxious Election Day in America. Webster, an organizer with the progressive group Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, is part of a broader network of faith leaders fanning out to the polls nationwide – to support voters by providing a peaceful presence and, if necessary, defusing any tense moments. The religious community’s engagement on Election Day goes beyond physical attendance at the polls, too, with other clergy offering up public prayer for an unobstructed electoral process…

Many dioceses offering free interment of cremated remains (CNA) While most Catholic cemeteries have always helped the poor bury their dead, some started more official programs and advertisements of their free interment services starting in 2016, when the Vatican issued the document “To Rise with Christ.” The document clarified cremation guidelines and reminded Catholics that ashes may not be scattered or otherwise kept from burial or interment, despite widespread “new ideas contrary to the Church’s faith…”

Vatican announces details of this year’s Nativity Scene outside St. Peter’s (CNA) The Christmas scene for 2020 will be the “monumental Nativity scene of the Castelli,” consisting of larger than life-size ceramic statues made by teachers and alumni of an art institute in the Italian region of Abruzzo. The nativity set, made in the 1960s and 1970s, “not only represents a cultural symbol for the whole of Abruzzo, but is also considered an object of contemporary art that has its roots in the traditional processing of castellana ceramics,” the Vatican press release said…

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