Derry Journal: New website launched celebrating Derry’s patron saint St Columba. “With 2021 marking the 1500th anniversary of the birth of Colmcille, a new website has been set up which will promote all of the celebrations taking place as part of the historic occasion of the patron saint’s birth.”
Park Bugle: People in Your Neighborhood: Peter Mercer-Taylor. “In October, 2020, Mercer-Taylor celebrated the publication of his second and most recent book, ‘Gems of Exquisite Beauty: How Hymnody Carried Classical Music to America.’ Equally significant is his project’s digital archive… that includes 278 hymn tunes’ scores with piano recordings.”
Washington Post: Preachers and their $5,000 sneakers: Why one man started an Instagram account showing churches’ wealth. “On his feed, [Ben] Kirby has showcased Seattle pastor Judah Smith’s $3,600 Gucci jacket, Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes’s $1,250 Louboutin fanny pack and Miami pastor Guillermo Maldonado’s $2,541 Ricci crocodile belt. And he considers Paula White, former president Donald Trump’s most trusted pastoral adviser who is often photographed in designer items, a PreachersNSneakers ‘content goldmine,’ posting a photo of her wearing $785 Stella McCartney sneakers.”
Independent Catholic News: Celebrating the life and poetry of John Bradburne. “Earlier this month the John Bradburne Memorial Society (JBMS) launched its 100-day Poetry Project, in honour of the life and work for his Centenary Year in 2021. For the following 100 days, leading up to John’s 100th Birthday on 14 June 2021, prominent figures and supporters will read out one of John’s poems on the Society’s YouTube channel. (See link below) You can also visit the JBMS poetry website where Professor David Crystal has compiled all of John Bradburne’s poetry to an online database.”
AP: Israeli experts announce discovery of new Dead Sea scrolls. “Israeli archaeologists on Tuesday announced the discovery of dozens of new Dead Sea Scroll fragments bearing a biblical text found in a desert cave and believed hidden during a Jewish revolt against Rome nearly 1,900 years ago.”
BusinessWire: MyHeritage Adds Lithuanian-Jewish Historical Records in Coordination with LitvakSIG (PRESS RELEASE). “MyHeritage, the leading global service for discovering your past and empowering your future, and LitvakSIG, a U.S. non-profit organization providing the primary online resource for Lithuanian-Jewish genealogy research worldwide, jointly announced today the publication of an important compilation of Lithuanian-Jewish historical records by MyHeritage. The records in this collection were originally translated and indexed by LitvakSIG, and represent almost the entire corpus of LitvakSIG’s work over more than twenty years. These records have now been added to MyHeritage’s historical record database.”
BBC: In pictures: 3D return for Bamiyan Buddha destroyed by Taliban. “The ancient sandstone carvings in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan valley were once the world’s tallest Buddhas – but they were lost forever when the Taliban blew them up 20 years ago. One made a poignant return on Tuesday night in the form of a 3D projection, glowing in the rocky alcove where it used to stand.”
NBC News: Latino churches push Covid vaccine enrollment, but some spread misinformation. “As the president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, with a database of over 6,000 pastors, Gabriel Salguero was getting messages from pastors and parishioners commenting about posts they had seen on social media about the Covid-19 vaccine. The information included false claims that the vaccines would alter people’s DNA, that microchips would be inserted and used to track people and that tissue from fetuses that had been aborted was used to develop the vaccines. That’s when Salguero decided to step up and create ways to educate members about the vaccines and help with vaccination efforts.”
Spotted via my Google Alerts: Collecting These Times: American Jewish Experiences of the Pandemic. From the front page: “COVID-19 has altered the way people engaged with their communities and religious practices. Collecting These Times connects American Jews to Jewish institutions and other collecting projects which can gather and preserve their experiences of the pandemic. Individuals can find relevant collecting projects through the portal and easily contribute materials such as images, videos, audio recordings, documents, and oral histories to collecting institutions in different parts of the U.S.”
Deseret News: The Wilford Woodruff Papers website is live. Here’s what you need to know. “Very few in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints kept records like Wilford Woodruff. Starting in 1828, Woodruff’s meticulous records document his extensive ministry and missionary service, the teachings of Joseph Smith and other leaders, daily happenings, his witness of the church’s Restoration and other significant events until his death in 1898. That roughly translates into more than 11,000 pages in 31 daybooks and journals. The fourth president of the church also penned over 13,000 letters, receiving more than 17,000 in return.”
The Indian Express: To boost Buddhism, UGC plans ambitious database on courses, scholars and research. “In an ambitious plan to promote India as a global hub for Buddhist heritage and tourism, the University Grants Commission (UGC) plans to create a database pertaining to Pali and Buddhist studies.”
BBC: Covid-19: Sri Lanka chooses remote island for burials. “A remote island has been chosen by Sri Lanka’s government for the burial of Covid-19 victims from the minority Muslim and Christian communities. The government previously forced minorities to cremate their dead in line with the practice of the majority Buddhists. It claimed burials would contaminate ground water. But the government backed down last week in the face of vehement criticism from rights groups.”
American Ancestors: Massachusetts Catholic Cemetery Records Now Available Online. “Researchers can now search hundreds of thousands of records containing detailed information about people buried in eastern Massachusetts Catholic cemeteries through a new online database, thanks to a partnership between American Ancestors/New England Historic Genealogical Society, the Archive Department of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston (RCAB), and The Catholic Cemetery Association of the Archdiocese of Boston, Inc. (CCA).” You will have to have a membership to American Ancestors.
British Library: Qur’an manuscripts from Southeast Asia digitised by the Endangered Archives Programme. “I have recently been writing on the British Library’s collection of eight Qur’an manuscripts from Southeast Asia, which have all been digitised. These eight manuscripts represent three regional traditions in the Malay world, with one fine Qu r’an from Patani on the East Coast of the Malay peninsula, three from Aceh and four from Java. However, many more Qur’an manuscripts, mostly still held in private collections in Southeast Asia, are available digitally on the British Library website through the Endangered Archives Programme (EAP).”
Wired: The Digital Divide Is Giving American Churches Hell. “For places of worship, Covid-19 has upended traditions and emptied sacred spaces. About 45 percent of Americans attend religious services regularly, most of them in Christian churches, like Buckhead Church. Or they did, until last spring. Then shutdowns and stay-at-home orders sent congregations scrambling to move their services online, similar to schools and workplaces.”
