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-- Associated Press
MEMPHIS
Church Gives Worshipers $30,000 To Help Improve Others' Lives
The offerings at a church in Memphis have been reversed. On Sunday, Pastor Chris Bennett passed out 600 envelopes containing a total of $30,000, exhorting his congregation at Christ the Rock Church to take a "radical step of faith" and give the money away in random acts of kindness.
The envelopes contained varying amounts of cash, from $5 to $500. Pamela Beck-McQuade received an envelope containing $100. She bought three $33 supermarket gift certificates and gave them to shoppers. She planned to give the other dollar to a child.
The money had been donated by major church supporters.
-- Associated Press
CATHOLICS
Church Is Growing in Africa As Numbers Stall, Drop Elsewhere
Africa is the Catholic Church's region of biggest growth, with rising numbers of faithful, clergy and religious orders, according to Vatican statistics. But the church's growth in the Americas has largely stalled, and Europe's share of the world's largest church continues to decline.
The findings appeared in May 18 issue of the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
Although the world's proportion of baptized Catholics remained roughly the same over the seven-year period -- 1.1 billion Catholics, or 17.3 percent of the world's population -- its geographical distribution shifted markedly.
The most notable change was in Africa, where the share of the worldwide church rose from 12.4 percent to 14 percent.
The Western Hemisphere held steady with about half of the world's Catholics and 30 percent of its priests. Asia's share of the world's Catholic population also remained unchanged at 10 percent. The church continued to shrink in its traditional heartland, Europe, where the portion of the world's Catholics fell from 26.8 percent to 25 percent.
-- Religion News Service
