Vatican v China; Defiant Catholics; Water from Mecca; Canadian secularism

Vatican correspondent Stacy Meichtry reports in Thursday's RNS report that the Vatican is considering taking a harder line towards China: The Vatican's push for dialogue with China is set to go under the microscope Friday (Jan. 19), when a group of the pope's top advisers will meet to discuss whether the Vatican should take a harder line towards Beijing for repeatedly consecrating bishops without the pope's approval. The two-day conference, which the Vatican confirmed in a statement on Thursday, underscores the difficulty Pope Benedict XVI faces in restoring formal ties with Beijing that were severed more than a half-century ago. Although relations began to thaw in recent years, especially after Benedict's election, the push for reconciliation has also intensified a power struggle for control over China's Roman Catholic clergy.

Jeff Diamant reports on defiant Catholics who leave the church, but keep their faith: She grew up Roman Catholic, but like millions of others, Rebecca Ortelli came to disagree with church teachings on contraception, Communion and priestly celibacy, among other things. Many like-minded Catholics drift away from the church or join other denominations. But Ortelli, 57, wanted to maintain both her Catholic identity and her world view. And she didn't want to feel one was inconsistent with the other. So 20 years ago she did what a small number of defiant Catholics are doing. She joined a church with many lifelong Catholics of similar views, a church that borrows heavily from Catholic rituals even though it's not part of a Catholic diocese.

Kathleen O'Brien writes about Muslims who bring "zamzam" water back from Mecca: It makes perfect sense to carry water to the desert. But why would anyone take the trouble to bring some back? If it is "zamzam" water, the answer is 1,400 years old: Muslims returning from the Hajj pilgrimage value it as a liquid memento from the holy city of Mecca. Once home, they drink it for its curative powers, and give small amounts -- along with dates -- to friends and relatives as a means of celebrating completion of their journey. They may even set aside some for their death, when it can be used both as a final ablution and to wash the burial shroud.

Will Canadian Secularism Spread South of the Border?, asks Vancouver correspondent Douglas Todd: The religious history of Canada is basically summed up in a scene in Denys Arcand's comedy-drama, "The Barbarian Invasions," says Mark Noll, one of the United States' most prominent religious historians. An aging priest laments what happened to Christianity in heavily Catholic Quebec. "In 1966 all the churches emptied out in a few weeks," the priest says. "No one can figure out why." The decline of Canadian Christianity may not have been quite so rapid, but Noll said Canada's transformation from a distinctly "Christian" nation to a decidedly secular one has recently caught the attention of American religious historians. Could it happen south of the border? Noll says probably not, but says it's a question worth asking.