By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

(AP Photo/Heather Clark)

A makeshift memorial at St. Berard's Catholic Church in Navajo, New Mexico, where Sister Marguerite Bartz was found murdered last Sunday. The slaying has rattled an impoverished Indian reservation town.

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

As the House prepares to vote on the Democratic healthcare bill, the conservative Stop the Abortion Mandate coalition has released another ad alleging the plan uses federal dollars for abortion coverage. Most Democrats deny the charge.

Here's the spot, airing today and tomorrow on CNN's Headline News:

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Unlike his predecessor, recently installed New York archbishop Timothy Dolan was expected to use his proximity to the nation's most powerful media outlets to raise the Roman Catholic Church's public profile. He hasn't yet; can you name the last time you saw him on TV?

But Dolan is making some waves by attacking one of the nation's top news organizations, the New York Times. And the Times is hitting back.

In a blog post last week, Dolan accused the Times of harboring an anti-Catholic bais. Here's a sampling:

On October 16, Laurie Goodstein of the Times offered a front page, above-the-fold story on the sad episode of a Franciscan priest who had fathered a child. Even taking into account that the relationship with the mother was consensual and between two adults, and that the Franciscans have attempted to deal justly with the errant priest's responsibilities to his son, this action is still sinful, scandalous, and indefensible. However, one still has to wonder why a quarter-century old story of a sin by a priest is now suddenly more pressing and newsworthy than the war in Afghanistan, health care, and starvation-genocide in Sudan. No other cleric from religions other than Catholic ever seems to merit such attention.

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

While antiabortion groups continue attacking Democratic healthcare proposals over their abortion provisions, the big kahuna of conservative Christian groups is developing anti-healthcare-reform ads that are silent on abortion. Instead, a series of ads produced by the Family Research Council focuses entirely on the fiscal responsibility argument against a pricey federal healthcare overhaul.

Here's the latest, sent to FRC supporters last night in an attempt to raise the money to get the messages on the air:

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

In recent days, Indiana Rep. Brad Ellsworth has emerged as the key player in the House Democrats' effort to win antiabortion Democrats over to healthcare reform. Those Democrats, including Ellsworth, had opposed earlier versions of the healthcare bill over its abortion provisions.

But Ellsworth, who has a 100 percent rating from the National Right to Life Committee, is still revising an amendment dictating the bill's abortion provisions in time for a House Rules Committee meeting Friday afternoon.

Antiabortion Democrats "are still wanting to talk about what restrictions will be in place on private plans that participate in the health insurance exchange and the mechanisms for ensuring federal funds are not used to provide abortions," before signing onto the plan, says Ellsworth spokeswoman Liz Farrar.

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

"For this prayer meeting, I have no goals. I have no secret hope that more people will come. I am not driven as I was. Before I focused on the Great Commission. Now I focus on helping other people."

—Disgraced Colorado pastor Ted Haggard on a new church he's starting in his home next week

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

(AP Photo / Richard Vogel)

The marquee at the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles advertises dog-friendly Sunday services, complete with individual doggy beds and canine prayers. More churches are opening services to pets as a way to build their congregations.