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Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, a Texas mega­church pastor and former spiritual adviser to two US presidents, has been sentenced to six years in prison for bilking investors out of millions of dollars.

Caldwell, who in March 2020 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was the senior pastor of Houston’s Wind­sor Village United Methodist Church, which has about 14,000 members. He’s been a spiritual adviser to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Dina González-Piña has been named executive director of  Mennonite Central Committee’s West Coast regional office. Previously, she served as the ethnicity and gender equity specialist for MCC’s US national office.

On January 14, Patrick O’Neill reported to the Federal Cor­rectional Institution near Elkton, Ohio, to serve a 14-month sentence for breaking into a nuclear submarine base as part of a symbolic nuclear disarmament action he took with six other Catholic pacifists more than two years ago.

On his way to prison, O’Neill took up a new cause: protecting inmates from COVID-19.

A longtime military officer and minister has been named the new chaplain of the US House of Representatives.

Rear Adm. Margaret Grun Kibben will be the first woman to serve as chaplain of either chamber of Congress, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement. Kibben, an ordained Presbyterian Church (USA) minister, has previously served as the US Navy’s chief chaplain and as chaplain of the Marine Corps.

“Her integrity, experience and patriotism will serve the Congress and the Country well, as she ministers to the needs of Members,” said Pelosi.

Russian riot police stormed into a monastery on December 29 to detain a rebel monk who has castigated the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church leadership and denied the existence of the coronavirus.

On December 29, the 65-year-old monk, known as Father Sergiy, was quickly flown to Moscow and charged with inciting suicidal actions through sermons in which he urged be­lievers to “die for Russia.” He denied the accusations.

Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German na­tional conference of Catholic prelates, called for a more inclusive church on Decem­ber 29, suggesting that the Catholic hierarchy could shift its positions on women’s ordination and homosexuality.

According to the Catholic News Ser­vice, Bätzing, who heads the Diocese of Limburg, near Frankfurt, told a German magazine that while it is important to “honestly state the church’s arguments as to why the sacramental ministry can only be given to men,” those arguments are becoming less convincing over time.