I liked the idea of a church prepared to make this slightly outrageous claim.
The disclosures come as the church prepares to face intense scrutiny by the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA), which starts hearing evidence next month.
A handful of people huddled inside the chilly church vestibule at midday on Saturday, as the church prepared to do its first social outreach since the blaze: giving away 400 coats.
Every year in May, as the church prepares for the annual festival of Our Lady of China when her image is paraded around the village, police set up checkpoints on the narrow roads leading to Donglu to prevent non-locals from attending.
Her mother forbids her to go, because "mixing" is the worst crime in the South, but Roxie, feeling sorr for Laurance, finally gives in and goes, without telling her mother, to the "white" church, prepared to say that she is simply dusting the organ for Laurance if anyone questions her presence.
How do the practices of the church prepare us ?
Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and the editor-at-large of America Magazine, said the Nichols' comments gave him hope that the topic would be discussed more openly as the church prepares for the 2015 session.
The hardline African churches preparing to walk out of next week's meeting are disproportionately involved in wars and in immense civilian suffering.
In our pallid age, with so few churches prepared to advertise the bracing effects of eternal damnation, it has been left to movie directors and pulp novelists to revel in mortal rot.
In that role, Aten helps churches prepare to respond to disasters in their communities, including mass shootings.
