CONNECTICUT
Connecticut is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to its east, Massachusetts to its north, New York to its west, and Long Island Sound to its south. Its capital is Hartford, and its most populous city is Bridgeport. Historically, the state is part of New England as well as the tri-state area with New York and New Jersey. The state is named for the Connecticut River which approximately bisects the state. The word Connecticut is derived from various anglicized spellings of Quinnetuket, a Mohegan-Pequot word for "long tidal river". As of the 2020 United States census, Connecticut was home to over 3.6 million residents, its highest decennial count ever, growing every decade since 1790. Connecticut's first European settlers were Dutchmen who established a small, short-lived settlement called House of Hope in Hartford at the confluence of the Park and Connecticut Rivers. Half of Connecticut was initially claimed by the Dutch colony New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers, although the first major settlements were established in the 1630s by the English. Thomas Hooker led a band of followers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded the Connecticut Colony; other settlers from Massachusetts founded the Saybrook Colony and the New Haven Colony. The Connecticut and New Haven colonies established documents of Fundamental Orders, considered the first constitutions in America. In 1662, the three colonies were merged under a royal charter, making Connecticut a crown colony. Connecticut was one of the Thirteen Colonies which rejected British rule in the American Revolution. It was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States.
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After five CT cities fly Christian flag, man wants 'Church of Satanology' to have equal time At First Bilingual Christian Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, this Sunday, the congregation was praying, in both Spanish and English, for President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump. Whether you agree with the election results or not, a pastor told the congregation, the Bible says to pray for those who are in power. But most people here do agree with those results. Latino voters moved toward Trump by double-digit margins, according to some exit polls, and that support is especially strong among Latino evangelicals. (CT Insider 4/28/25) READ MORE>>>>> Wooster Square Church's Activist Priest Against Christian Nationalism The Episcopal Church of St. Paul and St. James, affectionately known as St. PJ’s around its Wooster Square neighborhood, has a familiar-yet-new face at the helm. The Rev. Nathan Empsall, a former associate priest and supply (or substitute) preacher at the church, is now settling in as the new priest-in-charge. The parish is now led by Empsall, former executive director of the 200,000-member Christian organization Faithful America. Empsall was the director of Faithful America from 2019 until January 2025, an online community of approximately 200,000 grassroots Christians putting faith into action for love and social justice and against white Christian nationalism. A resource guide against Christian nationalism that Empsall authored for Faithful America -- including a preachers' toolkit -- received national recognition from the Southern Poverty Law Center. In 2024, Faithful America protested religious support for Donald Trump's re-election campaign with a 15-foot-tall balloon of a Golden Calf featuring Trump's hairdo. (Patch 4/24/25) READ MORE>>>>> Latino evangelicals praise Donald Trump as president-elect who respects Christians At First Bilingual Christian Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, this Sunday, the congregation was praying, in both Spanish and English, for President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump. Whether you agree with the election results or not, a pastor told the congregation, the Bible says to pray for those who are in power. But most people here do agree with those results. Latino voters moved toward Trump by double-digit margins, according to some exit polls, and that support is especially strong among Latino evangelicals. (Connecticut PBS 11/14/24) READ MORE>>>>> A long-abandoned Christian theme park sits just off a US highway. Will it rise again? I climb out of my car atop Pine Hill and for a moment feel like I’ve stepped into a vintage postcard. The city of Waterbury fans out below in muted tones of red brick, oxidized copper, and gray. Behind me is the reason I’m standing here in the bracing cold — a 65-foot-tall and 28-foot-wide cross, the focal point of Holy Land USA. To a tired child sitting in the backseat of the family car whizzing down the I-84, the towering illuminated cross was a mile marker that was as mysterious as it was foreboding. I must have passed it 100 times: on family vacations, on my way to Camp Ramah and then Camp Tevya, on school field trips to Hartford, and later, when I lived in Brookline, Massachusetts, on my way to visit my parents in Danbury. While it always piqued my curiosity, I had never planned to visit, content to let it remain an enigma — but when your editor asks you to write about one of the landmarks of your youth, it’s hard to resist. (Times Of Israel 1/10/24) READ MORE>>>>> |
April 4, 2025: Connecticut Examiner reported: A proposal to legalize the composting of human remains as an environmentally friendly alternative to burial and cremation was met with opposition from Republican legislators and the Catholic Church. State Rep. Christine Palm, D-Chester, vice chair of the Environment Committee, told CT Examiner that the practice is sanitary, safe and gives families dignity, while also preventing the release of carbon emissions associated with cremation and the burial of toxins in soil. “This can be a new model for funeral parlors. This is what people used to do. This is a permissive law; it would not be mandated anymore than we say everyone must get cremated. It’s an alternative to the existing ways we have of disposing of a human corpse,” Palm said. Feb 15, 2023: Religion News reported: A 300-year-old church hopes to connect with spiritual but not religious neighbors. For three centuries, Trinity Episcopal Church has tried to meet the spiritual needs of the small community of Southport, Connecticut, about an hour and a half outside of New York.
November 22, 2023: Catholic News Agency reported: A recently appointed coadjutor archbishop in Connecticut said he would, if asked, advise Pope Francis to “get [the Church] out of Rome” and move its headquarters elsewhere, and consider allowing women to serve as deacons. Pope Francis appointed Bishop Christopher Coyne as coadjutor archbishop of Hartford in June of this year. As coadjutor, Coyne will assist Archbishop Leonard Blair in the administration of the Hartford Archdiocese and should succeed him as archbishop upon the latter’s retirement, expected once Blair turns 75 next year. |