To achieve its goal, the parish launched “Super Sundays,” which strives to make youth faith formation enjoyable and lively, while drawing parents out of their cars in the parking lot and into classes of their own. Bob McMorrow, the parish’s director of evangelization and catechesis, said that he knows from his own large family that kids sometimes balk at going to religion class. Being a dad, he had a few ideas about how to change attitudes.
The Nome City Council is moving forward with an unprecedented plan to tax local churches and nonprofits in an effort to increase city coffers. A recent article by KNOM.org reports that with the city budget projected to run a deficit, the council plans to move forward with an ordinance to remove sales tax exemptions from more than 40 local nonprofits including St. Joseph Catholic Church and 10 other churches. The city estimates the move will bring it an added $300,000. If the proposal passes, Nome would become the first town in the nation to tax its churches.