Roman Catholic parishes prepare for Fatima Statue
PHOTO FROM PILGRIMVIRGINSTATUE.COM
The International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima will be touring the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City through August.
The statue will arrive in Oklahoma on Saturday, Aug. 2 at St. Peter Catholic Church in Guymon.
The mission of the tour is to spread Our Lady of Fatima’s message that was given to the children of Fatima and to bring the presence of Mary to people, according to the Sooner Catholic, the official archdiocese newspaper.
During the presentation at Oklahoma parishes, a tour spokesman will discuss the statue and the message of Fatima. Each parish has its own schedule of events that will occur when the statue arrives.
For more information, go to the statue’s official Web site.
Meanwhile, if you’d like to catch one of the presentations, here is a listing of several statue tour dates and parishes, courtesy of the Sooner Catholics:
Aug. 2, St. Peter Catholic Church, Guymon
Aug. 3, St. Peter Catholic Church, Woodward
Aug. 5, Church of St. Mary, Ponca City
Aug. 6, St. Joseph Catholic Church, Bison
Aug. 7, Saints Peter and Paul, Kingfisher
Aug. 8, St. Matthew Catholic Church, Elk City
Aug. 10, St. Patrick Catholic Church, Anadarko
Aug. 11, Holy Family Catholic Church, Lawton
Aug. 12, St. Helen Catholic Church, Frederick
Aug. 14, St. Thomas More, Norman
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Celebration for Israel continues on
PHOTO FROM SHALOMTV.COM/Actress Valerie Harper, best known for her starring role on TV’s “Rhoda, ” talks with a Shalom TV correspondent at Sunday’s Salute to Israel Parade on New York’s Fifth Avenue.
The Jewish communities in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metropolitan areas gathered together in May to celebrate the 60th birthday of the modern state of Israel, but the festivities have continued elsewhere.
Due to the wonders of technology, Internet surfers can see Shalom TV’s exclusive coverage of this year’s Salute to Israel Parade up New York’s Fifth Avenue marking the the 60th anniversary.
A Shalom TV news release said the presentation includes a panoramic view of the procession: Twenty marching bands, 42 floats and 100,000 marchers. Stage, screen and television stars like Valerie Harper, Ron Rifkin and Richard Kind also are featured as part of the gala presentation.
An estimated 1 million spectators line Fifth Avenue to see the parade on Sunday, Shalom TV reported.
Shalom TV, America’s Jewish cable television network, is available as a free Video On Demand service coast-to-coast on both Comcast and Time Warner Cable and is also carried elsewhere.
Go online to Shalom TV for more information about the channel and to view video highlights of the recent parade.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Bishop Ed at Lambeth
PHOTO FROM EPISCOPALOKLAHOMA.ORG/The Rt. Rev. Edward Konieczny, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, poses for a picture with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, at the 2008 Lambeth Conference in England.
As he prepared to travel to the much-anticipated Lambeth Conference, Bishop Edward Konieczny predicted that some difficult conversations were ahead for participants of the once-a-decade event in England.
Apparently those weighty matters have descended upon n bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, and others attending the conference set to wrap up on Sunday.
As promised, Konieczny has been posting missives about the conference on the Oklahoma diocese’s Web site. In his most recent posting Konieczny said hearings regarding the Windsor Report began yesterday.
The Windsor Report was issued in 2003 by a group of leaders in the worldwide Anglican Communion. It sharply criticized the Episcopal Church USA, the American arm of the Anglican Communion, for the 2003 consecration of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop (V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire – who, by the way, was excluded from Lambeth, but is meeting in an area near the prestigious gathering with some bishops and other leaders supporters).
The homosexuality issue, which has been so divisive for the Anglican Communion, possibly will take center stage at Lambeth later as well. Konieczny said in the next few days, the bishops are to discuss, among other things, human sexuality.
He once again predicted there will be more difficult conversations, but seemed hopeful that some leaders have been able to at least share their opinions and beliefs face-to-face, which is what Lambeth is really all about.
“I am still hopeful that through those who are faithfully entering into personal conversations and dialogue, we as a Communion can find a way forward,” Konieczny wrote.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Safety in the pews
The same church doors that invite in the lost, the weary and the downtrodden also swing open for people bent on hurt others.
Such was the case Sunday, when a man gunned down two people and injured several others at a Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tenn.
According to The Associated Press, Jim D. Adkisson, 58, has been charged with first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of two members of Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Seven others were wounded as they sat watching a children’s musical performance at the church.
Was there anything the church could have done to prevent such a tragedy from occurring?
Should churches lock their doors during events and activities and worship services, in an effort to prevent people from coming in and victimizing the congregation?
The issue poses some tough questions.
I did a story on the subject a few years ago and some church leaders said they had security personnel for special events and some worship services, but most did not.
Most of them said they could not foresee locking church doors during services and events because they would risk shutting out those who need ministry.
What do you say?
What can be done to make churches and houses of worship more safe during worship services and activities?
Let me know by sending me an e-mail at chinton@oklahoman.com.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Update: First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City is hosting a prayer vigil for the Tennesee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church congregation at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at 600 NW 13.
Sweet melodies at local temple
The old adage “you learn something new everyday” couldn’t have been more appropriate as I set out to work on a short story about the new cantor-in-residence at Temple B’nai Israel in Oklahoma City.
The new cantor, Adelle Nicholson, visited the temple for a first round of Shabbat services, workshops and choir rehearsals last weekend.
PHOTO BY NATE BILLINGS/Cantor-in-residence Adelle Nicholson
In talking to Rabbi Barry Cohen about the latest addition to the temple (featured on the cover of The Oklahoman’s July 26 Religion Section), I learned that a cantor is one of two religious leaders at most Jewish synagogues and temples.
Many people outside the Jewish faith community are probably more familar with rabbis as Jewish faith leaders, but may not know that a cantor also plays an integral role as a Jewish religious leader.
Cohen said cantors have always been a vital part of the life and well-being of the typical synagogue.
Cantors are musicians who help enhance the temple prayer service and they lead various activities such as workshops and perform some pastoral duties.
The hope is that I can get Nicholson to come to the OPUBCO video studio for a song or perhaps I can tape her singing during one of her workshops or rehearsals at the temple, 4901 N Pennsylvania, to share her gifts and talents with the community-at-large via The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com.
It would be nice to hear her sweet melodies now being enjoyed by the Temple B’nai congregation.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Ancient Bible just a mouse click away
This week a portion of a fourth-century Bible was posted online.
The Codex Sinaiticus is thought to be one of the world’s oldest Bibles.
The British Library just started a new project to reconnect portions of the 1,600-year-old Bible in digital form. Project leaders said the Codex Sinaiticus includes what religious scholars believe is the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament.
According to the Religion News Service, parts of the ancient Bible are presently being kept in Leipzig, Germany; St. Petersburg, Russia; St. Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt’s Sinai.
Apparently those lucky enough to have seen parts of the Bible up close have only been able to see just a few pages at a time.
Curious about the project? Go online to www.codex-sinaiticus.net to view this ancient manuscript.
Project leaders said another part of the Codex is scheduled to go online in November and by July 2009 all of its existing pages (in handwritten Greek) are expected to be online.
Faith at bat
I watch baseball from time to time, but don’t necessarily have any favorite players that I keep up with.
That may change.
I heard about Major League Baseball player Josh Hamilton from a co-worker and began to read about his journey of redemption from golden boy to cocaine addict to overcomer.
Hamilton, a Texas Ranger, was amazing during Monday night’s Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium.
He gave the crowd something to cheer for as he knocked the ball out “home run style” time after time after time. His talent on the baseball field is obvious, but his testimony of faith speaks louder than anything he can do at bat.
He was the top pick in the 1999 Major League Baseball draft, but by 2002 he had been suspended because of his substance abuse. He spent years on the outside of the baseball arena looking in as he sought to overcome the addiction that had brought him low.
Hamilton stands out because he’s not ashamed to give God the credit for the success he enjoys today.
According to one report his mission now is to be a “ray of hope.”
He appears to be on his way to doing just that.
Co-worker Pat Gilliland summed it up best:
“He didn’t win the derby but he did win– just by being there.”
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Muslims speak out against cartoon
A satirical cartoon depicting U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama has caused a stir with some Oklahoma Muslim leaders.
Razi Hashmi, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Oklahoma chapter, said the cartoon illustration on the July 21 cover of The New Yorker magazine is offensive to Muslims in more ways than one.
The illustration was created by Barry Blitt and shows Obama (who professes to be a Christian) wearing traditional Muslim clothing of a turban, robe and sandals. His wife, Michelle, is shown with a huge afro, dressed in combat boots and camouflage, and wearing an assault rifle over her shoulder.
In the background beyond the couple, a picture over the fireplace depicts an image that looks a lot like terrorist Osama Bin Laden, Hashmi said.
Hashmi said the illustration is “anti-Muslim” in that it ”tries to link Islam with all these negative things” like racism and terrorism.
Hashmi said he and others at CAIR have found out that the leaders at The New Yorker are saying the cartoon, called “The Politics of Fear,” is an illustration of the way people with right-wing leanings are portraying Obama.
He said he thinks their idea to cast aspersions on right-wingers actually just did the opposite by helping spread the anti-Muslim and racist notions that they are attributing to the right-wing.
“It fell short,” Hashmi said of the illustration.
“It basically attacked them (the Obamas) just like the right-wingers.”
Hashmi said first, “everyone knows Obama is a Christian.”
Second, he said the Islamophobia” that he sees as central to the cartoon is distasteful.
“There is nothing wrong with being Muslim.”
