OK, enough with the drama. I just wanted to share a picture that was taken today during my latest adventure.

That’s me, if you are wondering, on the right, in all  my white jumpsuit in the middle of August glory. You can barely see my face, but it’s me. Actually there’s a reason I have that outfit on. That’s Brother Simeon Spitz on the left.

Learn why we are all decked out in Saturday’s (Aug. 13) Life section.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

Two more days until the weekend. 

Here are several religion stories making the rounds this week. They each caught my interest for one reason or another and I thought I’d share them.

Birmingham News: “Alabama church leaders file lawsuit to stop state’s new immigration law”

Christian Post: “Pastors seek ‘new normal’ in church budgets”

And finally, for all you baseball lovers out there, there is a story in today’s edition of the New York Times about the faith of Jack McKeon, manager of the Florida Marlins :  “A Career Sustained By Unwavering Faith”

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

A Germany-based website now allows parishioners to rate their priest.

Rate as in share opinions about how he performs at church services, protects youths and the elderly and how up to date he is, among other things.

Apparently the site was launched in April.

Read the full  story here: Yahoo.com: “Rate Your Priest on New Website”

What would happen if priests and clergymen could rate their parishners? I wonder. 

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

Watch a video that shows the historic moment when Pope Benedict joined the Twitter world.

The pontiff   (pictured here in an AP photo) made tweet history this week by writing his first tweet on an iPad and joining the world of ever-popular world of Twitter: “Dear Friends, I just launched News.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI”.

The pope’s tweet comes at a momentous time.

First, it announced a new Vatican news portal.

Also, it was launched for the feast day of St. Peter and Paul, which falls on today, June 29. Today is also the 60th anniversary of of Pope Benedict’s ordination as a priest.

There is a contingent of Oklahomans in Rome joining in the celebrations for these occasions. The Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, the archbishop for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, is in Rome to receive his pallium from the pope and there are many Oklahomans and Kansans joining him on his pilgrimage.

Read the Associated Press story on the pope’s historic tweet here:  “My tweet lord”

An iPod Vatican tour program being unveiled this week.

The Associated Press is reporting that the Holy See’s pilgrim agency is offering visitors to the Vatican museums an iPod which has a Vatican tour application designed to guide them through the vast, historic museums that draw tons of people every day.

Apparently, it’s a pilot program. It’s free, the AP reports. Visitors must leave their passport or some other similar document in exchange for the iPod, for security purposes.  Then they are free to roam the museums with their trusty iPod guide in hand.

Read more about it here: Vatican tour meets technology 

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

It seems the Vatican has initiated a more formal countdown of sorts. It has launched a new Facebook page focusing on the upcoming beatification of Pope John Paul II (pictured in AP Photo): 

http://on.fb.me/eJMIYp.

Also clips of Pope John Paul II may be seen on the Vatican’s YouTube channel for beatification:  www.youtube.com/johnpaul2

The beatification ceremony is slated for May 1 and is expected to draw many, many of the faithful to Rome.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

I’m including a link to the slideshow here: Archbishop Beltran through the years.  

I learned a lot about Catholicism through Beltran. He proved to be a very patient and kind person so that served to make our working relationship a cordial one.

Beltran (pictured at far right)  was replaced as archbishop last month by the Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley (pictured left of Beltran).

My most vivid memory of Beltran is of an interview several years ago — 2005 — when I was writing a story related to the Martin Luther King holiday.

I was talking to Beltran as the archdiocese was about to host a King holiday Mass at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in northeast Oklahoma City. 

I listened intently as he explained that he was born in Pennsylvania but his ministry career eventually took him to the deep South — Atlanta to be exact.

While there, Beltran was among the Roman Catholic clergy who marched with civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.     

That was six years ago and I’ve done countless stories on Beltran on a variety of subjects, but that story stands out to me.

It helped me to see him as a fellow human being — not just a religious official — simply trying to do his part to make the world a better place.   

I’ve include that 2005 story is below for the curious. Also, check out the slideshow featuring Beltran.

—–

Archbishop Stood With King

By Carla Hinton

Having been a twentysomething Catholic priest in Atlanta, the Most Rev. Eusebius Beltran remembers the turbulent 1960s well.

Beltran is archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. But in the ’60s, he was among the many Catholic clergy who participated in the civil-rights marches along with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 

His poignant memories of those times will make Monday’s celebration of Mass at Corpus Christi Catholic Church extra special. The King holiday Mass is a first for the Catholic church in northeast Oklahoma City.

“The tension in the country was just tremendous at that time,” said Beltran, 70, as he recalled the America of yesteryear. “They were exciting times. They were interesting times. They were wonderful times.”

A native of Pennsylvania, Beltran was ordained as a priest in 1960 by the Archdiocese of Georgia, headquartered then in Decatur, Ga. The minute he stepped off the bus into the Deep South, Beltran observed the “colored” entrances at restaurants, gasoline stations and other place, he said.

“When I first witnessed that, I was horrified.” The bus itself, of course, was segregated.

Beltran said he soon became enmeshed in the Catholic church’s advocacy role in the civil-rights movement, particularly when he became a priest in Atlanta, King’s native city.

Participating in the marches organized by King or one of his delegates became a fact of life for Beltran. He said the Catholic church was more than willing to be involved. For one thing, the church believed in equality.

In addition, Beltran said King was well-liked and respected by most Catholic clergy. An example of this was when he won the Nobel Peace Prize, and the Georgia archbishop held a celebratory reception in King’s honor.

The marches, Beltran said, were “the tool to use. They were very effective ways of getting the attention of the nation.”

Beltran remembers several marches, in particular, the marches from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in March 1965. He said he and the three priests he traveled with fully expecting to be jailed — or worse — having been warned by the Alabama police that such a fate awaited all march participants.

Beltran’s vivid recollections captured what many already know of those violent times: Three civil-rights workers — two white, one black — helping blacks register to vote had been murdered earlier in the year. Also, a church had been bombed, and three young black girls had been killed.

“These were scary times,” Beltran said.

“We (marchers) were warned by police that we would be imprisoned, and we expected to go to jail.”

Beltran said he and other marchers met in the basement of several Selma churches, where they would receive their orders for the day from King and other leaders. They spent their nights sleeping on the floors of those same basements. By day, their call to action was clearly set.

In Selma, marchers began to walk to Montgomery in support of voting rights but were stopped at a bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers were hospitalized after police used tear gas, whips and clubs against them. The media called the incident “Bloody Sunday.”

King  led another march over the same bridge several days later, and yet another one later in which the number of participants swelled to more than 25,000 by the time it reached Montgomery, according to the Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement Web site.

Beltran said he believes the local police “just couldn’t cope. It was such a major gathering of people.”

The Selma marches “ended three weeks — and three events — that represented the political and emotional peak of the modern civil-rights movement,” the civil-rights Web site said.

Did fear ever enter in Beltran’s decisions to march?

“I was never afraid, because this was something that had to be done. It was wrong,” he said. “There was a lot of prayer that went into it.”

Beltran said King was “the right man at the right time.”

As such, it is only fitting that the civil rights leader’s life be celebrated.

“He touched at the very truth of who we are as human beings,” Beltran said. “The Gospel message tells us that we are all created by God in His image and likeness, and we are all equal, and therefore we have to learn to live and work together and cooperate. King exemplified that, and he effectively challenged others to do the same.”

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

Take a picture of yourself with ashes on your forehead and send it to a website that is compiling such photos through Thursday.

It’s all part of BustedHalo.com’s Third Annual Ash Wednesday Challenge.

The challenge is one of the more unique spins on Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the Lenten season.

It is the seventh Wednesday before Easter Sunday.

Ashes used to observe the day at Christian churches come from the burning of palm leaves used during Palm Sunday services the previous year. The ashes are placed on the forehead of congregants in the sign of the cross.

 The words “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” remind believers of their mortality — that they are on Earth for a short time.

The Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday tomorrow.

Take up the Ash Wednesday challenge by visiting www.BustedHalo.com.  Readers will be able to vote for their favorite Ash Wednesday photo posted to the site. BustedHalo also offers its “2011 Fast Pray Give Lenten Calendar.”

Or perhaps you might be interest in the following tidbits of news and information, all related to the observance:

– Eternal Word Television Network, the cable channel known for its Roman Catholic-themed programming, offers an online daily Lenten calendar with Lenten reflections: Lenten calendar  

– Here’s a link to a printable Lenten calendar for children. The calendar comes courtesy of a website called Catholic Icing: Printable Lenten Calendar for Children. 

– Beliefnet.com offers several stories, commentary and other features about Lent, plus a Lenten calendar: Lent 2011 

– Loyola Press has a variety of online resources for Lenten observers, including screen savers and an interactive calender, among other things: Lenten resources

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

The Bible translation has swapped some biblical words in favor of others. Several words that will be swapped for another include “booty” and “virgin.”

Here’s more on the issue:

NPR: “New Bible Updates Language; ‘Booty’ falls by the wayside” 

ABC News: “Booty Recall: Bishops Drop Word From Bible.”

Reuters: “New American Bible Changes Some Words Such as Holocaust.”

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor