ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 30, 1995 TAG: 9601020017
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
Klein to retire
The Rev. William Rupert Klein will retire on Easter Sunday from a 29-year pastorate at Second Presbyterian Church in downtown Roanoke. Klein, 66, said he and his wife, Dorothy, plan to remain in the Roanoke Valley. A son, the Rev. William M. Klein, recently became pastor of Lexington Presbyterian Church.
Klein, a native of Atlanta, came to the largest congregational in Presbytery of the Peaks from Rock Hill, S.C. He had previously served a church in Black Mountain, N.C. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College and Union Theological Seminary in Richmond. In 1968 he succeeded the Rev. A.H. Hollingsworth, who had been pastor of the church for 26 years. Hollingsworth is now in a Roanoke nursing home.
Campus ministries
An expanded campus ministry to Southern Baptist students at three Lexington-area colleges, Washington & Lee University, the Virginia Military Institute and Southern Virginia College for Women, will be made possible by an endowment gift of more than $85,000. It comes from the estate of Betty Davis Via of Charlottesville through the Virginia Baptist General Association. Via had early ties with Clifton Forge Baptist Church.
12th Night concert
Gaudete, a Martinsville choral group, will present a Twelfth Night concert Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church, 311 E. Church St. in Martinsville. To include Christmas music, it will mark the end of the liturgical season of Jesus' birth. Call 632-2896 for more information.
Breakfast program
"What Did I Say Yes To?: The Stewardship of Time" will be the theme of a Jan. 16 breakfast program for Western Virginia religion professionals. It will be held at Roanoke Memorial Hospital and is part of the Physician-Clergy Dialogues jointly sponsored by the Roanoke Valley Ministers Conference and the Roanoke Academy of Medicine. Leaders will be Dr. Blackford Noland, an internist, and the Rev. Charles G. Fuller, pastor of First Baptist Church in downtown Roanoke. The program will begin with a complimentary breakfast at 7 and will end by 8. The goal is to bring together leaders in the medical and religious vocations.
Cable subscribers
The Faith & Values Channel, a cable TV network devoted to educational programs of a variety of religious faiths, broke the 25-million subscriber mark in 1995, according to its public relations department. A news release from the A.C. Nielsen Co. showed audience levels to be among the highest ever recorded by the channel. The network attributes its growth to the need of baby-boomer-age parents seeking family programming that supports a broad religious perspective and human values. Recent top-rated shows were ``Peaceable Kingdom,'' ``Father Murphy'' and ``Palmerstown,'' with high ratings also going to ``Day of Discovery,'' ``Ethics in America'' and the ``Mormon Tabernacle Choir.'' In 1994 Cox Cable added the channel for its subscribers. Salem Cable has offered the channel for several years.
Volunteer ministers
Registration is open for two days of training to be a volunteer minister with the ecumenical Industrial and Commercial Ministries organization. The seminar will be at Heritage United Methodist Church on Leesville Road in Lynchburg on Feb. 26-27. Training will equip ordained or lay adults to serve as volunteer chaplains in their communities when invited by industrial, hospital, law-enforcement, fire-fighting or retail establishment leaders.
Attendance at the seminar neither guarantees placement nor obligates trainees to spend the required four hours weekly. For more information, call Elizabeth Evans at (804) 845-3427.
CORA anniversary
The Commission on Religion in Appalachia - CORA - is marking its 30th year by bringing more community service organizations into its decision-making. Born during the ``national war on poverty'' in the 1960s, CORA is an umbrella organization that coordinates ministries of 19 denominations and 16 ecumenical partners. It works with more than 75 grassroots community improvement groups in 13 states that seek better housing, jobs, health care and nutrition for low-income residents of the mountains. Formerly strategists for CORA concentrated on trying to bring more jobs into the region, which includes Southwest Virginia. The goal today is to continue to encourage practical programs, such as home improvements and child care, in the rural and town communities where they are needed.
Priests asked to give
DENVER - About 120 Catholic priests in Colorado have been asked to give thousands to a charity drive, and some are not happy about it.
The priests - all of whom work for the Denver Archdiocese and receive a salary of $1,200 a month - have been asked to donate $5,000 of their own money to the Denver Catholic Archdiocese's fund-raising drive.
The five-year drive, dubbed ``Hearts on Fire,'' is expected to raise $64 million for a variety of programs, including education, priests' retirement and aid to the poor.
Priests are being encouraged, not ordered, to give, the Rev. John V. Anderson said.
``I don't feel like we can ask the people to give if we don't give ourselves,'' he said.
The reaction has not been overwhelming.
``Priests will always complain, but they'll do it because it's worthwhile,'' said the Rev. Robert Kinkel, pastor of Spirit of Christ Church in Arvada. ``This is where the rubber hits the road. It's a question of faith.''
But the Rev. Patrick Kennedy, pastor of Our Lady of Grace Church in northeast Denver, said getting the money from each priest may be tough.
``A lot of us live hand to mouth, like the people,'' he said.
The Rev. Daniel Flaherty, pastor of Spirit of Peace Church in Longmont, agreed: ``Two-thirds won't give, including me - $1,000 is almost one-tenth of my income.''
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