ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 6, 1996 TAG: 9601100010
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: staff and wire reports
Catholics resettle 527
The Office of Refugee and Immigration Services of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond resettled 527 people in 1995, an increase of 16 percent over the previous year. According to the diocesan office, refugees from Cuba accounted for the largest number with nearly half the resettled coming from that country. Of the other refugees, 30 percent were Vietnamese, 13 percent Bosnian and the remainder Iraqi and Ukrainian. The regional office in Roanoke resettled 188 of the newcomers.
Video seminars set
Antioch Church of the Brethren, 2996 Callaway Road in Franklin County, on Sunday will begin a series of video seminars for those who have recently experienced divorce or separation. Scheduled for 13 weeks on Sunday afternoons from 3:30 to 5, the seminars will cover the issues of anger, forgiveness, loneliness and children. Registration cost for materials is $14.50. Call the Rev. Rebecca Baile-Crouse, pastor, at 483-2087 for more information.
Book of prayers
Bishop Richard Bansemer, spiritual and administrative leader of Virginia members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has published a book of prayers and meditations based on Martin Luther's Small Catechism. Bansemer, who lives in Salem, has previously published several books of sermons. His newest work amplifies the meaning of some basic beliefs of Lutherans. It costs $7.50. Call 389-1000 to order.
Guest speakers
Several guest preachers are scheduled for Hollins College's Sunday night chapel services beginning Jan. 28. All services, held at 7:30 in duPont Chapel, are open to the public as well as the college community. The college's visiting theologian, the Rev. Graham Sweeney of Birmingham, England, will speak for the first service and again on Feb. 11. He is a Free Church chaplain at two universities.
The March 17 speaker will be the Rev. Robert Thomason of Alexandria, coordinator of Virginia Campus Ministry Forum. On April 14 the Rev. Thomas Chu of New York will preach; he heads Episcopal young adult and campus work on the national level. The Rev. Darrell Headrick, chaplain at Randolph-Macon College at Ashland, will preach April 21. The final guest preacher will be the Rev. David Hardy Dorsey, associate chaplain at the University of Richmond, who will be at Hollins on May 5.
Dove winner to perform
Al Denson, a contemporary Christian singer, will perform Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at Cave Spring High School. He has received several Dove Award nominations and served as national artist in residence for the Youth for Christ organization. Tickets at $6 per person are available at Christian bookstores or by sending a check payable to radio station Spirit FM, P.O. Box 20065, Roanoke, Va. 24018.
Catholic assembly
Seven social issues said to be relevant theologically because they affect the quality of human life will be watched by Virginia Roman Catholic leaders as the General Assembly convenes next week. The Catholic Virginian, diocesan newspaper, lists these as abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, health care, homelessness, poverty and violence.
Members of the church are urged to write their representatives to support parental notification of abortion to reduce teen pregnancy, to oppose expanded use of the death penalty and to support a ban on assisted suicide. On health care, homelessness and poverty legislators are asked to oppose budget cuts that hurt the poor. The church's recommendation to reduce violence is to emphasize prevention services, reduce overcrowding in juvenile reform homes and keep violent youth apart from the majority of young offenders.
HIV Outreach
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - David Conklin long has held to fundamentalist Christian beliefs.
Now, he speaks of something else fundamental to his life: ``I have AIDS. I'm going to die.''
Conklin, 35, is still holding to his beliefs. He has founded HIV Outreach, a support group for people with the virus that causes AIDS.
HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. In this instance, it also stands for ``He Intends Victory.''
On a recent radio program, Conklin condemned pornography and called homosexuality sinful, though that is the way in which he contracted AIDS. But he said HIV Outreach is finding room within Christian teaching for love and forgiveness toward those with the disease that will take his life.
``We're going to wake up the Christian community,'' Conklin told The Grand Rapids Press. ``You don't have to water down your beliefs to care about people with HIV and AIDS. You don't have to compromise the moral absolutes you hold to show compassion to people who have HIV and AIDS. ...
``This ministry is not an attack on the gay or lesbian community,'' he said. ``What they've done in educating their own community on AIDS is phenomenal. But we feel we're filling a niche that's not already being filled.''
Nightclub now a church
HICKMAN, Ky. - Who says you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear?
Ask the Rev. George Frazier. The congregation he pastors, the Greater Mount Zion Church of God in Christ, has purchased the former Riverview nightclub and converted it into a church.
And Frazier says that turning the formerly infamous club from ``a place of ill repute into a place of comfort, joy and peace'' is one of his greatest accomplishments as a minister.
His 150-member strong congregation recently held Sunday services in the building's large kitchen while pews and carpet were being installed in the new auditorium, the club's former dance floor.
As Frazier put it: ``It's not a devil-worshiping place anymore.''
Before the lounge closed last year for violating state alcoholic beverage laws, it was a common site for late-night stabbings, shootings and other violent crimes.
To rid the building of its nightclub atmosphere, the minister removed blue lights, moved out pool tables and took down a number of what he called ``underworld pictures and drawings.''
``It was a pleasurable experience,'' Frazier told The Hickman Courier. ``The more I got into it, the more I enjoyed it.''
During his cleanup, Frazier found a decorative Halloween ghost in a closet and a pitchfork from a devil costume in a corner. He showed the items to church members at their first service in the building.
``Well looka here,'' Frazier told the congregation. ``We've got a ghost and the devil's fork. I think we've frightened the devil so that he forgot his fork and he left because he doesn't have a ghost of a chance.''
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