ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610150005
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Coping with bereavement
"The Heart of Grief: Lessons in Hope and Healing" will be presented Nov. 15 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at The Marriott Hotel in Roanoke. The seminar, which is primarily for religion and social service professionals, will be led by Dr. Alan D. Wolfelt, an author and educator with a specialty in death issues. The registration fee of $15 includes lunch. Call 982-2100 for registration details. The seminar also is open to anyone who has been recently bereaved.
Alzheimer's lectures
Dr. David B. Trinkle of the staff of the Department of Psychiatric Medicine at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital will speak on "When Alzheimer's Disease Strikes: Helping Families Cope." This first of a series of breakfast lectures especially for religion professionals will be Oct. 22 from 7:30 to 9 a.m. in Conference Room A of Columbia Lewis-Gale Hospital in Salem. The meal is free, but registration is requested by noon Friday. Call 776-4730.
Wood-splitting day
Bedford Christian Ministries is sponsoring a wood-splitting day Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church, 1307 Oakwood St. in Bedford. Trees felled by the city of Bedford will be cut and split into firewood to be given to eligible needy families this winter. Volunteers with chain saws, splitters and trucks are needed.
Denominations meet
National and international leaders of Episcopal and Lutheran denominations held their first meeting earlier this month in Pennsylvania. They discussed the proposed Concordat of Agreement on which both churches' national assemblies are scheduled to vote next summer.
If approved by the church assemblies, the concordat will permit Episcopalians and Lutherans to share worship and recognize ordination of each other's ministers. It will not result in a merger.
Among those at the meeting were Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey of London, the Rev. Gunther Gassmann, a former staff member of the World Council of Churches, and the spiritual heads of American Episcopalians and Lutherans, Bishops Edmond Browning and George Anderson.
Sister Parish movement
A Lutheran pastor who pioneered the Sister Church movement in which American congregations team with those in Latin America countries will speak Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Blacksburg.
Richard P. Fenske, who works in a poor neighborhood in Guatemala and is the author of a recent book, "In the Good Struggle: The Sister Parish Movement," was moved by a 1984 visit to Nicaragua and three years later set up an agency to promote the sharing of faith experiences among church people rather than charity. The host church has been involved in such a relationship for two years. Call 552-0539 for more information.
Hollins lecture series
The Alvord M. Beardslee Lectures, named for a long-time chaplain and professor of religion at Hollins College, will be at the school Wednesdays through Nov. 5. All will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Green Drawing Room of the Main Building.
Next week the theme of "Suspicion, Affirmation and Holiness: The Ordinary Life" will be discussed by Dr. Janet McDowell, Protestant ethicist and Planned Parenthood staff member. On Oct. 23 Rabbi Kathy Cohen of Roanoke's Temple Emanuel will speak on "Returning to Nature: Judaism and Sexuality." The Oct. 30 lecture will be given by Dr. Farzaneh Milani, who teaches Persian and women's studies at the University of Virginia. Her theme will be "Why Barbie Never Veils: Women, Body and Islam." The final presentation, "Sexuality as Sacrament," will be Nov. 5 with Andrea Sexton of Roanoke, a Roman Catholic lay woman, the speaker.
Christianity in South Africa
The percentage of Christians among South Africa's nonblack population is declining significantly, but there has been a dramatic increase in the number of black Christians, according to Dutch Reformed theologian Jurgen Hendriks.
In a recently published book, "Meeting the Future," he said black Christians are joining African "independent" groups, not mainstream denominations that originated in Europe. He observed that this same movement appeared in Western Europe just after World War II and has been affecting the United States for the past 30 years. It is fast becoming "the mainstream" for South Africa, Hendriks said.
British priests speak out
A British Roman Catholic cardinal, Basil Hume of London, said recently that the Catholic rule that priests must not marry could be relaxed because "it is church law, not divine law."
Hume observed that "many excellent people" are being lost to Catholic leadership because they want to be married. Another British prelate, Bishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Arundel and Brighton, agreed with Hume. The men commented on a BBC radio broadcast the day after the resignation of another British Catholic bishop, Roderick Wright, who is accused of living with a divorced mother of three.
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