Religion
Downtown KC Renaissance Seeds Congregations
As civic, commercial and residential life has blossomed in Kansas City’s Downtown in recent years, religious life has grown there, too. But that doesn’t mean it’s been easy for newly planted Downtown faith communities to flourish. “It’s been tougher in one sense than we thought it would be,” says the Rev. Troy Campbell, pastor of…
Gay Bishop Reflects Evolution of Evangelical Lutheran Church
Almost 20 years ago, I devoted a long column in The Kansas City Star to an interview with two local pastors, both in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a Mainline Protestant denomination. The ELCA was then debating whether to change its rules to allow the ordination of LGBTQIA+ people as clergy. The Rev. Donna…
Kansas City’s ‘Stunning’ Array of Sacred Music
Rockhurst University music professor Timothy L. McDonald grew up near New York City where, he says, “we have a lot of sacred music, but it’s my perception that New York has not nearly as many professional and semi-professional sacred music groups as in Kansas City. “It’s stunning to me how many such groups we have…
Retreat Centers Serve as Oases from Stressful Times
Stress — including that caused by our nation’s current political turmoil — is such a common experience that people have devised many ways to describe it, including the simple exclamation “I’m stressed out.” There’s also the phrase you’re likely to hear only in parts of New England: “I’m right out straight.” Sometimes people under age…
Sharpening Teeth of Acclaimed KC-Based Catholic Watchdog
A national (and international) Kansas City company has a new leader who grew up here but doesn’t live here now and may never call Kansas City home again. James Grimaldi began a few months ago as the new executive editor of The National Catholic Reporter, an award-winning, progressive newspaper voice for Catholicism. Given Grimaldi’s long…