Beyond Belief
Offering More
With more and more gluten-free options for breads available in grocery stores, last month, the Vatican reminded Catholics to be wary of the alternatives for altar bread. At Pope Francis’ request, the July letter reminded Catholics around the world that the bread they use for mass should contain wheat and water only, and to be…
Swaying to the Music
At happy moments, Jim and Leslie Donigan often find themselves dancing to “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars,” the Andy Williams hit that has been their song since they first met at a pizza joint in Mission, Kansas, decades ago. One of those dance-worthy occasions took place late last year, at the end of a long…
Coming To Peace
One June morning, in 2002, the bells at a Benedictine abbey in northwest Missouri tolled dozens of times The 83 rings was not random, coming a day after a murderous rampage inside Conception Abbey. The number represented the combined number of years two slain monks had lived at the abbey, which is located about 100…
(Faith)fully Serving Listeners
Virtually every Sunday morning for more than two decades, the Rev. Robert Lee Hill has left his Brookside home before sunrise to make his way to the studios of KCMO radio. The live talk show he co-hosts with Rabbi Michael Zedek and Bill Scholl of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has also become…
Using An Old Custom To Lure New Parishioners
For the last half century, membership numbers in Mainline U.S. Protestant churches have gone mostly in one direction — down. Protestants once constituted a large majority of the American population. And Mainline churches — the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ, the Christian…