Unitarians Universalists to hear talk about hope
Charlie Clements will present “Finding Hope Where Hope is Hard to Find” at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango, 419 San Juan Drive.
Clements will explore where he and others – who deal with issues such as the Ebola epidemic in West Africa or the instability in Gaza, Ukraine and Syria – find hope when hope seems hard to find.
For more information, visit www.durangouu.org.
Samhaim Celebration to be held Thursday
A Samhaim Celebration and potluck to honor the turning of the season and people who have passed will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 419 San Juan Drive.
For more information, email CUUPSDurango@gmail.com.
Methodist panel hears appeal over gay wedding
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A Methodist pastor who was disciplined for officiating at his son’s same-sex wedding will soon find out whether he can remain an ordained minister in the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination.
The Rev. Frank Schaefer was suspended and then defrocked last year after refusing to promise to refrain from conducting same-sex marriages in the future. The action against Schaefer – who officiated at his son’s 2007 wedding in Massachusetts – was taken after a church trial in Pennsylvania.
An appeals panel restored Schaefer’s pastoral credentials in June, but that decision is being challenged. The United Methodist Church’s Judicial Council, the denomination’s highest judicial body, heard arguments in the case Wednesday in Memphis.
The Rev. Scott Campbell, who represents Schaefer, told the council that Schaefer’s defrocking was wrongly imposed as a punishment for a possible future action, something church rules do not allow.
The Rev. Christopher Fisher, representing the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference, said the punishment was appropriately directed at Schaefer’s refusal to promise that he would uphold the Methodist law book in its entirety, “the same condition required of every United Methodist elder,” Fisher said.
While Schaefer is not the only Methodist minister to face church discipline for his stance on homosexuality, he is the most high-profile. His case has galvanized opposition to official church doctrine.
The Judicial Council is not expected to announce a decision until several days after its meeting concludes today. Its decisions are final.
Pope to visit Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia in Turkey
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis will visit sites that recall Turkey’s often-tumultuous history as a cultural crossroads between continents and faiths during a three-day visit to the country next month.
The Vatican announced Tuesday that Francis’ first stop on the Nov. 28-30 trip will be a visit to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. He will also meet Turkey’s president and prime minister.
The pope travels the next day to Istanbul, where he will visit the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, an ancient Christian cathedral that was transformed into a mosque after the Muslim conquest of Constantinople and is now a museum.
Herald Staff & Associated Press
