Methodist church to offer sermon series
The First United Methodist Church will present a new sermon series during Lent, the 40 days and seven Sundays before Easter.
Sermons will take a close look at what it means to break free from the bondage of the past and experience true emotional healing.
The series will follow the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero.
Participants will address a transformation of their emotional health and spirituality. This transformation will help people mature into a faith filled with authenticity and a profound love of God – even and especially when faced with interpersonal conflicts and crises.
The first of the series will be held Saturday and Sunday.
For more information, visit www.fumcdurango.org.
The ‘gifts of grace’ to be discussed
The Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris will give a talk called “The Simple Gifts of Grace” at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango, 419 San Juan Drive.
She will explore how mystery and responsibility co-exist in people’s lives.
For more information, visit www.durangouu.org.
Gay Catholics get Vatican welcome
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican did something it has never done before by giving a group of U.S. gay and lesbian Catholics VIP seats at Pope Francis’ weekly general audience on Wednesday.
But in a sign that the welcome wasn’t all it could have been, the New Ways Ministry pilgrims were identified on the Vatican’s list of attendees only as a “group of lay people accompanied by a Sister of Loretto.”
And not even that got announced: When a Vatican monsignor read out the list of the different groups of pilgrims in attendance in St. Peter’s Square, he skipped over the group altogether. Francis didn’t mention them, either.
Even without a papal shout-out, New Ways Ministry officials were nevertheless pleased that they had been invited to sit up front by Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, the prefect of the papal household who dispenses the coveted reserved tickets for Francis’ audiences.
Group challenges Bible distribution
OKLAHOMA CITY – A group that advocates keeping religion out of public schools has sent complaint letters after reports of Bibles being distributed in several Oklahoma cities.
The Oklahoman reports the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation sent letters to school districts after it was informed that Gideon’s International and the son of a state representative had been distributing Bibles to fifth-grade students in Checotah, Eufaula and Stidham.
Someone complained to the foundation after seeing a Facebook post that members of Gideon’s International had spent a morning passing out Bibles to students.
Andrew Seidel, staff attorney for the foundation, says the actions are unconstitutional.
French president condemns violence
SARRE-UNION, France – French President François Hollande says the growing number of acts of violence against Jews and Muslims threatens the country’s very foundations.
Hollande spoke in the small Alsatian town of Sarre-Union, where 250 Jewish graves were desecrated over the weekend.
He noted that anti-Semitism and acts against Muslims are both on the rise in France, notably after the attacks last month in Paris on a satirical newspaper and a kosher grocery store that in total left 20 people dead, including the three gunmen.
He promised firmness in searching for and prosecuting those who carry out anti-Semitic or racist acts.
Hollande said anti-Semitic acts doubled in 2014 compared with 2013, and acts against Muslims in just the month after the attacks totaled the same as the entire previous year.
Herald Staff & Associated Press
