Congregation Har Shalom announces services
Congregation Har Shalom, 2537 County Road 203, will offer these services:
A Kabbalat Shabbat with Herb will take place from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Friday. A musical Kabbalat Shabbat will take place from 6:30 to 7 p.m. A free catered meal will take place from 7:15 to 7:45 p.m. Text study, storytelling, singing and discussion will take place from 7:45 to 8:30 p.m.
A Shabbat morning service with Eli Herb will take place from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Aug. 17. The morning services will take place from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A Torah service will take place from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. followed by a potluck lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Potluck dishes can have meat, but do not mix milk and meat and no nonkosher meats.
For more information, email elisha.herb@gmail.com.
Lutheran preschool raises money for St. Jude
St. Paul’s Lutheran Preschool raised $567 at its annual Trike-a-thon for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The children rode their trikes up the street for their monthly visit with the “Grandmas and Grandpas” at Four Corners Health Care Center, six-tenths of a mile from the school.
For more information, visit www.stpaulspreschooldurango.org.
Divorce support group to meet Thursday evenings
DIVORCECARE, a support group for adults and children to help heal from the pain of separation and divorce, will be held Thursday evenings from Sept. 12 to Dec. 12 at the First United Methodist Church, 2917 Aspen Drive.
Participants will find a warm, caring, Christ-centered environment to help with recovery. All are welcome. There is a suggested donation of $20. The kids group is free.
To register, call Deb Nordholm or call 759-1938. To register for the children’s program, call Jessica Keitz at 759-6891.
Vallecito Church to host Cowboy Jamboree
Vallecito Church, 17579 County Road 501 at Vallecito Reservoir, will host its Cowboy Jamboree at 1 p.m. Aug. 24.
The event will feature country gospel music and cowboy poetry. In attendance will be Sandra Dee, vocalist; Charlie Mahone, bareback-riding and steer-wrestling champion and inspirational speaker; Frank and Jorja Balsz, worship team; Sam Noble, cowboy poet; Tim Krebs, western and gospel music performer; Jerry Arnold, Christian music artist; and Cooper Knox, cowboy poet.
Methodist scholar to head State Department faith-based office
WASHINGTON – Secretary of State John Kerry has chosen a United Methodist scholar to head a new State Department Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives.
The department says Shaun Casey, a professor of Christian Ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, will serve as special adviser to Kerry about religious issues.
Two weeks ago, Kerry told Muslims at a State Department Ramadan dinner that the new office will “try to increase our engagement with faith communities” around the world. The department says that outreach will seek to advance “development objectives” and supplement efforts to promote international religious freedom.
The seminary’s website shows Casey’s research interests include the ethics of war and peace and the role of the Church in fighting global poverty.
Sikh temple attack united victim’s son, ex-racist
OAK CREEK, Wis. – Six weeks after a white supremacist shot to death Pardeep Kaleka’s father and five others at a Sikh temple last year, Kaleka was skeptical when a former skinhead reached out and invited him to dinner.
But Kaleka accepted, and he’s glad he did. Since then, the grieving son and repentant racist have formed an unlikely alliance, teaming up to preach a message of peace throughout Milwaukee. In fact, they’ve grown so close that they got matching tattoos on their palms – the numbers 8-5-12, the date the gunman opened fire at a Milwaukee-area Sikh temple before killing himself minutes later.
It wasn’t easy for Kaleka to meet Arno Michaelis, a 42-year-old who admits his involvement in white-power movement might have helped influence the shooter. But Kaleka also saw the good work Michaelis has done since he quit the racist movement in the mid-1990s.
Kaleka wanted his father’s death to be a catalyst for peace, and he saw in Michaelis a partner whose story could reinforce the message that it’s possible to turn hatred into love.
Plaintiff withdraws appeal in Vatican-abuse case
PORTLAND, Ore. – A former Oregon man who said he was sexually abused by a pedophile priest nearly 50 years ago has withdrawn his appeal of a ruling that said the Vatican did not employ the priest and is not liable for damages.
Lawyer Jeff Anderson named the Vatican as a defendant in the 2002 lawsuit he filed on behalf of the man identified as John Doe. Anderson says his client still believes “all roads lead to Rome” but has grown weary of the long legal battle.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mosman determined last year that the Vatican was not involved in the priest’s transfers from Ireland to Chicago to Portland.
The Vatican’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lena, says the case was “way over the top” and should have never been filed.
Herald Staff and Associated Press
