http://http://www.kentucky.com/158/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2009 Kentucky.com Faith & Values 60 Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:04:51 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/646215.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/646215.html Sun, 04 Jan 2009 06:36 EST
For more than 30 years, Riner's singular devotion has been to inject God into the public arena. It has guided him as he preached the Bible in the countryside of Nicaragua and Jamaica. And it steers him as he proselytizes the formerly homeless and drug-addicted people who live with him at his ramshackle church in one of the poorest sections of this city.

But this unrelenting mission has also frequently taken Riner and the Kentucky legislature, where he has been a Democratic representative for 26 years, across the constitutional barrier between church and state.

In December, an atheist organization and a group of state residents sued Kentucky over Riner's most recent incursion: a 2006 law he sponsored requiring that the state's homeland security office post a plaque recognizing God's role in keeping the country safe. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/645508.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/645508.html Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:56 EST
Should we have them?

He knew this was a sensitive subject for some Muslims.

Mahram? Of course, answered one man, an outspoken member of the committee. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/645503.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/645503.html Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:58 EST
But as his fellow Christians around the world attended Christmas services on Wednesday and Thursday, the president-elect and his family remained sequestered at their vacation compound on the windward coast of Oahu.

His lack of attendance at formal religious services was obvious and showcased a dilemma faced by Obama, who is between churches and often also expresses concern about bringing the disruption of his security detail into the lives of others.

Still, he has not attended a public church service since before being elected, a departure from the actions of his two immediate predecessors. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/645509.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/645509.html Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:57 EST
Introduction to Buddhism. 10:30 a.m. Tibetan Buddhist Community of Lexington, 1800 Gayle Dr., Lexington. Free. (859) 396-3505. www.tbcl.org.

Sermon series: Explicit Lyrics. 5:30 p.m. Also on Sunday at 8:30, 10 and 11:30 a.m. and 6:08 p.m. Southland Christian Church, 5001 Harrodsburg Rd., Nicholasville. (859) 224-1600. www.SouthlandChristian.org.

Sunday ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/642307.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/642307.html Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:22 EST
The purpose of the event was "to show the support for the victims who are being killed," said Jamil Farooqui, president of the Islamic Society of Central Kentucky. "They are innocent."

More than 370 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,400 injured in four days of Israeli airstrikes against Gaza.

A six-month cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, a militant group that seized control of Gaza in 2007, broke down earlier this month. Hamas says Israel has breached agreements by imposing a painful economic blockade on Gaza and staging military strikes. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/641385.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/641385.html Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:42 EST
The Ursuline sisters plan to sell their grand convent in Paola a local landmark and begin moving in May.

They will join 163 members of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount St. Joseph the second-largest Ursuline order in the country and live on a 700-acre working farm in Maple Mount, a Western Kentucky town in Daviess County.

The order will leave a legacy of education as the sisters opened several schools in Kansas City and eastern Kansas that have taught more than 50,000 students. The group also helped found Lakemary Center, a nationally renowned facility for the developmentally disabled. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/640379.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/640379.html Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:42 EST
The notes, all anonymous, conveyed the same message: Father, please make your homilies shorter. One said that even five minutes was too long for a mother with children.

At home in Kenya, Oneko preached to rural Africans who had walked for hours to get to church and would have been disappointed if the sermons were brief.

"Here the whole Mass is one hour," he said, a broad smile on his round face. "That was a homework for me, to learn to summarize everything and make the homily 10 minutes, maybe 15. Here, people are on the move very fast." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/639553.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/639553.html Sun, 28 Dec 2008 02:58 EST
So Venters spends most of his days recruiting priests from overseas to serve in the small towns, rolling hills and farmland that make up the Roman Catholic Diocese of Owensboro.

He sorts through e-mail and letters from foreign priests soliciting jobs in America, many written in formal, stilted English. He is looking, he said, for something that shouts: "This priest is just meant for Kentucky!"

"If we didn't get international priests," he said, "some of our guys would have had five parishes. If one of our guys were to leave, or, God forbid, have a heart attack and die, we didn't have anyone to fill in." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/638819.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/638819.html Sat, 27 Dec 2008 08:24 EST
The nation's faith community also grabbed some headlines, including Pope Benedict XVI's first trip to the United States, the attention to Jeremiah Wright's "God Damn America" sermon and the defeat of the same-sex marriage proposal in California.

We asked faculty members at local seminaries to pick the year's top faith stories. Below are some responses from faculty at Lexington Theological Seminary.

To join a discussion on this topic, click HERE . ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/638818.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/638818.html Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:00 EST
It is the last weekend of the year, and we are here to talk about the best contemporary Christian music of 2008. And this year, the best was definitely music that said something. We hope Steve's happy.

1. Jon Foreman's seasonal EPs. In the past half decade, Switchfoot has released some of the most thoughtful rock in the marketplace, Christian or mainstream. Left to his own devices, frontman Jon Foreman plumbs new depths meaning, he's deep. Foreman spent the past year releasing four solo EPs of six songs each, Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer . Individually and together, they speak to the life of a 21st-century person of faith in a way few others have. His work includes thoughts on justice, money, sin and faith with bold statements like Instead of a Show , an indictment of ostentatious faith, to House of God Forever , a beautiful meditation on Psalm 23. We love Switchfoot, but solo Foreman is also something to treasure. Here's hoping they continue to co-exist in harmony.

2. Grits, Reiterate. In 2008, the Tennessee duo of Coffee and Bonafide left their longtime home of Gotee Records for the independent market and released their most diverse album in recent memory. The disc dabbles in soulful and jazzy influences and benefits from guest appearances by Christian stars showing the duo to be simultaneously individual and part of a greater community. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/638813.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/638813.html Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:57 EST
The problem is, I've rarely kept any of my resolutions. I rarely even remember them past, oh, Jan. 5.

This year, I have goals I'm serious about.

I thought I'd commit them to print, then hang the published version in my office, where I can keep them before my eyes throughout 2009. Sorry to drag you readers into my personal struggle for self-discipline, but here goes: ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/637789.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/637789.html Thu, 25 Dec 2008 02:47 EST
Members of Praise Chapel Christian Fellowship began showing up that way last week at jobs, shopping malls and restaurants. The demonstration wrapped up Wednesday.

"I know it's a crazy idea," said pastor Kelly Lohrke, whose 600 members attend services in Kansas City, Kan., and nearby Lee's Summit, Mo. "I know it's a radical idea. Christians can have fun with their faith and sharing their faith."

Lohrke said he came up with the idea out of frustration over the removal of crosses, Nativity scenes and other religious symbols from public view. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/636466.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/636466.html Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:46 EST
I felt gritty. I was standing in line in a tiny gas station at 10 o'clock in the morning in Jerez, Spain. My sweaty hair was stuck to my head after the drive across the dusty plain with the windows down.

The man ahead of me was trying to persuade the attendant to buy oranges from the pile in his flatbed truck. At least, that's what I thought he was doing. I don't speak Spanish, so I wasn't sure.

It was the day after Epiphany Jan. 7. We had enjoyed the parade of the Three Wise Men in Seville the night before, especially its finishing highlight: the three costumed men throwing candy to the children from their golden carriage. I loved watching the children bundled against the cold night air, sitting on the shoulders of their fathers and lining the curb with outstretched arms, shouting, " Aqu !" ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/634831.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/634831.html Mon, 22 Dec 2008 02:46 EST
About 51 percent of households in the Lexington designated market area, a 40-county area spread throughout Central and south-central Kentucky, contribute to religious organizations, according to the consumer and media research firm Scarborough Research.

Lexington is tied with Atlanta and Green Bay/Appleton, Wis.

The national average is 43 percent. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/634452.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/634452.html Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:05 EST
Standing precariously on a stool in my office, I found the Christmas boxes high on a back shelf. It is time to transform our home into the magic colors of the "love season."

Somehow I never can enter the spirit of things until I set my own stage, so I slid the boxes to the carpet and knelt to explore once again the satin balls and sparkling tree ornaments that have hung every year for many years upon our tree. Separating the strings of tiny lights, I leaned to plug in the first strand. On it came.

Glancing at the box, my eyes fell upon something tucked in the bottom corner. There was a red candle. Next to it, folded in yellow tissue, were four dimes and, underneath these things lay an old magazine. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/633038.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/633038.html Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:57 EST
And in the glowing good will of the season, it's easy to believe that's the way it has always been.

But if you could go back in time, you'd find numerous occasions when Christmas was a minor holiday dwarfed by Easter, years when it wasn't celebrated at all, and times when it was outlawed by members of the same faith that now venerates it. Some even argue that if it weren't for the consumerism many bemoan this time of year, Christmas wouldn't be what it is today.

The truth is, our contemporary Christmas is a holy hodgepodge of sacred traditions, literature, charity, history, art, chronological calculation and marketing magic. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/633055.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/633055.html Sat, 20 Dec 2008 08:45 EST
We asked a few Central Kentucky clergy members to take a moment to share their thoughts and reflections on the holiday and their favorite Christmas memories.

Answers of the Rev. Pete Hise, Quest Community Church in Lexington

]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/633056.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/633056.html Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:58 EST
Holiday Manna Meal. 11 a.m. Nicholasville United Methodist Church, 303 W. Maple St., Nicholasville. Free.

Spiritual Tools for Spiritual Ills. 1 p.m. Topic: Turning Greed Into Contentment. Eckankar Center of Lexington, 153 Patchen Dr., Suite 55B, Lexington. Free. (859) 268-4888. http://kentuckyeckankar.org.

Once Upon a Christmas. 5:30 p.m. Dec. 20; 8:30, 10 and 11:30 a.m. Dec. 21. Service includes dramatic presentation. Southland Christian Church, 5001 Harrodsburg Rd., Nicholasville. Free. (859) 224-1600. www.southlandchristian.org. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/630611.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/630611.html Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:40 EST
The newspaper said seminary President Albert Mohler sent a letter to the seminary community, saying the school's deficit could reach $3.2 million about 9 percent of its current budget of $36.9 million.

Mohler said the seminary has "lost a significant portion of the value of our endowed funds" due to financial-market declines. "We should be extremely thankful that the challenges we face as an institution are not questions of continued existence, vitality, or effectiveness," Mohler wrote. "At the same time, we must recognize that we, along with other educational institutions, face very real challenges that will require our best thinking, our most devoted management, and the full measure of conviction."

Mohler said the seminary is expected to cut spending by $1.7 million by reducing travel and instituting a hiring freeze on non-critical positions. He said the recession has decreased donors' ability to give either directly to the seminary or to the unified budget of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention, part of which goes to the seminary. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/628618.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/628618.html Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:41 EST
"Are you ready for Christmas?"

I don't know how many times over the years I've been asked that question by well-meaning friends, neighbors, co-workers, store clerks and others as Dec. 25 has approached. Each time I've heard it, I've cringed inside.

I've cringed because I've assumed that what the questioners meant was, "Have you done your Christmas baking? Are your decorations up? Have you mailed your Christmas cards? Have you finished your shopping? Are your gifts wrapped?" ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/626497.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/626497.html Sun, 14 Dec 2008 03:05 EST
In Seattle, the Mars Hill Church, one of the fastest-growing evangelical churches in the country, grew to 7,000 members this fall, a jump of 1,000 in a year. At the Life Christian Church in West Orange, N.J., prayer requests have doubled almost all of them aimed at getting or keeping jobs.

Evangelical churches around the country have enjoyed steady growth over the last decade. But since September, pastors nationwide say, there has been such a burst of new interest that they find themselves contending with powerful conflicting emotions deep empathy and quiet excitement as they re-encounter an old piece of religious lore: Bad times are good for evangelical churches.

"When people are shaken to the core, it can open doors," said the Rev. A.R. Bernard, founder and senior pastor of the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York's largest evangelical congregation ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625473.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625473.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:18 EST
Senior Minister Jon Weece and executive minister Chris Hahn will drive home the message behind a new sermon series, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" about the biblical role of Christ as the groom of the church by uniting the couples in matrimony.

"We can't think of a better way to illustrate our role as the bride of Christ than to hold an official wedding ceremony in every service," Weece said. "A marriage is nothing more than a metaphor that captures our vow with Christ. It is a covenant and a picture of our relationship with Jesus. It gives us an earthly experience of a heavenly relationship."

Each sermon during the weekend services Saturday and Sunday will focus on the Bible, Ephesians 5:22-33. These verses will help define the parallel image of a man and women joining together in marriage and the relationship of Jesus Christ and the church, Hahn said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625476.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625476.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:52 EST
The Second Coming also referred to in Christian jargon as the End Times, the Rapture, the Apocalypse, the Day of the Lord and other things is a hot topic.

Usually our Wednesday-night Bible-study is quite small, about 10 people. But when we got on this topic, we had to set out extra chairs. The discussions are livelier, too.

Teachings about the Second Coming have titillated people forever. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625472.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625472.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:51 EST
Her only sibling, Rebecca McNabb, died almost three months ago at age 34.

"She taught me to love other people and she embodied the spirit of Christmas," said Kuebler, who credits her sister for her decision to become a special-education teacher. She teaches at Southside Elementary School in Lexington.

The most difficult thing about enduring the holidays, said Kuebler, who shops early and had already picked out a gift for her sister, will be "not being able to see her enjoying my kids. She adored my three children." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625504.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625504.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:52 EST
The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued "The Dignity of a Person" to help answer bioethical questions that have emerged in the two decades since its last such document was published.

With it, the Vatican essentially confirmed in a single, authoritative instruction the opinions of the Pontifical Academy for Life, a Vatican advisory body that has debated these issues for years.

The Vatican's overall position stems from its belief that human life begins at conception and must be given respect and dignity from that moment on. The Vatican also holds that human life should be created through intercourse between husband and wife, not in a petri dish. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625477.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625477.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:21 EST
Holiday Remembrance Service. 5 p.m. Dec. 13. Shiloh Baptist Church, 237 E. Fifth St., Lexington. (859) 252-5315.

Breakfast With Santa. 8 a.m. Centenary United Methodist Church, 2800 Tates Creek Rd., Lexington. $10 adults, $5 children. (859) 268-0487.

Breakfast at Santa's Workshop. 8 a.m. First Christian Church, Lancaster and Main streets, Richmond. $5. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625475.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625475.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:52 EST
"I joined the choir because of a piece we were doing," he said. "I did not know I would get a wife."

Craddock, 20, a saxophonist from Virginia, developed a crush on Jodie Nicholas, 22, a Missouri native who sings and plays the bass guitar, during a jazz-band tour in Chicago.

"Out of nowhere, I found myself attracted to this girl like a high school band nerd to the captain of the cheerleading squad," Craddock said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625470.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625470.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:51 EST
Guest was a junior and Satterwhite a senior when they met at a Tates Creek High School football game.

Now Guest, 21, and Satterwhite, 22, are prepared to make a commitment to love and cherish one another until death do they part.

The couple has discovered that in a relationship, trials and tribulations are part of the package, but it is how you conquer those trials and tribulations that defines a relationship. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625467.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625467.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:51 EST
"God brought Marty and I together at the perfect time," McCormick said.

On Easter Sunday in 2007, McCormick volunteered to serve at the caf ministry at Southland Christian Church. Working as a manager at Panera Bread, McCormick thought that she should share her expertise and serve her church.

"I was going through one of the most stressful times in my life that I was trying to heal from. I had been unhappy and kept praying to meet a spiritual man at my church," McCormick said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625465.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/625465.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:51 EST
It was filled with pink hearts and had a silhouette of a bride and groom.

But it was what was at the bottom of the page that caught her eye.

"Will you marry me, Kristen?" it read. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/620934.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/620934.html Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:07 EST
Maybe it was the jewels in their headpieces or the varying colors of their beards. It might have been the trusty sound that came from secretly twisting the copper knob sticking out of the middle man's back, and the fact that my grandmother collected these contraptions.

I can't tell you exactly the reason why my Three Wise Men music box figurine is as close to magic as it gets.

Each December, my mom would haul the cardboard boxes marked Christmas out of storage and begin decorating the house. As a child, I loved pulling each treasure from its home and adoring the ornament, statue or wreath I'd forgotten. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/617537.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/617537.html Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:42 EST
But area churches are doing their part to help families remember the real reason for the season, with several live Nativity programs that share the story of Jesus's birth in engaging, hands-on ways.

Among them: Woodford Community Christian Church's "Bethlehem Revisited", Victory Lutheran Church's "Virtual Bethlehem" and Immanuel Baptist Church's "Back to Bethlehem." Each allows families to walk through representations of the village of Bethlehem and experience what it might have been like to live there on the night Jesus was born.

"We try to re-create the entire city," said Cindy Roseberry, one of the coordinators at Woodford Community Church's program, which uses more than 100 actors to play the roles of Bethlehem's citizens, including shepherds, census-takers, Jewish students, lepers, beggars and market craftsmen. Live animals, including a donkey, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys and rabbits, complete the scenes, both inside and outside the church. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/617541.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/617541.html Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:52 EST
The head minister of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in DeLand, Fla., meant it was time to take seriously the biblical duty of being good stewards of all resources including money and avoiding the bondage of debt.

"The Bible teaches us that debt becomes almost like bondage in a person's life. We've accumulated debt that is a backbreaker," Lyon said.

Proverbs, in fact, puts it quite plainly: "The borrower is servant to the lender." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/617538.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/617538.html Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:49 EST
Services at the new campus, at 2250 Lawrenceburg Road in Frankfort, near Capitol Bowling Lanes, will be at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

The services will feature live music and a 16-foot screen that will broadcast the sermons of the Rev. Pete Hise from the church's Lexington location at 410 Sporting Court.

The new location also has a coffee shop, a bookstore and children's programs. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/616029.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/616029.html Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:03 EST
To help him pay it, Riner could then take up a collection among the legislators who supported his floor amendment.

American Atheists Inc. sued the state because Riner, a Louisville Democrat and Baptist minister, inserted the amendment two years ago into legislation organizing the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security . The amendment designated the office's first duty as "stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth."


The amendment requires the office to publicize God's benevolent protection in its literature, and to post at the entrance to the state Emergency Operations Center a plaque with an 88-word statement that begins, "The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/614947.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/614947.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:30 EST
The rector of St. Andrews Anglican Church in Versailles said his church is part of a denomination that is forming the new communion.

St. Andrews was formed about three years ago and has about 250 members. It is under the authority of the Anglican Church of Uganda, which has split recently with other Anglican communions over homosexuality and other issues.

Brannen is a former priest in the Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the United States with ties to the Church of England. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/612255.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/612255.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:46 EST
American Atheists of Parsippany, N.J., and 10 non-religious Kentuckians are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, set to be filed Tuesday in Franklin Circuit Court.

Edwin Kagin, a Boone County lawyer and the national legal director of American Atheists , said he was appalled to read in the Herald-Leader last week that state law establishes praising God and installing a plaque in God's honor as the first duty of the Homeland Security Office.

The state and federal constitutions both prohibit government from getting involved in religion, Kagin said Monday. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/609352.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/609352.html Sat, 29 Nov 2008 11:59 EST
Seriously, three-quarters of them are usually full of songs that have been recorded a quarter of a million times already, and the rest are attempts at new seasonal tunes that are in reality what is known as filler.

So, what does a current recording artist bring to the table that's any better than what Nat King Cole or Bing Crosby did decades ago?

Well, first off, like the rest of us, pop stars like to sing Christmas songs. So, if you can put your own twist on O Holy Night, and your fans will probably buy it, why not? ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/609340.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/609340.html Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:47 EST
Ads proclaiming, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," will appear on Washington, D.C., through December, part of a $40,000 holiday campaign by The American Humanist Association.

In lifting lyrics from Santa Claus is Coming to Town, the Washington-based group is wading into what has become a perennial debate over commercialism, religion in the public square and the meaning of Christmas.

"We are trying to reach our audience, and sometimes in order to reach an audience, everybody has to hear you," said Fred Edwords, spokesman for the humanist group. "Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/609337.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/609337.html Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:47 EST
Amid the stock market meltdown, a growing number of private schools are reporting declining enrollments, increasing demand for financial aid and more students leaving for public schools.

The economic crisis is making its presence felt in the hallways of schools such as Paramus (N.J.) Catholic High School, where more than a dozen students did not return this year because their families could not scrape together the $7,200 tuition.

"Those families hoped they'd be in a better financial situation," said school President James Vail. "We also had three students leave, since school started, who indicated it was because of a parent losing their job." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/609338.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/609338.html Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:47 EST
Bethlehem Mall. Noon; also 12:30 p.m. Sunday. North Middletown Christian Church, Thatcher's Mill Rd., North Middletown. Free. (859) 362-4467.

High School Youth Movie Night. 5 p.m. Versailles Presbyterian Church, 130 N. Main St., Versailles. (859) 873-3491. www.vpc1.org.

Sunday ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/606620.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/606620.html Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:19 EST
What kind of change, though? I wanted something where I'd be outside more, something where there'd be a sense of adventure. I wanted to go somewhere new, see new cultures and learn new languages. More than anything, I wanted to help people. The Peace Corps fit the bill.

So I filled out the application, had the interview, passed the medical screenings, and a year later found myself standing in west Africa's intense July heat on the tarmac of the Conakry airport in Guinea, ready for whatever the country wanted to throw at me or so I thought.

In anticipation of my service as a volunteer in Guinea, a lot of time was spent contemplating the difficulties of life in a mud hut, survival without electricity and running water. As it turns out, life in a mud hut is, in fact, pretty great, and who needs electricity? Writing by candlelight is so much cooler. Besides, there are other, deeper issues with which I struggle while making my life in the bush. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/604893.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/604893.html Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:39 EST
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave the go-ahead for the lawsuit filed by three men who claim priests abused them as children. They allege the Vatican orchestrated a decades-long coverup.

Louisville attorney William McMurry is seeking class-action status, saying there are thousands of victims nationally. He is seeking unspecified damages from the Vatican.

Jeffrey Lena, a Berkeley, Calif.-based attorney for the Vatican, said the appeals court's decision narrows the plaintiffs' case because the court upheld a judge's decision to dismiss claims that the Holy See was negligent in failing to provide safe care to the children entrusted to the clergy, along with claims of deceit and misrepresentation by the Vatican. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/603621.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/603621.html Mon, 24 Nov 2008 02:44 EST
The former superstar pastor, disgraced two years ago in a sex-and-drugs scandal, had returned this time as a Christian businessman preaching a message that was equal parts contrition and defiance. Haggard linked his fall to being molested in second grade, and he apologized again.

His two sermons were posted, fleetingly, on Haggard's Web site under one word: "Alive!"

Although his exact plans remain unclear, Haggard is unmistakably making himself a public figure again, nine months after his former church said he walked away from a process meant to restore him. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/601539.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/601539.html Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:45 EST
On Thanksgiving, millions of us sit shoulder to shoulder at the dinner table with friends and loved ones, casual acquaintances, even strangers.

Before we reach for the bread and butter, before passing the cranberry sauce or ladling the gravy, many of us will pause for a few words of blessing for the plenty that enriches our table and for that which has enriched our lives.

For some it's a rushed expression required by grandma before the eating commences. You may have heard it before, all in one breath: "Blessusolordforthesethygiftswhichweareabouttoreceivethroughthybountyolordamen." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/601590.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/601590.html Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:42 EST
The private fundamentalist Christian school, founded in 1927, said its rules on race were shaped by culture instead of the Bible, according to a statement posted Thursday on its Web site.

The university in northwestern South Carolina, with about 5,000 students, didn't begin admitting black students until nearly 20 years after the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling found public segregated schools were unconstitutional.

"We failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves. For these failures we are profoundly sorry. Though no known antagonism toward minorities or expressions of racism on a personal level have ever been tolerated on our campus, we allowed institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful," the statement said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/601538.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/601538.html Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:41 EST
"We're in a famine," Pastor Ben Gibert proclaimed at Detroit World Outreach church in Redford Township, on a recent Wednesday night, drawing on an Old Testament verse from Ezekiel. "But ... God is going to honor the righteous people, and he's not going to allow them to go down with the land. So we don't have to ... cry and whine."

The idea that God rewards moral people with financial prosperity dubbed the "prosperity gospel" by critics has increasingly drawn large crowds to churches across the United States.

But can it resonate during an economic downturn? ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/601536.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/601536.html Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:41 EST
Drepung Gomang Monks. 10:30 a.m. The touring monks from Drepung Gomang Monastery in India will present a program at the Tibetan Buddhist Community of Lexington, 1800 Gayle Drive, Lexington. (859) 396-3505. www.tbcl.org.

BBQ Supper and Auction. 6:30 p.m. Centenary United Methodist Church, 2800 Tates Creek Rd., Lexington. $10 for dinner. (859) 269-7801.

Da' House youth program. 6-9 p.m. Event will include free food, games, prizes, music. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m. Hope Springs Church, 1109 Versailles Rd., Lexington. Contact Kendra Osborn, Lexington Leadership Foundation, (859) 277-3087. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/601534.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/601534.html Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:44 EST
Dial M | 4 stars out of 5

If Jason Martin's reference to The Smiths in the opening track of Dial M doesn't tell you this album will be an homage to '80s modern rock, you should definitely have that idea by the end of the electro beats and breathy vocals of track No. 3, Concentrate.

The good thing is there's a difference between skillful homages and lazy imitations, and Dial M definitely falls toward the former. Yes, there are echoes of Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure and numerous other Reagan-era bands in the keyboard washed, clear-clanging tunes. But Starflyer progresses into this honestly, always having had firm roots in 88 keys. And songs like Automatic, Taxi and Who Said it's Easy? don't make you want to go dig up those old TDK mix tapes buried somewhere in the basement. These songs make you want to listen to them again and appreciate this is still a sonic palette from which artists can work. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/601532.html http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/601532.html Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:41 EST
Come January, members hope President-elect Barack Obama and his family pick a pew at the historic black church located within walking distance of the White House.

"When our forefathers established this church, it was intentionally placed six blocks from the White House, close to the seat of power," said Tony Hawkins, a member since 1991. "We would expect him to pay us a visit some time in the next four to eight years. If he decided to make us his church in the city, we would be honored."

Metropolitan AME is not the only congregation willing to roll out the red carpet, and metal detectors, for the First Family and its entourage. Elsewhere, the choir at Shiloh Baptist Church has already begun arranging hymns for a January worship service marking Obama's inauguration and the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. ]]>