FRANKLIN, Ohio (PNS) — Though the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is a relatively small denomination compared to Baptists or Methodists, Hollywood has paid plenty of attention to Presbyterian clergy. The most recent example is director Marielle Heller’s long-anticipated film featuring the children’s television host Fred Rogers. “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” is but the latest in a line of films in which a Presbyterian member of the clergy is a major character. In 1955 crowds packed theaters to see “A Man Called Peter.” Richard Todd played the golden-tongued Peter Marshall, who served as U.S. Senate chaplain. It was a film that inspired many young people, including myself, to become a minister. In 1979 the Walt Disney Studios produced “North Avenue Irregulars,” a comedy very loosely based on the Albert Fay Hill’s memoir of enlisting his women’s association to fight a gambling mob in New Rochelle, N.Y. during the 1960s. In 1992 “A River Runs Through It” was … [Read more...]

(PNS) The world has shifted and new and complicated challenges are presenting themselves to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and other denominations, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, told a gathering of about 120 moderators and moderators-elect of presbyteries and synods from across the country. But one thing will never change, and for that the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly is grateful: Jesus Christ is still the same. “We are a church that loves Jesus and is not afraid to talk about it,” Nelson said Saturday during a presentation he made along with the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, as part of the Moderators’ Conference hosted by the co-moderators of the 223rd General Assembly, Ruling Elder Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri and the Rev. Cindy Kohlmann. “You are engaging in one of the most exciting times of ministry in the history of the world. We’ve got to be willing to do the work and be willing to fail and get … [Read more...]

In thick coats and caps they marched through a cold and rainy New York City night chanting in broken syllables, “Boy-cott! Wen-dy’s! Boy-cott! Wen-dy’s!” “We are here, standing under the blessings of the rain in solidarity with our brothers and sisters from Immokalee, Florida,” Imam Muhammad Adeyinka Mendes of the Muslim Center in Greater Princeton in New Jersey said in front of the Trian Partners Park Avenue headquarters. “This rain is a sign that your cries and your prayers have been answered by God, have been answered by the divine.” Mendes was one of numerous speakers who addressed more than 500 people who turned out Monday to protest Wendy’s refusal to support the Fair Food Program, a “partnership among farmers, farmworkers, and retail food companies that ensures humane wages and working conditions for the workers who pick fruits and vegetables on participating farms,” according to its website. The program is an initiative of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ … [Read more...]

(PNS) As a Hunger Action Congregation, Faith Des Peres Presbyterian Church is taking aim at food insecurity in greater St. Louis by providing food for school children and other vulnerable populations. Volunteers from the church come together to assemble sacks of food that are distributed to students in the School District of University City who might have trouble getting meals outside of school hours. “We know a lot of kids get (free) meals at school during the week, but they may not have access to that kind of food on the weekends,” said Erica Abbett, moderator of the Mission and Ministry Center at Faith Des Peres. “Our Buddy Packs include things like applesauce and fruit and small cans of vegetables and tuna fish — things that they can actually get a somewhat healthy meal out of.” The packing takes place in the church’s fellowship hall, with children from the church sometimes working alongside adult volunteers, filling grocery sacks for students in need. “Each month, we … [Read more...]

  ( PNS) A first-of-its-kind event, the Leadership Development Institute for Latina/Hispanic Women in Leadership, is being held in Louisville Nov. 19-22. Sponsored jointly by the offices of Leadership Development and Recruitment for Leaders of Color and the Hispanic/Latino-a Intercultural Congregational Support of the Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries, the institute brought together about 30 Hispanic women from across the U.S. representing six different countries. The pastors, ruling elders and chaplains were all ordained by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). “This event is unique in that it gathers Latina women leaders to do theology,” said the Rev. Alexandra Zareth, associate for Leadership Development and Recruitment for Leaders of Color. “The women are doing a type of liberation theology called Mujerista/Latina Evangélica. It makes space for voices of women whose voices are usually silenced, not heard. “This is a space that values context and … [Read more...]

(PNS) No one knows exactly how many children in the tri-county area around Detroit (Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties) are lacking a bed of their own, but it is likely the number is in the thousands, according to the nonprofit Building Beds 4 Kids. “One of the most basic needs of children in the child welfare system — ages 2 to 18 — is for a warm, comfortable bed and a good night’s sleep,” said the Rev. Dr. Kathryn “Kate” Thoresen, coordinator of the statewide Faith Communities Coalition on Foster Care and parish associate for foster and/or adoptive families’ partnerships at First Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Michigan. “We see that providing beds for every child who needs one is an effective way to prevent kids from going into foster care in the first place,” Thoresen said. “We are also discovering that there are many grandparents who are raising grandkids who suddenly need beds as well.” Thoresen and her husband, Tom, who have three adult children and two … [Read more...]