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Private school vouchers open faith options for children of color

MILWAUKEE (AP) — On break in the hallway between St. Marcus Lutheran Church and its attached school, eighth grader Annii Kinepoway had no hesitation in explaining what she’s learned to love best here — the good Lord and good grades. “I like knowing there’s somebody you can ask for help if you need it. Somebody is there and looking over you,” she said of her newly found faith, while proudly wearing the tie indicating her academic honors. Annii’s mother could only afford this educational opportunity because of school choice programs, which 94% of St. Marcus’ 1,160 ...

Behind the meaning of the rosary, importance to the Catholic faith

The conversation It’s one of the most famous moments in modern Catholicism: the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. The Virgin Mary allegedly appeared to three Portuguese children in 1917, when much of the world was engulfed in World War I. Over a series of six appearances, Mary emphasized to these young shepherds that to bring peace, they should pray the rosary every day. Devotion to the rosary already had a centuries-old history, and the Marian apparition at Fatima only deepened it. So what is a rosary, and why is it so important to many Catholics? Centuries of meaning As an ...

Connecting words between thoughts

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 We are moving on in our study of John 3:16; we are going to consider the words, ‘that He.’ The word ‘that’ is kind of a connecting word between two thoughts. “For God so loved the world,” shows the extent of the Creator’s love for His creation. The world is referring to His vast creation, the total sum of all things created. The word ‘that’ connects those thoughts with the ones that are coming, “He gave His ...

Lyft drivers spread Gospel with ministries

NEW YORK (AP) — One is an ordained pastor in Brooklyn, the other a single mother and children’s book author in New Jersey. Both drive for Lyft. Both share the word of God as roving preachers. Pastor Kenneth Drayton and Tomika Reid try to inspire passengers through spiritual guidance on the road as part of what they see as mobile Christian ministries. “You don’t always have to go to a church or sanctuary to experience the restoration and the power of God,” said Drayton, 61, a minister who also preaches at Mantels of Promise Ministries in Brooklyn. He began to drive for ...

How to respond to judgment, discipline

“It was a dark and stormy night.” Rev. 16:17–21 “It was a dark and stormy night.” In his imagined persona as a world-famous author, the Peanuts cartoon character Snoopy, sometimes began his novels, “It was a dark and stormy night.” Charles Schultz, Snoopy’s creator, had him use this phrase because “it was a cliché and had been one for a long time.” It came from the opening sentence of English novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1830 novel Paul Clifford: It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals when it was ...

Zen Community seeks awareness sitting in silence

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — For more than three decades, members of the Anchorage Zen Community have gathered in unusual venues -- from a busy strip mall to a converted garage -- with the same intention: simply to sit and meditate in silence. Nomadic no more, they have found stillness and stability in a small zendo, or meditation hall, tucked on the edge of two neighborhoods in Alaska’s most populous city and epicenter of urban culture. Being Buddhist in Anchorage is both universal in practice and unique to life in Alaska. The Anchorage Zen Community is influenced by the ...