Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 25, 1995 TAG: 9511290001
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: B-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Bishop Walter F. Sullivan, 67, spiritual and administrative head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond, will be honored at an ecumenical service Fridayat Sacred Heart Cathedral in Richmond. Sullivan, who grew up in Washington, D.C., became a priest in 1953 and began his ministry at St. Andrew's Church in Roanoke. On Dec. 1, 1970, he was consecrated bishop of the diocese, which covers all of Virginia except the suburban Washington counties.
The ecumenical service of evening prayer will begin at 7:30 p.m. The event also marks the closing of the 175th anniversary year for the diocese, which occasioned many special services.
Concert and workshop
Registration is open for a concert and workshop by Lutheran liturgical leader Marty Haugen. It will be held Feb. 2 and 3 in Antrim Chapel of Roanoke College. "Sing to the Glory of the Lord" will be its theme. A resident of Minneapolis, Haugen is a composer, music arranger and an editor. The event will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday with an evening prayer service followed by a concert and reception. The Saturday workshop is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Cost of the full program is $15; registrants may attend for shorter periods.
Call 375-2300 for more information.
Name game
COLUMBIA, S.C. - What's in a name? Apparently a lot if you are trying to attract folks who usually avoid church on Sundays.
In the past five years, the South Carolina Baptist Convention has planted roughly a dozen churches across the state with generic names such as ``Golden Corner Church,'' ``Crossroads Community Church'' and ``LifeSpring.''
Keith Lancaster, a consultant with the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said the initiative is designed to counter the negative image that many people, especially from other parts of the country, have about Baptists.
``A lot of people think of us as the `no' denomination - no drinking, no dancing, no playing cards, no fun,'' said the Rev. Wayne Terry, pastor of LifeSpring in Florence. ``We may not like the stereotypes, but the fact is they are there.''
The ``seekers'' churches, as some call them, are cropping up in communities that have a lot of people who do not go to church or who are not from the South.
In South Carolina, the churches appear in places like Myrtle Beach, Summerville and Greenville. Many meet in nontraditional settings, such as school gymnasiums.
Leader honored
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - The founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund was honored for her humanitarian work by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Marian Wright Edelman accepted the church's International Temple Peace Award in recognition of her work on children's issues. In accepting it, she urged the audience to fight congressional cuts in welfare programs.
``I would submit that our crisis is not a crisis of money,' Edelman told about 500 people at the third annual Temple Peace Colloquy of the RLDS. ``It is a crisis of values. It is time to build an alternative to the culture around us.''
She said the Republican-driven budget bill, which includes tax cuts totaling $245 billion, would ``literally take food from children and give it to those who don't need it.''
New Baptist leader
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - North Carolina Southern Baptists narrowly elected their first conservative president since the national convention turned conservative nearly two decades ago.
The Rev. Gregory Mathis of Hendersonville pledged to seek unity among the 1.2 million-member Baptist State Convention.
Mathis defeated the Rev. Dewey Hobbs, a moderate, by less than 100 votes. Mathis garnered 2,488 votes, or 50.94 percent of the vote, compared to 2,392 votes, or 48.98 percent, for Hobbs, a former head of chaplains at North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem.
Mathis, who has led Mud Creek Baptist Church for 15 years, held out an olive branch after his victory and said he saw nothing he would like to change immediately.
``North Carolina always has been a stronghold for moderates,'' he said after the vote at Lawrence Joel Coliseum. ``I want to do the best job that I can. I want to be the president of all Southern Baptists.''
Conservatives, who believe in a more literal view of the Bible, have controlled leadership positions in the national denomination since 1979. But moderates, who would allow greater latitude for personal interpretations of Scripture, have retained leadership positions in the state.
Methodists to meet
DENVER - Six months before 5,000 Methodists arrive here for their General Conference, church officials are deciding what will be discussed.
The church's 61 districts, called Annual Conferences, bishops and all the church's huge agencies have until Jan. 15 to submit petitions for action, a little like bills before Congress.
Annual Conferences alone already have submitted 1,269 petitions for next year's meeting. Those that are similar will be combined, some will die and some will be debated on the convention floor.
About 45,000 petitions to the delegates, ranging from resolutions asking the church to ordain gays to one calling for a boycott of tobacco companies that also sell food products, are expected.
The petitions will be presented to the 998 delegates who will be here April 16 to 26 at the Colorado Convention Center.
The General Conference of the 9 million-member church is its highest legislative body and meets every four years, bringing in Methodists from around the world.
Methodists in the Western North Carolina Conference have submitted 160 petitions, by far the most of any conference. They want the entire church restructured and their petitions cover everything from hymnals to the church symbol.
by CNB