Notable
By ANDREW NELSON, Staff Writer | Published March 1, 2012
Knights of Columbus Council 7923 of St. John Neumann Church in Lilburn recently celebrated the council’s 30th anniversary.
Nearly 80 council members and their wives gathered at Killian Hall for an evening of fellowship and sharing memories. There are about 300 knights in the council.
Three of the original signers of the council charter, Ed Blake, Ed Quillian and John Wilker, attended and shared some great stories from the council’s formation.
Father Richard Rohr spoke at the University of Georgia’s Catholic Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a message about emerging Christianity, contemplation and a call for Christian open-mindedness, reported Kathryn Kilpatrick, a journalism student at the University of Georgia.
And here’s what she wrote: “Students, clergy, parishioners and visitors filled the chapel on Monday evening to listen to the internationally recognized speaker’s last lecture in his tour through Georgia.”
Father Rohr is a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico Province. He founded the New Jerusalem Community of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1971.
He also started the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, N.M., in 1986 and currently serves as the active founder.
“What we’re calling emerging Christianity,” Father Rohr said, “is a rather broad recognition that most organized religion up until now has been preoccupied with belief systems and belonging systems.”
Father Rohr has written several spiritual books. His most recent book, “Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the 12 Steps,” was published in September.
By naming his center in Albuquerque, the “Center for Action and Contemplation,” Father Rohr hoped to appeal to people who were concerned with the suffering of the world and social change. He wants people to seek change for the better, not in an angry way, but in a contemplative way, he said.
“You don’t think yourself into a new way of living—you live yourself into a new way of thinking,” said Father Rohr.
By leaving their comfort zones and seeing the world from alternative perspectives, people learn open-mindedness and become understanding of those who are different from themselves, he said. The goal of emerging Christianity is to find goodness, bloom where you are planted and to embrace all that God embraces, Father Rohr said.
Nicholas Reese, 15, a freshman at Fayetteville’s Our Lady of Mercy High School, organized an exhibit of memorabilia—from books and paintings to films—honoring the Tuskegee Airmen for Black History Month.
Reese wanted to offer people a chance to learn more about the airmen after seeing the Hollywood film “Red Tails.”
Reese, who attends St. Paul of the Cross Church, Atlanta, said the pilots and crew had to overcome a great deal of adversity in their efforts to serve the country as airmen destroying more than 260 enemy airplanes in flight and on the ground and having an unmatched success rate escorting bombers.
On Feb. 10, seminarian Richard Vu of the Archdiocese of Atlanta made the profession of faith and took the oath of fidelity, in the presence of the seminary community and the rector at the Pontifical College Josephinum, in Columbus, Ohio, in preparation for ordination to the diaconate. Candidates pledge to remain always faithful to the teachings of the church and, with their hand on the Book of Gospels, swear before God to be faithful teachers of the Gospel and never to lead the people astray with false teachings.
If you’re unable to get out of the house but still want to attend a reflection series during Lent, Peachtree City’s Holy Trinity Church is taking advantage of technology for couples who cannot get away.
Monique Davis has found a way to help those crunched for time: virtual classes using Skype, a service that allows you to communicate by voice and video over the computer.
Davis once used Skype to help a long-distance couple to participate together—he lived in Louisiana, and she lived in Georgia.
“It’s perfect because I would never want more than 10 in a classroom,” she said, which is the maximum number of people who can attend a virtual class via Skype.
The workshop is using the online telephone and video service to let people participate in the upcoming workshops titled, “Intimacy, God’s Way.”
The series covers three parts: praying and fasting, an introduction to natural family planning, and protecting a chaste life. The classes are taking place at the parish on Sunday mornings and again on Thursdays at
9 p.m.
Davis, who has been a certified natural family planning instructor for a few years, said people contacted her from across the Atlanta Archdiocese but dropped out because of the distance of traveling to Peachtree City.
People want to attend, but distance and demands on their time make it a challenge, she said.
Davis said she’s been successful in reaching more people, particularly young adults, by showing flexibility about meeting schedules and using technology. She’s also been able to cut the cost for the class in half to $50.
For more information, contact the parish’s Adult Faith Formation office at (678) 466-1739.