BANGOR – Ryan Dobson believes in being intolerant. The 33-year-old son of Dr. James Dobson, the Christian psychologist, author and radio personality, will be the keynote speaker at next weekend’s Maine Christian Teen Convention at the Bangor Auditorium. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
    A certain young couple began attending services at a large suburban church. The minister was a gifted speaker. He preached many powerful sermons. One Sunday the couple responded to his invitation to get right with God and join the church. The minister asked, “Which of… Read More
    If Jesus were to celebrate Earth Day, he would definitely plant a few trees. Afterward, he would sit quietly among those trees, his bare feet in the dirt, and listen. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var… Read More
    Editor’s Note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. I am writing as we celebrate our weeklong Jewish holiday of Passover. Our first seder, an ordered meal and service, was with family in… Read More
    DOVER-FOXCROFT – Some 800 men are expected to participate next week in a Men to Men Conference planned for two days in a local high school gymnasium. Reflecting the phenomenal growth since the 1980s of men-focused Christian ministries, the conference April 23-24 is sponsored by… Read More
    Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” made Jesus’ final hours real for millions of moviegoers this year. For some parishioners of St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church in Winterport and St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in Hampden, the time spent during Lent in a centuries-old ritual called… Read More
    Editor’s Note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. Wanna stump a roomful of theologians? googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false;… Read More
    Editor’s Note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. More than once the topic of religion would come up in school, and my daughters self-identified Unitarian Universalist would hear, “You mean that church… Read More
    Editor’s Note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. Religious leaders ignore credit-card usury. Some acknowledge it but are too cowardly to confront it. Others accept its benefits in donations with a misguided… Read More
    MILFORD – Elder Aaron Tyler Brown has been called to serve his denomination as a missionary at the Mexico City West Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brown, 19, is the son of Charles and Mary-Ann Brown of Milford. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
    BREWER – Michael Lewis, a veteran session guitarist and Christian musician from Nashville, Tenn., will be in Maine next week, appearing in two events at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church. Lewis has been a worship leader and guitarist for a host of events, including World… Read More
    Editor’s Note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. My first essay, on Jan. 24, introduced the idea of a Jewish civilization – the Jewish people. The second, on Feb. 21, introduced the… Read More
    Editor’s Note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. The recent release of “The Passion of the Christ” in theaters nationwide has evoked new interest in the purpose of Jesus’ suffering and death. Read More
    Everywhere I go, people ask me, “What do you think about Mel Gibson’s new movie?” It seems appropriate for me to share a few thoughts. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var… Read More
    I saw “The Passion of the Christ” last week. I’ll admit that it was more than I could take, and I was too wrung out from literally hanging on for dear life for two hours to weigh controversies. I never could understand how someone who… Read More
    Editor’s Note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. I do not believe in the separation of church and state. “Church” and state are inexorably linked in our country. As they should be. Read More
    Editor’s Note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. My earliest childhood memories were of stories of a family that survived Soviet communism, the German invasion of their homeland and Nazi forced labor. Read More
    Editor’s Note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. Part of Judaism’s strength as a 4,000-year-old civilization is its diversity. Jewish scholarly tradition shows great respect for the many varied opinions expressed by… Read More
    The man sent by the archbishop of Canterbury to negotiate release of hostages in Beirut, Lebanon – and held hostage himself for nearly five years – returned to the scene of his captivity this week. Terry Waite returned Monday to the Lebanese capital for the… Read More
    Editor’s Note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. There’s the story of the woman who claims she is going to have her husband stuffed and mounted when he dies. She says that… Read More
    When Bobby Labonte takes the green flag in Sunday’s Daytona 500 in Florida, he’ll be racing for victory – and the Lord. The hood of Labonte’s car is both a shameless movie plug – “The Passion of the Christ,” coming soon to a theater near… Read More
    Editor’s Note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. Years ago, when I first saw the remarkable movie “Amistad,” I was shocked and shamed by my ignorance. I had never heard of La… Read More
    It could have been enough to split the congregation. Not too many years ago, members of the venerable Dover-Foxcroft Congregational Church were confronted with either replacing their ailing 1,000-pipe organ installed in 1929 or repairing it. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes =… Read More
    People who are 65 or older tend to be happier and more satisfied with their lives if they attend religious services more frequently than other seniors, two University of Maine researchers suggest. Steven Barkan, professor of sociology, and Susan Greenwood, a lecturer in the UM… Read More
    Editor’s Note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. The solemn relationship between Creator and creation is being legislated, federalized and bureaucratized. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var… Read More
    BANGOR – “Faith Meets Faith” this week when Bangor Theological Seminary brings together some of the nation’s leading religious thinkers in its 99th annual convocation, including a scholar who studies the Christian New Testament from a Jewish perspective. The convocation, which runs Monday through Wednesday,… Read More
    As we grew as a people, we developed particular relationships to the land, to the agricultural cycle, to our own life cycle and to the world around us. Editor’s note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting… Read More
    Editor’s note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. A recent edition of the Encyclopedia of American Religions includes descriptions of 2,300 different religious groups currently existing in the United States and it… Read More
    Lee Witting believes that no matter what your faith, you should have access to a beautiful place for your wedding. That’s why he’s offering interfaith or nondenominational services at the city’s oldest church. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes… Read More
    It’s not really the “new” Unitarian Universalist church in Belfast anymore. Ten years after a handful of Waldo County residents started meeting in a tiny building near the Belfast library, the congregation has grown to 90 members and has a permanent home in a former… Read More
    Editor’s note: Voices is a weekly commentary by a panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. Years ago, on a Sunday morning, I rose early to savor the quiet city dawn of Cambridge, Mass. At 7:50 a.m. I was unaware… Read More
    When Sue Bernard left her job as news anchor at Aroostook County’s only television station, she was on the air five times a week. By the end of the first month of her new job in Portland, she was on the air morning, noon and… Read More
    Editor’s note: Voices is a weekly opinion column by a rotating panel of Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life. Civil unions in Vermont, a Massachusetts court decision striking down a prohibition on homosexual marriage and the recent ordination of an openly… Read More
    BANGOR – The Hammond Street Congregational Church has voted to become an officially open and affirming congregation. The congregation has pledged to accept all participants “regardless of their background, circumstances, ethni-“city, gender identity, family configuration or sexual orientation.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
    BANGOR – A retreat examining a seven-fold path of Christian well-being will be held next month at Grace United Methodist Church. “Anchoring Your Well-Being: Christian Wholeness in a Fractured World” is designed to teach insights about enlivening spiritual and ethical life as a Christian, techniques… Read More
    CAMDEN – A special program designed to help congregations and their ministers find renewal is allowing a local pastor to work a few months in a New York shelter for homeless youth. The Rev. Michael Gordon Rowe, rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, already is… Read More
    ROCKLAND – Sally Landsburg savors the rituals of Hanukkah. The Jewish festival of lights revolves around a story of defiance, independence and a God who sustains his chosen people against all odds – ideas that resonate today as profoundly as they did more than 2,000… Read More
    In celebration of its 150th anniversary, the home diocese for all of Maine’s Roman Catholics has published a 160-page official history. “The Catholic Church in the Land of the Holy Cross: A History of the Diocese of Portland, Maine” is an oversized book full of… Read More
    Devotional aims to light fire in youth for Christ Joe Drake wants teenagers to light up. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if… Read More
    BANGOR – Choir members from 17 Catholic churches in Hancock, Waldo and southern Penobscot counties early next month will present “Like Winter Waiting: An Advent Story,” a choral pageant by John Foley. It will be presented at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, and 3 p.m. Read More
    BANGOR – After a two-year national search, Columbia Street Baptist Church found its new senior pastor less than 10 miles away. Peter K. Sprague, 47, was approved by the congregation earlier this month. He will deliver his first sermon from his new pulpit at 10:15… Read More
    Worshippers attending Thanksgiving eve services at Grace United Methodist Church in Bangor will be showered with words of thanksgiving – literally. A mobile made of construction-paper letters spelling out love, prayer, God’s grace and 16 other things congregants are thankful for will hang suspended from… Read More
    CAMDEN – As part of Tibet Week 2003, the Camden area chapter of Amnesty International will serve as host to nine Tibetan Buddhist monks from a monastery in India next week. The men from Drepung Loseling Monastery will participate in a weeklong series of events,… Read More
    GRAND LAKE STREAM – The white clapboard church is on a hill overlooking the town. It’s been there nearly 100 years. As the centennial of Union Congregational Church neared, the tiny congregation commissioned Mark Wren of Robbinston, an artist and carpenter, to design and install… Read More
    BANGOR – The pastor of one of eastern Maine’s largest churches announced Sunday that he is taking a three-month sabbatical to seek treatment for “a chronic alcohol dependency.” The Rev. Ron Durham, 57, founder of Abundant Life Church on Outer Broadway, said that he would… Read More
    By Judy Harrison Of the NEWS Staff googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
    BANGOR – The boy David faces down the giant Goliath with a steely gaze in his eyes. “You’re coming at me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin,” he says. “But I’m coming at you in the name of the Lord Tzavaot, the God… Read More
    BELFAST – St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church has scheduled a six-week historical liturgy series for its Sunday worship services. The series, which begins Sunday, is designed to help people “see and experience first hand how Christian liturgy has changed and adapted over 2,000 years of worship… Read More
    JONESBORO – A dream of growing is becoming a reality for churchgoers at Jonesboro Union Church. A 36-by-48-foot activity building that will provide space for Sunday school classes and a kitchen for church suppers is being added to the building. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
    PORTLAND – A historic church in the city’s Munjoy Hill neighborhood will serve as the cathedral in the regional diocese of a church established some three decades ago by dissidents dismayed by liberal trends within the Episcopal Church. The selection of Old St. Paul’s Parish… Read More
    HANCOCK – Three members of the Episcopal Church in Millinocket this week accepted the Anglican Church’s invitation to attend a diocesan meeting at the White Birches Resort, but say they aren’t planning to switch denominations yet. Mary Dore, Lorranine Leavitt and Gene Pease, all members… Read More
    PORTLAND – The Portland Catholic Diocese is responding too slowly and too secretly to claims of sexual abuse by priests, say victim advocates who have pushed for disclosure. But church officials say the advocates are sometimes pushing the issue too far. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
    CASTINE – The Rev. Bill Friederich was no stranger to the Maine Maritime Academy campus last April when he was appointed as the part-time, volunteer chaplain. As part of the mission of the Trinitarian Congregational Parish of Castine, where he is the full-time minister, Friederich… Read More
    BANGOR – With the arrival of one of the largest entering classes in Husson College’s history, work has begun for the Rev. Robert Carlson. The college’s chaplain officially switched from part-time to full-time status in January. And now that school is back in session, Carlson… Read More
    ORONO – The new campus minister at the Catholic Newman Center ended up here by accident. A new job was not what Casey Murphy intended to find when she was searching the Internet a month ago, but in two weeks she packed up her husband… Read More
    ORONO – After a three-month interim, the Wilson Center at the University of Maine has a new chaplain. Timoth Sylvia, 31, however, says he wants students doing much of the work. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = [];… Read More
    BANGOR – For almost 200 years, Bangor Theological Seminary has trained pastors to minister in the churches large and small that dot New England’s countryside. Essential to that process since the school’s founding in 1814 has been the practice of sending students into the pulpits… Read More
    They knock on doors, invite themselves in and, if you aren’t home, leave their literature in your mailbox. Since their organization’s founding, Jehovah’s Witnesses have faced rude rejection and government persecution around the world for their aggressive evangelism. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
    Founded: 1872. Name: Adopted in 1931 to “reaffirm” Jehovah as the true name of God and to identify those who witness in Jehovah’s name as God’s specially accredited followers. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
    BELFAST – Sister Elizabeth Wagner will present a four-day course on Thomas Merton from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays Sept. 6, Oct. 4, Nov. 1 and Dec. 6 at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 95 Court St. Merton, a Trappist monk and author, achieved prominence… Read More
    CAMDEN – Karen McPhee, a protege of author Eckhart Tolle, will host a public talk at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, at the John Street Methodist Church. She also will host a two-day retreat Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 20-21, in Rockport. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
    HOULTON – A two-day circuit assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses will be held from 9:45 a.m. to 3:55 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 6-7, at the Houlton Civic Center. The program is designed to encourage Christians to maintain and deepen their spiritual relationships with Jehovah God. Read More
    Reciting the rosary The rosary, the most common devotional prayer of Roman Catholicism, evolved after centuries of development. It involves recitation and meditation, with a person using a string of hand-held beads to keep count. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
    BELFAST – A local organization will be host later this month to the chief lama at a Buddhist monastery in rural Nepal who is visiting the United States this summer. Dorge Lopon Rinpoche is the chief lama at the small Maratika monastery near the sacred… Read More
    BANGOR – As one brother comes home, another one leaves. Their paths do cross for a moment or two, but soon the three go their individual ways. That’s the way of life for a Bangor family with three sons who have served – or are… Read More
    BANGOR – Paul Baker is brushing up on his German, practicing conversations like a tourist. He’s also translating Bible passages from English into German. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i… Read More
    CALAIS – People may have to bring their own chairs, but members of the Second Baptist Church are determined to hold the first worship service in their new building by this Christmas Eve. Two years after a fire seriously damaged their old brick church –… Read More
    BANGOR – Summer is the traditional season for organ music in Europe. Shoppers at bustling outdoor markets take a break from the warm temperatures and heated haggles with vendors to listen to organs playing in the cool shade of a nearby church. A Bangor organist… Read More
    The first of July traditionally marks the transition point for Roman Catholic priests who are being reassigned. Following is a list of 2003 reassignments. It was released by Bishop Joseph Gerry of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, which comprises the entire state. The Rev. Read More
    HARPSWELL – The Unitarian Universalist Association has named the Rev. Dr. Spencer Lavan of Harpswell as the recipient of its 2003 Distinguished Service Award. Lavan will accept the award at a ceremony at the association’s annual General Assembly on June 29 in Boston. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
    MACHIAS – The structural beauty of Centre Street Congregational Church is obvious from the moment a visitor crests College Hill on the way into town and catches sight of the magnificent white steeple. But the community services that endear the church to people in the… Read More