Mabel Sturges, Beatrice Wilder, Gladys Munroe

In a testimony to growing longevity and the aging of a congregation, St. Luke’s Cathedral in downtown Orlando will honor the 100th birthday of Mabel Sturges on Saturday. Sturgis joins two other members of the Episcopal church who have turned 100 –  Bea Wilder and Polly Landgraf — with 99-year-old Gladys Munroe not far behind.

“We have four ladies who together have 400 years. That’s rather amazing for a small church,” said Madison Gay, who is organizing Sturgis’ birthday event along with her daughter, Barbara Keene.

All four have been long-time members of St. Luke’s and regular attendants to the Sunday services that attract about 300 people on average. All have made significant contributions to the church, Gay said.

Bea Wilder, who turned 100 in October, was the cathedral librarian until she retired at age 99. A portrait of her hangs in the church library.

Gladys Munroe, who turned 99 on Feb. 2, sang in the choir until she was 90. She still attends church every Sunday.

Polly Landgraf, the oldest of the group, was a faithful parishioner until recently when she became confined to a wheelchair, Gay said.

Mabel Sturges, who was born 100 years ago on March 9, was in charge of organizing senior activities for the church and is credited for reviving the St. Elizabeth’s Guild, a service group of about 40 women who raise money for worthy causes, including a girl’s orphanage in Honduras. Several times a year, Mabel organizes “Mabel’s Table” — a bake sale held in the church by the Guild for the orphanage.

“Mabel is an absolute powerhouse at the cathedral,” Gay said. “She’s been involved in everything under the sun.”

Between 140 and 150 people have been invited to Mabel’s 100th birthday celebration from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 5, in the Great Hall of the cathedral. There will be refreshments and a slide show of Mabel’s life and activities in the church. The other ladies are expected to attend in what may be a once-in-a-lifetime reunion for the ages.

Monsignor Patrick Caverly, pastor of Annunciation Catholic Church in Altamonte Springs for the past 30 years, will be honored Tuesday, March 1, for his lifelong dedication to the poor. For nearly 50 years, Caverly has helped the needy of Central Florida through the Annunciation Fall Festival which has raised more than $3 million for local charities since 1982. All the money raised goes to charities — none for the parish’s operating funds or capital improvements.

Annunciation Catholic Church annually raises tens of thousands of dollars for many diocesan agencies and programs helping the poor, including Catholic Charities.  In diocesan wide collections benefiting the poor and needy, Annunciation consistently is among the top parishes in total financial support.

Most recently, Annunciation Catholic Church is giving a mission church in Volusia County a gift of $1 million dollars so it can remodel and expand its worship space and build an all purpose center for class and activity rooms to better assist migrant workers. 

“Monsignor Caverly’s ability to model personal generosity and move others to expand their own role in doing great good for the poor exemplifies the type of person we honor with this award.  His personal dedication and ability to create new leadership in support of the poor over his lifetime of service make him a model for the community to appreciate, admire and imitate” said Arne Nelson, president and CEO, Catholic Charities of Central Florida.

Caverly will receive  the Hope and Opportunity Award from Orlando Diocese Bishop John Noonan in recognition of his lifetime service.

“Monsignor Caverly is a generous and compassionate man of God who has worked zealously to increase our community’s capacity for caring and giving. He has lived his faith in service to the needs of others, especially the poorest and weakest among us,” Noonan said.

Caverly will celebrate his 50th Jubilee Year as a priest in May 2011.

Trinity Baptist Church

Who: Trinity Baptist Church

Where: 1022 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Apopka 32703

Phone: 407-886-2966

Website: www.tbcaopoka.org

Worship times: Sunday, 10:15 a.m.

When founded: 1961

Members: 4,000

Demographic: predominately white, middle aged and older

Religious affiliation: Baptist

Pastor: Kevin Goza

Sermon snippet: “A wife’s submission is not domestic violence. It is divine direction,” said Pastor Kevin Goza, preaching on the roles of men and women in marriage. “Submission must be seen through the eyes of faith, not the flesh. Her act of submission t her husband is an act of faith to the Lord.”

Tidbit: about once every 16 months lay members of the church hold a Bear Blast and Cast event with outdoor events and a dinner for about 1,000 hunters and fisherman.

Forty percent of the news media’s coverage of religion in the past year had to do with Islam and related issues, according to new analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. 

Much of this coverage focused on the plan to build a mosque and Islamic center near ground zero in New York City, a Florida pastor’s threat to organize a public banning of the Koran and commemorations of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

Overall, mainstream media devoted more attention to religion in 2010 than in any year since the Pew Research Center began measuring coverage of religion and other subjects in 2007. The amount of space or time media devoted to religion doubled between 2009 and 2010, increasing from about 1% of total coverage to 2%. And for the first time since tracking began in 2007, neither the Catholic Church nor religion’s role in American politics were the No. 1 topic of religion coverage in major news outlets.

Also in 2010, religion appeared as a major topic more often in the blogosphere than it did in traditional media, becoming one of the most-discussed subjects on blogs in 12 of the 48 weeks studied by PEJ and the Pew Forum.

A group of faith community leaders will submit a petition to the State Attorney’s Office in Orlando Friday morning requesting that Florida Attorney General Pan Bondi hold banks accountable for their role in the mortgage crisis that has caused an avalanche of foreclosures.

Clergy and members of congregations in four counties who are figthing foreclosure will present a petition signed by thousands of Floridians at 11 a.m. at the State Attorney’s office,. 135 W. Central Blvd., Orlando.  The petition urges the Bondi to reach a strong settlement with the nation’s biggest banks following an investigation of illegal bank fraud and abuse.

Friday’s briefing of the bank’s role in the mortgage meltdown will be one of 10 press conferences scheduled around the country. State Attorneys General in all 50 states are negotiating a settlement with the major banks.

PICO United Florida and its 50 congregation want a settlement that holds banks accountable for their illegal practices, harm done to families, and creates a real solution that:

• Restores fairness to the housing market by charging homeowners what their house is really worth, not the inflated figures bankers invented to make record profits;
• Grants responsible homeowners fair, affordable and permanent loan modifications;
• Stop banks from seizing homes without investigation of all other options, including loan modification and opportunities for homeowners to appeal any loan denial;
• Grants full market value financial restitution to homeowners who were fraudulently removed from their homes;
• Requires the big banks, and not state governments, to pay for enforcement needs and capacities laid out in the settlement;
• And prosecutes bankers and servicers who broke the law.

PICO United Florida is a network of federations of congregations in Orange County (FOCUS), Brevard County (Congregations for Community Action), Alachua County (ACTION Network), and congregations in Seminole, Escambia, St. Lucie, and Osceola Counties. The organization’s 53 congregations represent more than 60,000 families and reach low to moderate income communities in each city.  

In meetings last fall, congregations were promised a meeting with the Attorney General and her investigative staff that is being scheduled now. Florida has consistently ranked among the top three states with mortgage foreclosures, affecting hundreds of thousands of families that were often victims of illegal and predatory lending practices among the major banks.  

PICO United Florida contends that while many families struggle to pay their mortgage and follow the law, the big banks have broken the law and have yet to be held accountable.

PICO’s membership includes AME Methodist, Southern and Missionary Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal, Jewish, Presbyterian, non-denominational, United Church of Christ, and United Methodist. 

For more information, click www.picoflorida.org

There is an admission fee for those who attend. For additional information, visit www.theelephantroom.com.

Four main topics of conversations will take place throughout the day. Two pastors will lead each conversation. The issues that will be addressed include:

• Preaching to Build the Attendance vs. Preaching to Build the Attenders

 • King Preachers Vs. Poverty Preachers

• Culture in the Church vs. Church in the Culture

• Love the Gospel vs. Share the Gospel

• Multi Site Churches: Personality Cult vs. God

• Compassion Amplifies Gospel vs. Compassion Distorts the Gospel

• Unity: Can’t We All Get Along vs. Discernment: My Way or the Highway

Leading the discussions will be: Pastor James MacDonald, Harvest Bible Chapel, Chicago; Pastor Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, Seattle; Pastor Steven Furtick, Elevation Church, Charlotte; Pastor Matt Chandler, The Village Church, Dallas; Pastor Greg Laurie, Harvest Christian Fellowship, Riverside, Calif.; Pastor David Platt, The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, Al.; Pastor Perry Noble, NewSpring Church, Anderson, S.C.

Nicholas Vujicic, who was born without arms or legs, will bring his inspiring story of perseverance and achievement to Northland, A Church Distributed, 530 Dog Track Road,  March 5-7.

Vujicic, 29, has traveled around the world, sharing his story with millions of people. He recently starred in the award-winning movie short, “The Butterfly Circus” (http://www.thebutterflycircus.com), and is president of the non-profit organization called Life Without Limbs (http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org).

Vujicic’s talk on “Life Without Limbs” is expected to draw 15,000 people, including 4,000 watching online. His appearances are as follows:

Saturday, March 5 at 5 p.m.
Sunday, March 6 at 9, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Monday, March 7 at 7 p.m.

Representatives from other churches throughout the state of Florida will also participate, seeking “next steps” for including those with disabilities.

Northland has special needs children joining in its children’s church with “buddies” lending a hand. A new, integrated youth and young adult ministry called Young Life Capernaum has also been developed. Additionally, there are monthly family activities for families with children with disabilities and services of various sorts for parents, from respite care to support groups.

“Creating a more welcoming environment for individuals and families with disabilities is something most churches could improve upon with some intentional planning and a decision to just do it,” notes Laura Lee Wright, director of Northland’s Access Ministries.

All services will be webcast live at http://www.northlandchurch.net. A special youth event for middle and high school students will also be held after the Saturday evening service at 6:30 p.m.

For more information contact Robert Andrescik at press@northlandchurch.net or 407-949-7147.

LifeWay Christian Stores plans to discontinue its “Read With Discernment” label on books it regards as espousing “thoughts, ideas, or concepts that could be considered inconsistent with historical evangelical theology.” The warning applied to works by popular authors including Bob Bell, Donald Miller, Brian McLaren and William Young.

The intent was to help readers make good decisions, but the label ended up causing more confusion that it was worth, LifeWay’s director of product standards told Christianity Today magazine.

“We thought it would be helpful and it wasn’t,” said Chris Rodgers.

The labeling program started in 2007.

Religion News Service writer Francis X. Rocca writes about how the scandal involving Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has embroiled the Roman Catholic Church:

VATICAN CITY (RNS) No major Western European leader in recent years has been a more stalwart ally of the Roman Catholic Church than Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

 Berlusconi’s stands against euthanasia, living wills, in-vitro fertilization and domestic partnerships have put his country in line with Catholic teaching, and out of sync with all other major countries in the region, including traditionally Catholic Spain. His government has also granted large financial subsidies to Catholic schools, and expanded tax breaks for church-owned businesses.

Yet in Berlusconi’s increasingly public personal life, the billionaire businessman-turned-politician is not exactly a model …

Read the entire story