Religion briefs 1/4/03

Presbyterian church welcomes new pastor

The Rev. Joel Hebert will become the fifth pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church as the congregation welcomes him on Sunday.

Hebert is an ordained minister and received a master's of divinity degree from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He also is a graduate of Sterling College.

Before attending seminary, he worked four years as the director of youth ministries for the Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg, Kan. While in seminary, he did field education in the Louisville, Ky., area. He served seven years as pastor of Mountain Top Larger Parish Presbyterian Church in Clearfield County, Penn., and served three churches in that area.

He and his wife, Connie, have two children.

Hosp to hold CD release concert in Jackson

Robyn Hosp of Jackson will hold a CD release concert at 7 p.m. Jan. 12 at First Baptist Church in Jackson.

Hosp's new CD is titled "Joy in the Journey."

There is no admission charge, and a love offering will be collected.

Souper Bowl of Caring to be held Jan. 26

Churches from around the nation, including several in Southeast Missouri, will be participating in the "Souper Bowl of Caring" on Jan. 26, Super Bowl Sunday.

The congregations will raise money for soup kitchens, food banks and shelters. Last year, more than $3 million was collected.

More information about the program is at www.souperbowl.org.

Hip-hop group will perform at area church

The EBE (Excelling by Example) Crew, a Christian music group from Columbus, Ohio, will perform at 6 p.m. Jan. 12 at Christ Church of the Heartland in Cape Girardeau. The event is part of the congregation's UpWord Youth Ministry Extravaganza.

The group uses hip-hop music to share a gospel message.

Doors open at 5 p.m., and the group will perform from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

Lynwood Baptist Church to hold heaven seminar

Lynwood Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau will host a "Heaven Seminar" Jan. 12 with guest speaker Fred Overton of Atlanta, Ga.

Overton is a former head basketball coach at Murray State University in Murray, Ky. He is a motivational speaker.

The seminar will be at 9 and 10:30 a.m. Jan. 12 and again from 5 to 7 p.m. at the church. Child care is provided.

The seminar will address questions like what is heaven, where is heaven and how to get to heaven.

Christian Women's Club to meet at Holiday Inn

The Cape Girardeau County Christian Women's Club will meet at noon Jan. 13 at Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau. Speaker is Cyndi Crowl of Collierville, Tenn. Lunch and day-care reservations should be made by Thursday by calling Bonnie Macke at 243-2860.

Poll: Catholic church attendance declines

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Churchgoing among Roman Catholics has dropped significantly as the crisis over priests who molest children has dragged on, according to a survey by the Gallup Organization.

The number of Catholics who said they had attended services in the last week fell to 41 percent, compared to 46 percent in the same period in 2001, according the poll.

The rate of Catholic church attendance is now lower than that for Protestants, who have lagged behind Catholics in worship rate in the decades since Gallup has been measuring attendance. The latest poll found 47 percent of Protestants said they went to church in the last week.

The survey of just over 1,000 adults was conducted between Dec. 9 and Dec. 10, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 7 percentage points.

Gallup said it could not make a direct link between the scandal and the decline in Catholic attendance, partly because Catholic churchgoing started to drop long before the crisis erupted in January.

Former King parsonage being made into museum

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The former Baptist parsonage where a young Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. lived is undergoing $300,000 in renovations to become a museum.

The project is scheduled for completion in 2004, a year before the 50th anniversary of the historic Montgomery bus boycott, which was galvanized by King's pulpit oratory at the church, now known as the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church.

"It was the scene of a lot of the hustle and bustle at the height of the civil rights movement," said the Rev. Michael Thurman, current pastor of the Dexter Avenue congregation.

King and his family lived in the home from 1954 to 1960, when his preaching and leadership skills brought the burgeoning protest movement to a head.

The Montgomery bus boycott was under way when the parsonage was bombed in 1956. King's wife, his young daughter and a church member were inside at the time, but all escaped injury.

Turkey's chief rabbi takes centuries-old office

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Turkey's Jewish community has installed Isak Haleva as chief rabbi, a 550-year-old post created when the Ottomans conquered Istanbul.

The 62-year-old Haleva has been acting chief rabbi and leader of the 25,000-member Jewish community since his election to the post in October.

The post of Turkey's chief rabbi was first established by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II after the conquest of Istanbul in 1453.

-- From staff, wire reports