IOWA CITY — An Iowa City church has been trailblazing same-sex marriage equality for more than a decade. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church and an author, spoke to about 50 people Saturday afternoon at the Congregational United Church of Christ. He addressed Christian marriage and how people of [...]
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IOWA CITY — Boxes of juice, containers of applesauce and piles of granola bars crowd three tables where Faith United Church of Christ just finished a recent Sunday service. Members of the small church, located at 1609 DeForest Ave., line up on each side, filling plastic grocery sacks with the food. Each bag — 36 [...]
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Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement that he will resign at the end of the month was received in Eastern Iowa with the same shock that resonated around the globe. “Obviously, everyone is surprised,” said Father Walter Helms of St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Coralville. “I don’t think anyone saw this coming.” Tom Chapman, executive director [...]
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An adult faith, he once said, is not one that “follows the waves of fashion and the latest novelty.” Most people saw Pope Benedict XVI — who announced Monday he would resign on February 28 for health reasons — as simply a staunch defender of Church orthodoxy. In fact, he was a complex person, an [...]
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CEDAR RAPIDS — As the Cedar River left its banks, rising floodwaters threatened St. Patrick’s Catholic Church four blocks away. The Rev. Steven Rosonke lit a votive candle at the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Nine days later, after hundreds of homes and businesses had been destroyed, after electric lights in all of them [...]
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CEDAR RAPIDS – Elaine Hensen remembers walking to St. John’s Cemetery as a child, where her grandmother, Antonia Hac, regularly placed flowers on the graves of her late husband and a daughter, who died at birth. “I don’t think they even named her – just baby girl,” said Hensen, 71, of Cedar Rapids. Although [...]
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IOWA CITY – It was three years ago that a friend asked Darrell Flinn if he’d want to buy “a bunch of oak.” The oak he was referring to was actually a pew from St. Patrick Catholic Church. The church was destroyed by a tornado on April 13, 2006. Flinn’s friend was the site manager [...]
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