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Local/National Faith Briefs

GriefShare Program offered to the local community

Those who have experienced the death of a loved one (spouse, child, friend, or other family) and are journeying toward grief healing are invited to GriefShare, a program of 13 weekly sessions. The sessions will be from 6-7:30 p.m. Mondays at the Holy Redeemer Church gathering area. The material is designed so that a person is able to attend on any week, even if you missed prior sessions.

The GriefShare Program offers a professionally-produced, nondenominational, Christian-based video on grief topics associated with the death of a loved one. A half-hour video is followed by a small group discussion about what was seen on the DVD.

The bereavement experience may be recent or not so recent. Attendees will learn how to recognize the symptoms of being stuck in grief, valuable information about facing the“new normal” in life. For questions call the church office at 532-5711 during business hours, or Dorothy at 401-0601; Gerri at 532-9218; or Jason at 829-9487.

First Lutheran Youth Group Pizza Ranch fundraising event

First Lutheran Church’s Youth will be involved in a Community Impact Fundraising Event from 5-8 p.m. Monday at the Marshall Pizza Ranch. They will be going on a High Adventures Trip to Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp in Montana this summer.

Nebraska targets ban on religious garb worn by teachers

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Sister Madeleine Miller applied for a high school teaching job in Nebraska thinking she would get judged on her credentials — not what she was wearing on her head.

The 37-year-old nun was shocked to learn that, under a little-known law nearly a century old, she couldn’t wear a habit in a public school classroom. The vaguely worded ban prohibits teachers from wearing any sort of religious garb, from burqas to yarmulkes.

“I could have been arrested, jailed, fined or had my license taken away if I had tried to teach,” Miller said Tuesday.

Now, state lawmakers are looking to end the ban, which was passed in 1919 under pressure from the Ku Klux Klan amid a national wave of anti-Catholic sentiment.

The law is rarely enforced but came to the attention of the senator whose district includes Norfolk Public Schools, where Miller had hoped to work. Miller said a school administrator told her the district would be happy to hire her, but she couldn’t wear her habit in class.

Thirty-six states had adopted similar bans on religious garb at various points, but Nebraska and Pennsylvania are the only ones that have yet to repeal them, said Speaker of the Legislature Jim Scheer, sponsor of the repeal bill. Oregon abolished its ban in 2010.

Scheer, who spent nearly two decades serving on a local school board, said he had no idea the ban was still in place but argued that it violates teachers’ free-speech rights. Nebraska is also struggling to fill teacher shortages this year in 18 different fields, according to the state Department of Education.

“This isn’t virgin turf I’m tilling here,” said Scheer, of Norfolk. “We’re just one of the last ones.”

Miller — who holds a Nebraska teaching certificate, a bachelor’s degree from Wayne State College in Nebraska and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago — ended up taking a job at a Catholic school in neighboring Iowa. She said she initially considered filing a lawsuit with help from the Thomas More Law Center, a national religious liberties group, but decided against it in hopes that lawmakers would fix the issue themselves.

Church rules require sisters to wear the habit virtually all of the time, except when working in a communist country or cleaning with harsh chemicals that could damage the blessed garments. Miller sought the job as a public school substitute because none of the local Catholic schools had any openings.

Congregation hopes to rebuild after fire destroys church

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — Members of an East St. Louis congregation are hoping to rebuild after a large blaze destroyed their church.

East St. Louis Fire Chief Jason Blackmon says the Saturday night fire engulfed the whole structure of the Christ Redeemed Missionary Baptist Church. The cause of the blaze is unknown. Blackmon described it as “almost like a big warehouse fire.” He says the fire started in the back of the church and took firefighters about five hours to get under control.

The building previously was St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church before the current church took over in 1978. The congregation has about 30 active members.

The church’s pastor, the 90-year-old Rev. Dewitt Rhodes, stood next to the church’s smoldering remains Sunday morning. He called the church “a centerpiece for God’s work in the neighborhood.”

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