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Encounters of a ‘third place’ kind: We’re suffering from our withdrawal from public life

Faith

I think the great tragedy of the recent pandemic is that it has hastened our rush to abandon so-called “third spaces” seemingly at all costs. The millions of lives lost and the many more who still suffer, not with standing, of course. “Third spaces” is a phrase coined by sociologist Roy Oldenburg, and has increasingly been popping up across various things that I have been reading. The phrase refers to spaces that are not our homes (first places) and our work (second places). In other words, they are neutral public spaces where you may meet people totally outside your normal ...

GOLD College kick-off event set for Sept. 10 at SMSU

Schools

The fall kick-off session for GOLD College will be in the Conference Center Upper Level at SMSU on Wednesday, Sept. 10 starting at 1:30 p.m., with registration and social time. The program begins at 2:30 p.m. featuring keynote speaker Joyce Tofte speaking about the Mustang Market, SMSU’s food pantry. Tofte is the Violence Prevention and Education coordinator in the University Public Safety office at SMSU in addition to her work with the Mustang Market. Tofte’s talk is free to everyone, even those who are not registered for GOLD College. GOLD College is an exciting program that ...

How many more times must I write about a mass shooting?

Faith

While the names of the schools or churches or entertainment venues change, it’s inevitable that our news feeds annually will fill with headlines detailing hundreds of mass shootings. Some resulting in more deaths than others, but all tragic nonetheless. This week, it was Annunciation Church in south Minneapolis, where as of this writing two children had been killed and 17 more people injured. My home state, in other words. Lord, have mercy. This latest shooting grips me more than other recent mass shootings because at the very same time that the killer opened fire from ...

Faith Briefs for Aug. 29

Faith

Lemonade fundraiser at St. Michael’s Lemonade will be sold following 8:30 a.m. Mass Sunday at St. Michael’s in Milroy. All proceeds will go to support the San Lucas Mission in Guatemala. Infant loss support group meeting The infant loss support group will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, in the gathering area at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church.

Faith Briefs for Aug. 15

Faith

Our Lady of Victory Church building maintenance auction Our Lady of Victory Church Council in Lucan is sponsoring a building maintenance auction to raise funds to maintain the church building. The auction will take place Sunday, Aug. 24, at Our Lady of Victory Church, 302 East Third Street, Lucan. Auction items will be on display at 11 a.m. and auction beginning at noon. Many items have been donated including but not limited to hay and straw bales, vehicles, household items, antiques, tools, fitness items, yard and garden items, furniture and much, much more. There will also be a lunch ...

12 months in a shelter has taught me we’ve messed up Jesus’ message

Faith

This past week I celebrated my first anniversary as CEO of a large, faith-based mission that operates an emergency shelter, food pantry and supportive housing apartments in our hometown. Oh, to list the many things I’ve learned over the past year would necessitate an entire tome for me to cover it all! (Hmm, now my brain is spinning!) But from a faith perspective, the single most important lesson that I’ve learned in that time is … it’s a travesty that our Westernized Christianity has reversed Jesus’ focus from looking outward toward others … to concentrating inward on ...