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A small c catholic

Bill Tammeus is a Presbyterian elder and former Kansas City Star columnist who tries to observe the world through his theological lenses and then offer to readers the gift of the meaning he discovers there.

On 9/11, finding hope for Islam in America

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I am finding this ninth anniversary of 9/11 even more troubling than the eight before it.

For my family each 9/11 lacerates our hearts anew because my 31-year-old nephew, the son of one of my three sisters, was a passenger on American Flight 11 -- the first plane that hijackers smashed into the World Trade Center. Karleton Fyfe was simply a fabulous young husband, father (his wife was early in her pregnancy with their second son when Karleton died), son, brother, cousin, nephew, friend, and businessman.

Seeking religious harmony, the urgent call of our time

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In speeches and columns over many years I have made the point that interfaith understanding is vital if there's to be any hope for world peace.

And America — a stunning amalgam of ethnic and religious traditions — can be a model for the world in this regard.

In fact, if the call of the 20th century for Americans was to work toward racial harmony, the call of the 21st century is to seek religious harmony in our increasingly pluralistic culture.

When a congregation chooses its pastor

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For almost a year now, I’ve been doing something in my Presbyterian church that Catholics don’t get (or have) to do.

I’ve been serving on a pastor nominating committee. Our job is to search for a new senior pastor and, when we’ve found one, recommend that our congregation vote to call him or her (yes, Presbyterians have been ordaining women since 1956 — and I even know that now-retired first ordained female.)

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In This Issue

May 10-23, 2013

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