The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 3

Saturday Daeembar 21 1 96 THE KANSAS tlTY Chapel Director Named in Changes at Liberty i mi Religion Viewpoints 1968 a News-Making Year for Churches Watch Parties Set in Area Churches By Mary Hobbs (The Star's Church Editor) At this point a lot of religion-involved persons of the area as well as in the nation and elsewhere in the world are tending to relax a little and hope that 1969 will be a time for a letup in the jostling and disruption that has been of tremendous proportions in 1968 This relaxation could be the worst possible thing for religion to undergo now in the estimate of some leaders It could result in church members retreating into an isolationist status that these leaders feel would hasten the disintegration of a much-beleaguered structure igue John Barth William Jewell college is involved in several changes of program or personnel including formation of a new contemporary singing group entering around a Christian theme One ehange reported this eek will be effective February 1 John Barth director of alumni services at the college in Liberty will shift to the fKist of acting director of the chapel Dr Olson acting president said alumni affairs will then be directed temporarily by Dr Norris A Patter-Son co-ordinator of special projects and director of athletics at the college on the faculty since 1950 Barth a 1953 William Jewell graduate returned there in 1965 as director of public relations and alumni affairs Last February the office was expanded into two departments with Barth heading the alumni services He also has been a frequent speaker at schools churches and association meetings throughout the state The chapel-convocations program includes sponsoring outstanding speakers at the campus as a part of the col-' lege education Barth is a graduate of South-' ern Baptist Theological seminary Louisville Ky and has studied also at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Indiana He has held pastorates in Cairo and Lamar Mo The William Jewell faculty also has been enlarged with Dr Carl Hunker becoming visiting professor of religion and history He is on a leave of absence from a missionary post in Republic of China (Taiwan) Dr Hunker is BOTH BISHOP AND POPE shown exchanging greetings here were I the center of controversy that kept religion in forefront of much news Bishop Charles Helmsing in center facing Pope Paul VI received private audience following this greetin of members and consultors ef -lhe retary for the promotion of Christian un ity in Home a few months ago requested prayers of those in the Kan sas City-St Joseph Catholic diocese' second Southern Baptist missionary to be a visiting professor at the college Dr Wilson who taught there last year has returned to the Philippines The new singing group formed at William Jewell is to be named The 15-student group will present programs with the popular sound of music mixing with contemporary Christianity narratives attempting to show the relevance of Christian living to the world of college students Group leaders are Miss Paula Tietjens De-Witt Mo sophomore and Stephen Jones Eldon Mo junior The singers plan a tour of several churches and colleges in Missouri next semester Members are part of the Baptist Student Union in which the idea for the group originated bless all of them from my he love them New eve celebrations and watch parties and services are scheduled by many of the church groups in the area In many' churches the Tuesday night activities are planned for the different age levels in families and congregations so that all may be entertained New eve at church and then join in a half-hour or hour of worship as the year ends estant mainline churches also were headliners Bishop James Pike the perennial headline provider of the Episcopal church repeated in 1968 first with ideas and a book about life after death and spiritualistic experiences and recently by marrying again and stirring up discussion on whether he as a divorced priest could continue to act as a priest Catholics however garnered more headlines than any of the other relieious grouos and individuals This some interpreters sav is because the earthquake that started with Second Vatican council is producing after-shocks and tidal waves as the church tries to deal with change much like that of the Protestant Reformation four and one-half centuries ago The reshuffling within Protestantism is less striking but as ever-present as the Catholic problems FOR THE Kansas City Metropolitan area 1968 meant a lot of religious news Most of it reach world headline proportions An exception was the condemnation of the National Catholic Reporter py Bishop Charles Helmsing of the Kansas City-St Joseph diocese this fall His official condemnation followed by a year less forcefully framed but as stern reprimands to the editors of that independent religious news publication for what he felt were slanted distortions and printing of controversial matters that endangered the church The request that the editors and paper board drop the name Catholic from the masthead was denied by the organization after a special meeting to consider and reply to the condemnation and pin future hope on history of the world and of the church The former United 'Presbyterian church executive for the seemed more encouraged himself than he had appeared a year ago after his initial seasoning in the world council responsibilities He reflected a hopefulness and solidifying trend that was reached in the world assembly last July in Uppsala Sweden No cataclysmic developments were reported from there but leaders considered that the meeting made gains when the leading Protestant bodies and the Orthodox church largest in representation were in general agreement at most points And even as the Pope was readying his encyclical which got a cool reception from Protestants because they felt it denigrated their own stand a Catholic representative was suggesting that the faith might become a member of the world council ecumenical vehicle if details for this can be worked out BESIDES the encyclical and response to it from the world and across this country religion made news in many other ways The Vietnam war the deaths of Dr Martin Luther King jr and Robert Kennedy by assassination continuing resignation of Catholic priests and allowance of more freedom for nuns: world hunger and the Biafra food efforts of church people were all major news items These were among the top 10 in a survey by Religious News-writers association a national organization of writers for leading secular newspapers Churches financing secular inner city projects and establishments of Black Caucases and an umbrella organization of black ministers of the Prot- ish representatives who the January weekend in ft sior Springs are passing ideas discussed there -J Progress is being madeLo have a joint approach of the dioceses of West Missouri pad Kansas in many of -ifee problems that reach across- statjt lines i UNITED Methodists aio undergoing an adjustment! riod in this area following spring merger conferenced Dallas Tex of the formed Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren denoaasaat tions nationally The first church ih the'ha-tion to be jointly operated' by Protestants a nd Catholics came to life as the member- ship of First United Presbjler-ian church and community activities of United tenet City services moved Ur TWW building at 1101 and gave actuality to of the ecumenicalveiF5 turf 1 Co-operating in St are the Catholic dioerte-ttt? Episcopal West Missouri diocese: Kansas City preslrteafy of the United Presbyterian church and the Missoariean-ference of the United dMWck of Christ Some of the lines for religion actually those of the riots hbre-fWhftjjfr came in the Christian Holy week and resulted in saneell- tion or rescheduling pfmany services when curfew bpmf conflicted 4 Relaxation that would leave the churches more open to being nibbled at would they comment please some of the most revolution-minded religious activists But it also would intensify apathy and lethargic tendencies that brought the church to the point where nothing short of the current reformation held any possibilities for future hope SO 1969 stretches tautly as a tight-rope on which leadership and aroused laity must balance carefully in order to bridge deepening gSps and move on to achievement rather than setbacks or plummeting failures What has been going on in 1968 has pointed to a pattern in the area and world of accommodation to the slow-moving masses by most leaders while those in front ranks of reformation kept advancing until communication lines thinned and in some cases snapped The majority of the Christian members have realized now that the confusion of the last several years just a threat that will fade but a real alteration of direction by the major faiths At the same time actions throughout the year showed they also have realized that there were many persons lagging behind who might be left out of a changed church unless their needs were considered Trying to reconcile these divergences the leaders have been placing more emphasis on a need for resurgence of Christian conscience toward poverty and strife while also calling for deeper reflections on evangelism and the gift of the Holy Spirit Scrambling- to make clear that despite the continuing change the major faiths will not throw out the basic concepts that have shaped their growth some peculiar circumstances came about that kept religion under public discussion just when increasing numbers of the younger people movejlut to more experimental worship or away from Christianity entirely POPE PAUL VI and his Hunt anae Vitae encyclical have been of course the major center for controversy since the world learned in mid-year of his decision to continue older Roman Catholic teachings that ban birth control except for the rhythm method It quickly became obvious that this ban was unacceptable to far more lay members than the conservative church leadership may have believed possible Just as obvious is the fact that the use of the birth control pill is a secondary matter now The crisis of faith hinges upon the authority of the Pope and of hierarchy members such as Cardinal of Washington whose penalizing of nriests continues under fire The ecumenical movement still is a reason for hope to many Christians and particularly for Dr Eugene Carson Blake executive of the World Council of Churches On a visit here in October Dr Blake called for Christians to back our faith and said pray for them Some world points received fragmentary reports from several meetings that went on in the Kansas City area In this category were conclaves of the Church of the Nazwene and the Reorganized Latter Day Saint church whose world headquarters are respectively here and in Independence Kansas City also was a meeting point for many other groups The International Convention of Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ) took on a simpler name and a new denomination-1 i structural form in its meeting here this fall becoming the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) The restructure action followed years of planning and discussion The meeting marked the second time Kansas City had been a historymaking spot for the brotherhood The international convention was accepted as the operational vehicle in 1917 session here The Catholic Family conference regional convention met here just at the height of objections to the encyclical but this organization strove to find a balancing spot between viewpoints not desiring to sacrifice their church traditions and authority even while many members had expected a relaxation of the birth control ban It was the Catholic diocese that made news last spring when the decision was announced to discontinue the diocesan newspaper for reasons of financial considerations Missing much of the ecumenical and church structure reporting that this publication had used several of the Protestant church men and women sparked a new paper Community Now which has been distributed in the area for several months ANOTHER ecumenical activity here Metropolitan Inter-Church agency found itself misunderstood often in its continuing development as a core organization for task force clustering by the various Christian faiths It found too that some of the co-operating denominational regional units judicatories) desired to benefit from a sharing and exchange of their own goals but were less disposed to act jointly than to continue to develop their own activities However there are several task force groupings involved in area and pinpointed location problems either on evaluation or action levels Latest evaluation group is one to probe anti-Semitism just into action this month Area Baptists whose own Southern Baptist convention is undergoing some drastic changing in operational attitudes and methods including name changes for many major affiliated organizations showed by a mass rally their enthusiasm for participation in the 1969 Crusade of the Americas that will engage Baptist persons in the entire hemisphere Episcopal members are learning from persons who participated in the MetrO-K conference early in the year that there are a lot of area problems in which they can become more active The par -Jt These are only a few of-the jSlon- world nation ana area in stories involving religion in aa all it was -quite a the 1968' All year 5 i Translation Task Nears End PPf! IN THE FIELD OF RELIGION BLUE RIDGE BOULEVARD CHRISTIAN church in Independence will hold a program of installation and dedication tomorrow for the newly-arrived pastor the Rev Walter George Dr Lester Rickman executive minister of the Missouri Christian church (Disciples of Christ) will preach in the 3 service Also participating will be the Rev Harrell Rea executive secretary of the Christian Church Commission of Greeter Kansas City the Rev Kenneth Rouse assistant minister Country Club Christian church the Rev Gordon Masters minister Eastgate Christian church and Rod A Stroup Blue Ridge church official board chairman A reception for Mr George and his family will follow the service Mr George came to the area after 10 years in Texas that included seminary training at Brite Divinity school of Texas Christian university He served as pastor of three churches in Texas before returning to Missouri his home state COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN sanctuary will be a setting at 3 tomorrow for a concert intended primarily for youths and young adults but open to all area persons "The Folk Music of concert will be headlined by Danny Cox who has appeared in a Carnegie Hall concert and on some television shows and is now making a pilot film The Underground Railroad commission is concert sponsor DR JAMES VAN BUREN will speak at the 11 service tomorrow at the Barry Christian church He has been a professor of humanities at Manhattan Bible college Manhattan Kas since 1960 and also from 1961 to 1966 was minister of the First Christian church in Barnes Kas He is a former minister at churches in Pittsburgh Pa Indiana Illinois and Clarence Dr Van Buren was 1955 president and 1954 vice-president of the North American Christian convention He also formerly served three years on the state board of the Pennsylvania Christian Missionary society Dr Van Buren has written for many church pub- lications and has traveled and spoken in nearly all of the United States as well as in Canada several European countries and Asia Tomorrow he also will lead the Sunday school class meeting at the Barry Christian fellowship hall Dr Van Buran THIRD BISHOP'S CONVOCATION on the Ministry is winding -up today at St Paul School of Theology here It began Thursday Sessions involving about 200 youths and adults were scheduled by Bishop McFerrin Stowe Kansas United Methodist episcopal leader They were designed primarily for students on vacation from high schools and colleges but also were for any person interested in a life in the ministry COUNTRYSIDE CHRISTIAN church will be represented by Walter A Meyers 5923 Hardy in a group of laymen from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) responding to a request for assistance on a work project in Haiti Eleven skilled construction workers of the denomination have volunteered for the project in January and February They are to form two teams assigned to separate work goals a teacher training school that serves all the Protestant churches in Haiti where more classroom space is needed and an enclosed reservoir and solar still to convert salt water into pure water urgently needed by a school on mainland Of Haiti for storage capacity of fresh water Both of the schools involved in the project are under jurisdiction of the British Methodist church but serve persons of other faiths also The trip by the volunteers from this country is organized by the work and church in society departments of the United Christian Missionary society in co-operation with Church World Service and the Haiti British Methodist church An orientation program for Meyers and the other men is to be held Thursday and Friday in Miami Fla prior to the trip to Haiti The Countryside church in Mission will hold a commissioning service for Meyers in connection with worship services tomorrow BAHA'IS of Kansas City and Independence will sponsor two meetings featuring Miss Linda Marshall television and film actress First of the meetings will be at 8 tonight at The Clubhouse 3122 South Crysler avenue Independence The other meeting will be at 8 tomorrow night at 660 West Seventieth street here Both are open to the public without admittance charge or donations Miss Marshall has been active in the faith several years combining teaching activities and her profes-sional career traveling from the head-4 Hi quarters of the faith in Wilmette 111 She also has appeared on radio and television in areas where she has visited Last August and September Miss Marshall acted as a guide in Haifa Israel world center of the faith during the Mediterranean conference Miss Marshall GRAND AVENUE TEMPLE United Methodist church in downtown area will continue Wednesday lunch lift inspirational programs each week next month Speakers will be Ernie Mehl former sports editor of The Star January 8 Abe Underwood known as Ozark Philosopher January 15 James Jeffrey executive of Fellowship of Christian Athletes January 22 and Arthur Kulah ordained ministerial graduate of mission schools of the United Methodist church of Liberia now a crusade scholar at St Paul School of Theology here January 29 UNITY SOCIETY auxiliary will sponsor a travelogue program on Alaska by Henry Holbrook at 1 Tuesday January 7 at Unity temple Robert Newton will present music LEAWOOD BAPTIST church will present a talk on Bible translation work by Dr Heber Peacock at 7:15 tomorrow night Dr Peacock is translations consultant for West Africa for the American Bible society Before going to that post he was professor of New Testament at Midwestern Baptist seminary here after having been chairman of the religion department at Baylor university Waco Tex Dr Peacock also had prior New Testament professorships at Southern Baptist Theological seminary Louisville Ky and Ruschlikon Baptist seminary in Switzerland In his present work he travels among the various African countries to supervise the translations being done into numerous languages and dialects under auspices of the American Bible society speaks the language almoetas well as I she 4 Next summer Mrs 'Griffih plans to start Bible reading groups and train and en the congregations of six ex-isting churches each with an-average regular attendant of between 20 and 25 The October issue al Geographic magazine iriaptr-ed a history of the Zapoitcajl' tribe one of the leading communities in Mexico and Ofthe largest Benito Juarez considered the liberator of Mexico and a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln was a member of the tribe Griffin said said All this must be cleared out before they can inhabit it Although she has finished the entire manuscript Mrs Griffin is now in the process of typing it for printing She hopes it can be finished in two years but will not be too surprised if it is five years she admits A man in Longmont Colo will do the actual printing Teaching a second grade class in the Denver system and doing the usual household work Mrs Griffin must find time to do the typing at night She said there is still some checking left to do youngest daughter need to get back faith and courage for Christian hope in face of world situations Dr Eugene Carson Blake The World Council of Churches executive spoke here in October as a new cohesive Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) was formed We Would Do Well to Invite Him In AMD HIE NAME SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL COUNSELLOR THE MIGHTY GOD THE EVERLASTING FATHER THE PRINCE OF PEACE ISA 9-6 'USTLY proud that she has completed a 15-year goal to translate the entire New Testament onto the Zapotecan Indian language of Mexico MrsVera Mae Griffin brought a copy of the gospel of John along to show her father Alleman on her Christmas visit home The former resident of Kansas City Kansas is a trained Wycliffe translator but now operates on an independent basis spending each summer in the state of Oakaca in Southern Mexico working among the Zapotecos She is the first white woman ever seen by the tribe and the first to put their language in writing During the school term she is a public schoolteacher in Denver Her two daughters Jeng 13 and Phebe 8 accompany their mother on the summer visits The trip to the inland and the summer existence is vastly different than that to which any one of the three is accustomed It is always difficult to leave her motor car at the town of Ixtlan and get over the trails to the new location further in the interior Her greatest challenge however came last summer When she could find no one willing to take them in by mule and horseback they were forced to walk for two days to reach their destination people say these are the worst mountain areas in the world The temperatures are pleasant when you get to the villages but the mountains are Although she sends letters to the Indians asking for those who own animals to assist them in getting to the interior she is never sure whether or not they will be available Last year they were not The village of Zoogoehi where her summer headquarters are has about 50 per cent stick or bamboo houses and the other half are typical well-built Indian homes the kind provided for her and her daughters When Mrs Griffin and her daughters get to their house each year they find it full of cobwebs insects and rats she fJ hM Jisi I i 7 'fr K'JgHiV- ffesfL- ti'x Ipfe i -r POCKET-SIZED COPY UNITY VILLAGE CHAPEL members and friends will participate tomorrow in a "Letters to program in the 11 service In this annual event the desires and hopes for the future of the individuals are expressed in writing Sealed letters remain in the chapel until a "Christmas in service is held Then letters are either mailed or returned to the senders as they request Sig Paulson minister said that often the persons find that their wishes and prayers have been answered before the July extra Christmas celebration is held THE REV RICHARD JOHNSON executive secretary and stated clerk for Northwest Missouri presbytery has been elected president of the Stated association of the Presbyterian Church iSli Indian are visited each summer by Mrs Gi translated the entire New Testament for them ing her father daring the holidays i iY -r MM-rir.