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Pope makes strong first impression on area Catholics
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BY BRITTANY MYRICK STAFF WRITER
ith his first year under his belt on March 13, Pope Francis has made a lasting first impression with many area Catholics who have embraced his emphasis on helping the less fortunate and his new tone that has made him more accepting of others. In his first year, the pope, who has been rumored to sneak out late at night and give to the poor, has put huge emphasis on financially supporting the poor and the needy. Father Frank L. Wiggins, pastor at Saint James Roman Catholic Church in Hopewell, said that he has seen a change in the last year in regards to the pope focusing on the common good and Wiggins has incorporated that into his own parish. “What’s really changed is [Pope Francis’] demeanor about being compassionate and a voice for the poor,” Wiggins said. “We’re really doing what he has told us to do – giving food to the poor and visiting the sick.” Wiggins added that the pope sees the church like a global society and “is pretty adamant
“What’s really changed is [Pope Francis’] demeanor about being compassionate and a voice for the poor.” — Father Frank L. Wiggins, pastor, Saint James Roman Catholic Church, Hopewell
against greed and wealth.” A change in the papacy that is different than that of Pope Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, has been his tone, which has become less and less authoritative and more friendly. Pope Francis has caught the attention of many across Please see IMPRESSIONS, Page 9
AP PHOTO
Pope Francis delivers his blessing during the Angelus noon prayer he celebrated from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, March 23.
LUTHERAN CHURCH OF OUR REDEEMER 1769 S. SYCAMORE ST. Petersburg, VA (804) 732-8567 www.lcor.net Rev. Paul T. Christian, Pastor
Worship with Holy Communion 8:30 am and 11:00 am Sunday School 9:45 am except during summer M2
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Tis the season for empowering women!
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omen at several local churches are being given an opportunity to feel uplifted and empowered through women’s conferences that feature interactive discussions, workshops, and worship. Many of these conferences are, coincidently, being held throughout the month of March, often lasting several days. Greater Kingdom Business Ministry of Hopewell held its fourth annual women’s conference at the Holiday Inn in Colonial Heights from Wednesday, March 12, through Saturday, March 15. Bishop Stephanie White, from Greater Kingdom Business Ministry, said the theme for their women’s conference was “Sister Love” meaning “no sister left behind.” “The main focus at the women’s conference was to empower women spiritually and naturally and to allow them to be inspired,” White said. “Sometimes we need to take
time out of the 365 days to empower each other.” “Sister Love,” White added, teaches women to show love to all cultures and races. “You can be out on drugs or you can be a prostitute, but our job is to take everyone in and leave no one behind,” White said. The “Sister Love” conference was open to women of all ages. White stressed that it is important to empower the younger generation as well as adults. “The younger generation really needs to be molded and shaped,” she said. “The main focus was to get the words into them so they can be mighty women of God.” The “Sister Love” women’s conference concluded with a play, “Women Don’t Die,” which was presented on Sunday, March 16, at Prince George High School and included a variety of area drama and musical talent. “The play was a book that came
alive on stage,” White said. Another local ministry, Zion Apostolic Christian Memorial Temple’s Women’s Ministry, began holding its annual women’s conference Thursday. It will continue through Sunday at the church, located at 1601 Youngs Road in Petersburg. Shelley Wright, from Zion Apostolic, said the conference theme is “God’s Valuable Masterpiece,” and is focused on spiritually uplifting women. “A lot of women might feel insecure or not recognized but they are often the super hero in the families,” Wright said. “They do everything and sometimes get burned out.” Wright said that today, beginning at 9 a.m., women will be split into two groups for workshops: one for youth ages 17 and younger and another for adults, ages 18 and older. She said the younger girls will be learning about the idea of natural beauty through the lenses of finance and emotion, while the older women
will be learning how to celebrate themselves during hard times, such as losing a job or divorce. “For children 17 and younger, they will be focusing on how to strategically plan for the future as a young lady in today’s world,” Wright said. “For women 18 and up, they will be learning how to deal with their emotions during crisis.” According to organizers, attendance at women’s conferences vary. White said that there was anywhere from 100 to 125 people at the “Sister Love” conference. She said that the play drew in over 200 people. Wright said she anticipated there would be at least 50 people each night for this week’s conference, sponsored by Zion Apostolic Christian Memorial Temple’s Women’s Ministry. Other local churches/ministries that are focusing attention on women this spring include: Oak Street AME Zion Church, which held its ninth annual women’s conference
on March 15, and the Uniquely Chosen Ministries of Mount Olivet Baptist Church, which is offering a continuing series during March, themed, “Embracing Your Pearls.” Sessions are held every Monday starting at 7 p.m. The Rev. Pam McLaughlin of Mount Olivet Baptist Church, said the theme, “Embracing Your Pearls” is about character traits being polished over time. The Monday evening talks, led by McLaughlin, are open to all women and teenage girls. Series organizers encourage participants to bring their Bibles, their questions and open hearts, and come prepared to “let’s chat about it.” McLaughlin said she has led over 20 women’s conferences around the United States and as far away as Africa. The theme for Oak Street AME Zion Church’s women’s conference was “Grace for a Woman’s Soul.”
“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.” Psalm 1: 122
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Historic marker to recognize Petersburg divinity school Unveiling and dedication ceremony happening today FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
P E T E R S B U RG — A Petersburg school that prepared black men for the ministry is being recognized with a Virginia historical marker. The marker honoring the Bishop Payne Divinity School will be dedicated today. The school was established in 1878 at St. Ste phen’s Episcopal Church Nor mal and Industrial School. The divinity school was started by the Rev. John Payne, the first bishop of Liberia. Its g raduates included James Solomon Russell, who founded St. Paul’s College in Lawrenceville. Bishop Payne Divinity School merged in 1949 with the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. The marker was approved in March 2013 by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. The text of the marker reads “The Bishop Payne Divinity School be gan here in 1878 at the St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church Nor mal and Industrial School. For 71 years, it prepared black men for the ministry in the church. Giles B. Cooke (1838-1937) headed the vocational school and M4
helped develop the divinity school. In 1884, the school was named after the Rt. Rev. John Payne, the first bishop of Liberia. Prominent students included James Solomon Russell (1857-1935), who founded Saint Paul’s College in Lawrenceville, and George Freeman Bragg Jr. (1853-1940), who became a priest and civil rights advocate. In 1949, the school merged with the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria.” The sign will be dedicated during a ceremony at 11 a.m. today at the St. Ste phen’s Episcopal Church, located at 228 Halifax St. Speakers during the ceremony will include the Rev. Canon Lloyd Alexander Lewis Jr.; Christopher Pote, archivist for the Bishop Library, Virginia Theological Seminary and the African American Episcopal Historical Collection; the Rev. Pegram Johnson III, who led the effort to secure the histori c a l m a rk e r ; a n d H . Edward “Chip” Mann, a member of the Virginia Historic Resources Board of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
PATRICK KANE/PROGRESS-INDEX PHOTO
St. Stephens Episcopal Church is located at 228 Halifax St., Petersburg. A marker honoring the Bishop Payne Divinity School is being dedicated at the site today at 11 a.m.
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Pope sees banner first year BY NICOLE WINFIELD ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY — From his simple sound bites to his breaking of Vatican rules, Pope Francis has made being Catholic cool in his first year. He might not like his superstar status, but he certainly knows how to work a crowd and he has endeared himself to the public for looking out for the poor and radically shifting the church’s focus to mercy rather than moralizing. “Now, people are happy to say ‘Well, actually I am a Catholic,’ and sometimes they’re quite keen to let themselves be known as a Catholic,” British Cardinal Vincent Nichols said. “And I think that’s the effect of Pope Francis. There is credibility around the Catholic project.” But not everyone is thrilled and expectations are high for his second year, with highprofile travel, Vatican reform and discussion on hot-button issues like family and sex on the agenda. The anniversary of Francis’ papacy was March 13. Here’s a look at some key moments in Francis’ first year that give insight to what the future may hold for the 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church.
Francis the rule-breaker Francis believes the church has too many “small-minded” rules and hasn’t been shy about breaking them. Just two weeks after being elected, he washed the feet of a woman and Muslim during a Holy Thursday ceremony reenacting Jesus’ washing of his disciples’ feet. Vatican rules state it should be performed on men only. “People were reacting, ‘God, he’s breaking the rules!’” noted Monsignor Paul Tighe, No. 2 in the Vatican’s social communications office. “But in a sense he was bringing us back to the radicality of the choice of Jesus.” Francis has declared at least two saints without going through the Vatican’s miracle-confirmation protocol, not to mention his decision to shun the papal apartments for the Vatican hotel. Will Francis break another rule barring divorced and civilly remarried Catholics from receiving Communion? He has called a church-wide, two-year debate on the issue starting in October. But even proponents of a more merciful approach endorsed by Francis insist core doctrine won’t change. M8
AP PHOTO/GREGORIO BORGIA
Francis waves to the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, the day of his election. From his gestures to his simple sound bites to his emphasis that priests are called to serve, Pope Francis has endeared himself to the public, radically shifted the paradigm of the papacy and reminded the world that the church’s mission is one of mercy.
At the Copa-Copacabana Francis’ flouting of rules has extended to security: He ditched the armored popemobile for his first foreign trip to Brazil, and was swarmed by adoring crowds in Rio de Janeiro when his motorcade took a wrong turn. The Rio trip was also a watershed because he uttered the now-famous words “Who am I to judge” about gays on the flight home. It set the stage for a radical shift in tone about church teaching on homosexuality and opened the debate on whether the church could endorse civil unions — another issue that will come up at the October synod. Not everyone is pleased. Traditionalist and some conservative Catholics have ranted about the pope’s actions, saying it confuses the faithful and undermines church
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teaching. “Pope Francis has begun a revolution, and like every revolution there are groups who are opposed to the reformers,” Vatican commentator Marco Politi noted. “This is only the tip of an iceberg of opposition and resistance.”
A Jesuit Franciscan or a Franciscan Jesuit? If there ever was an indication the Jesuit from Argentina would be a very different kind of pope, it was his decision to name himself after St. Francis of Assisi, the 13thcentury friar who gave up his wealth to minister to the poor. The “slum pope,” who is the first pontiff to name himself Francis, has made coldcalls to the sick, elderly and unemployed,
and took to heart the saint’s call to “rebuild my church” through a process of radical reforms of the Vatican bureaucracy. “He is a Jesuit, but he’s very Franciscan in his attitude,” said the Rev. Murray Bodo, author of nearly two dozen books on Franciscan spirituality. “Every opportunity that he has he’ll call attention to inequality in the economy, to the injustice in economic systems.” But he is still very much a Jesuit, with the Society of Jesus’ trademark missionary zeal and collaborative but authoritarian style of governance.
Two popes When Pope Benedict XVI abdicated, he insisted he would remain “hidden from the Please see POPE FRANCIS, Page 11
“He’s building a relationship with people so that people can then be different but still be accepted.” — Father Lou Ruoff, pastor, Saint Ann’s Church, Chesterfield
IMPRESSIONS Continued from Page 2
the world. He was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, and polls show he is extremely popular with many — both Catholic and others. And although Catholic doctrine hasn’t changed much in the past year, Francis has renewed interest in the church. Father Lou Ruoff, pastor at Saint Ann’s Church in ChesterFRANCIS field County, said that he has noticed a change in the pope’s tone in the past year. “I think the people like what he’s saying,” Ruoff said. “They like his tone as it is more conversational and more personable.” Despite antidotal reports that church attendance has risen because of the popularity of Pope Francis, some area Catholic churches have not seen a large spike in those going to church. Rouff said people go to church for a variety of reasons, not just because of who is the head of the Catholic flock. “I think people come to church because of their beliefs and their want to be with their community,” Ruoff said. In addition to the change in tone, Pope
Francis has challenged some of the pressing issues within the church. For example, Pope Francis washed the feet of two women while re-enacting Jesus during a ceremony, something that traditionally was done to men, two weeks after being elected on March 28, 2013. Ruoff says that Pope Francis has become more accepting of others within the church. “He’s building a relationship with people so that people can then be different but still be accepted,” Father Ruoff said. Even those who do not align themselves with the Roman Catholic Church feel that Pope Francis has a positive affect on the Catholic religion. “Even though he’s not my bishop, he’s still one of my heroes,” said Father Timothy Delbridge of All Saints Chapel Free Catholic Church in Dinwiddie. “He fills most of us with hope.” Delbridge also added that he foresees less people separating from the church due to a more accepting Pope Francis that emphasizes the poor and needy. “I’m expecting that we will have less Roman Catholics leave Rome to come to us because I see Roman Catholics becoming more content with the pope,” Delbridge said. Father Ruoff believes that people do not come to church because of the pope, but rather for themselves. Francis is the 266th pope of the Catholic Church.
“Even though he’s not my bishop, he’s still one of my heroes. He fills most of us with hope.” — Father Timothy Delbridge, All Saints Chapel Free Catholic Church, Dinwiddie
Lebanon United Methodist Church
12450 Courthouse Rd., Dinwiddie (804) 469-3614
Reverend John A. Fair
www.lebanonumcdinwiddie.com lebumcdinwiddie7@gmail.com Weekly services include Christian Education for all ages (9:45 AM) & Worship (11:00 AM) Weekly Prayer Meeting (every Wednesday at 7:00 AM) Service of Healing & Prayer Sunday, April 13, 2014 & Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 7:00 PM
Upcoming Lent/Easter Events: Maundy Thursday Service Thursday, April 17, 2014 at 7:00 PM Good Friday Service Friday, April 18, 2014 at 7:00 PM Easter Sunday Worship Services (April 20, 2014) Sunrise Service at 7:00 AM Regular Service at 11:00 AM
Mission Statement: “Growing with the Spirit, making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” The Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA Saturday, March 29, 2014
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With ‘Noah,’ Bible epics return BY JAKE COYLE AP FILM WRITER
NEW YORK — In the beginning of their work together on “Noah,” director Darren Aronofsky made Russell Crowe a promise: “I’ll never shoot you on a houseboat in a robe and sandals with two giraffes popping up behind you.” Decades after Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” and “Ben-Hur,” Aronofsky has renewed the tradition of the studio-made, mass-audience Bible epic, albeit as a distinctly darker parable about sin, justice and mercy. While much of his “Noah” is true to Scripture, it’s nothing like the picturebook version many encounter as children. “The first time I read it, I got scared,” the director says. “I thought, ‘What if I’m not good enough to get on the boat?’” It’s an altogether unlikely project: a $130 million Biblebased studio film made by a widely respected filmmaker (“Black Swan,” ‘’Requiem for a Dream”) few would have pegged as a modern-day DeMille. In the lead-up to its March 28th release, “Noah” has been flooded by controversy, with some religious conservatives claiming it isn’t literal enough to the Old Testament and that Noah has been inaccurately made, as Aronofsky has called him, “the first environmentalist.” “Noah” is a culmination of the shift brought on by Mel Gibson’s independently produced “The Passion of the Christ,” which awakened Hollywood with its unforeseen $612 million box office haul in 2004. In the time since, Hollywood has carefully developed closer ties to faithbased communities, (Sony M10
and 20th Century Fox have set up faith-based studios targeting evangelicals). Yet the debate about “Noah” proves that it can be tricky to satisfy both believers and non-believers, and that finding the right intersection of art, commerce and religion is a task loaded with as much risk as potential reward. A lot is at stake, and not just for “Noah” and distributor Paramount Pictures. In December, Fox will release Ridley Scott’s “Exodus,” starring Christian Bale as Moses. On the heels of the recently released “Son of God,” the religious drama “God’s Not Dead” opened earlier this month and Sony is releasing the less straightforwardly Biblical “Heaven Is for Real” ahead of Easter next month. The studio is also developing a vampire twist on Cain and Able with Will Smith. In Lionsgate’s pipeline is a Mary Magdalene film, hyped as a prequel to “The Passion of the Christ” and co-produced by mega-church pastor Joel Osteen. When Jonathan Boch started his company Grace Hill Media in 2000 to consult Hollywood studios on reaching the faith community, the two “really didn’t know each other,” he says. Since then, films like “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and “The Blind Side” have benefited from outreach to churchgoers. “Over the course of those 15 years, you’ve seen the faith community go from almost pariah status or fly-over status to now being seen as an important market,” says Boch, who consulted on “Noah.” ‘’In my mind, what we’re seeing is another renaissance where the great-
est artists are telling the greatest stories every told.” Though Hollywood largely swore off the Bible epic when films like 1965’s “The Greatest Story Ever Told” flopped, the revival dovetails recent trends. Figures like Noah are globally recognizable, and thus easier to market. They come with no licensing fee, and, often, plenty opportunity for flashy special effects.
AP PHOTO/PARAMOUNT PICTURES, NIKO TAVERNISE
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Russell Crowe as Noah in a scene from the film, “Noah.” “Noah,” which is being released in converted 3-D overseas, is perhaps the oldest apocalypse story. The story fascinated Aronofsky as a Jewish kid growing up in Brooklyn. He recalls a poem he wrote about the tale as a 13-year-old — and a teacher’s subsequent encouragement — as his birth as a storyteller. Whereas “The Passion of the Christ” was largely made by Christians and for Christians, Aronofsky says his
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“Noah” (which was advertised during the Super Bowl) is “for everybody.” “It’s wrong when you talk about the Noah story to talk about it in that type of believer-nonbeliever way because I think it’s one of humanity’s oldest stories,” he says. “It belongs not just in the JudeoChristian-Islamic tradition. Everyone on the planet knows the Noah story.”
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The Genesis story is only a few pages, with more details on the dimensions of the ark (which Aronofsky held to) than who Noah was. He’s i n s t r u c t e d by G o d — “grieved” in his heart by what mankind had become generations after creation — to build an ark and fill it with two of every animal. After the flood, Noah is referred to as drunk and then banishes his son, Ham — all clues for Aronofsky on the pain of Noah’s burden.
Paramount sought the approval of religious leaders, consulting with Biblical scholars in pre-production and doing extensive test screenings (during which Aronofsky and Paramount feuded over the final cut before an apparent truce). But early criticism bubbled up online based on what Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore says is an old, unused version of the script (which Aronofsky penned with Ari Handel). “It has been a very interesting journey,” says Moore. “It’s been highly chronicled along the way, much of which was based upon either speculation or hearsay or old information.” After seeing the film, Jerry A. Johnson, president and CEO of the National Religious Broadcasters, urged Paramount to advertise the film with a disclaimer. Moore acquiesced, adding a war ning that “artistic license has been taken.” “Darren, as an artist, had some sensitivity about what that meant in terms of what we were saying the movie was or wasn’t ahead of time, versus letting people experience it for themselves,” says Moore. “But there was such a group of people who had concern about it.” “For the vast majority of people, the controversy will go away,” he says. Johnson still has mixed feelings about “Noah,” calling it “a great plus, minus”: neither worthy of the boycott that Roman Catholics held for Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ,” nor a film like “The Passion of the Christ” that will have churches sending busloads to theaters. “They got the big points of the story right,” says Johnson. “It’s so counter-cul-
tural today in America or the West to talk about sin, right and wrong, and particularly the idea of judgment — and that is so serious in this film.” Johnson adds that, among other reservations, “the insertion of the extremist environmental agenda is a problem.” Aronofsky disputes that. “It’s in the Bible that we are supposed to tend the garden,” the director says. “To say there’s no ecological side to the Noah story when Noah is saving the animals just doesn’t make sense to me.” Picturehouse founder Bob Berney, who as president of Newmarket Films distributed “The Passion of the Christ,” says balancing artistic license and faithfulness to Scripture is challenging. “It’s a kind of a trap, and you have to be very careful,” says Berney. “At the same time, they are movies, and they have to be really good. I think the faith-based audience, the Christian audience still wants a big, exciting movie.” All the conversation — both negative and positive — may lure audiences to “Noah,” which Moore says will do its biggest business internationally, even though the film has been banned in many Islamic counties where it’s taboo to depict a prophet. He and Aronofsky believe they have a rich history of artistic ambition on their side. “It’s strange that the conversation for a little bit has turned into a controversy about literalism,” says Aronofsky. “What is literalism when it comes to interpreting and making an artistic representation of the text? Is Michelangelo’s David a literal interpretation of what David looked like?”
POPE FRANCIS Continued from Page 8
world” in prayer. But Francis has slowly coaxed him out of retirement and given him an increasingly public role in the church, believing that he shouldn’t be packed away in a museum like a “statue.” Benedict recently joined Francis for the elevation of 19 new cardinals, was interviewed for an upcoming book on Pope John Paul II and took time to write to an Italian journalist insisting he hadn’t been pressured to resign. He’ll likely have a cameo at John Paul’s April 27 canonization. With Benedict increasingly back in the spotlight, comparisons to his more crowdpleasing successor will likely come to the fore, for better or worse. “To put it very simply, to understand Benedict, you’ve got to read what he writes,” said Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster. “To understand Francis, you have to look at what he does.”
Looking ahead Francis has a high-profile trip to the Holy Land in May and a visit to South Korea in
“To put it very simply, ... to understand Francis, you have to look at what he does.” — British Cardinal Vincent Nichols
August where he will likely make an impassioned plea for peace on the divided peninsula. In between, he must forge ahead with the unsettling reforms of the Vatican bureaucracy, where he has created a new finance secretariat to parallel the secretariat of state and where an overhaul of the scandalmarred Vatican bank looms large. October will see the synod on the family. Surveys sent to ordinary Catholics around the world show the vast majority reject church teaching on contraception, divorce and homosexuality. With expectations so high, it seems almost fitting that Francis marked the anniversary of his historic election on a weeklong silent retreat away from the Vatican. But a friend, Claudio Epelman, an Argentine Jew who joined Francis for Christmas dinner for seven years while he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, said Francis was up to the task. “He will surprise us. Don’t ask me how because I don’t know,” Edelman said. “But he will go even farther than the expectations.”
AP PHOTO/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
Left: In this March 28, 2013 file photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis kisses the foot of an inmate at the juvenile detention center of Casal del Marmo, Rome. Francis doesn’t mind breaking rules and finds the church has too many “small-minded” ones to begin with. He broke a biggie just two weeks after being elected when he washed the feet of a woman and Muslim during a Holy Thursday ceremony re-enacting Jesus’ washing of his disciples’ feet. Vatican rules are clear that it should be performed on men only, since Jesus’ apostles were men.
Redemption Inn and Conference Center Contemporary, Professional, Christ-Centered ! The Redemption Inn and Conference Center, located on 120 beautiful acres in Prince George, VA, is poised to impact the Body of Christ and the community-at-large. Centrally located in the heart of the Commonwealth, this state-of-the-art facility should be the location of your next church, corporate, or private event.
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5201 Courthouse Rd - PO Box 455 • Prince George, VA 23875 PHONE: 804-862-9201 x 100 • FAX: 804-862-1002 www.redemptionministries.com • Contact: Eventdir.rm@gmail.com The Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA Saturday, March 29, 2014
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SPECIAL REGISTRATION FOR MILITARY FAMILIES Now Enrolling INFANTS TO 12 YRS. Child Care Assistance Programs Welcome Before &/or After School Care Summer Camp • 7 Days a Week • 6:00 am - 11:00 pm Two locations: 1901 Boulevard • Colonial Heights, VA 23834
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• 24-Hour Prayer Line • Women’s Fellowship • Singles Ministry
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Saturday, March 29, 2014 The Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA
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