homeless workshop
DURHAM — The Durham Interfaith Hospitality Network will hold a “Helping Durham’s Homeless” workshop from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The training workshop is for anyone who is interested in learning more about working with the homeless in Durham.
Dinner and child care will be provided for those participating in up to three 30-minute sessions of: “Introduction to Durham Interfaith Hospitality Network,” “Diversity and cultural sensitivity,” “Circles of Support,” and “Support for the Homeless in Durham — the Continuum of Care.”
For information, contact Kathy Heller at 414-8407 or kbh@rti.org.
Kay Warren talk to benefit ZOE Ministry
DURHAM — ZOE Ministry will host a fundraising event with Kay Warren, wife of Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren, on at 7:30 p.m. March 19 at Duke Chapel. All are invited.
All proceeds will benefit ZOE’s HIV/AIDS orphan empowerment work in Africa. Warren will speak about her ministry on behalf of people suffering because of HIV/AIDS and the experiences that led her to write her latest book, “Dangerous Surrender.”
Tickets are $25 and available at tickets.duke.edu.
HIV-positive minister to speak at Duke
DURHAM — The Rev. Shane Stanford will host a free symposium about his experiences as an HIV-positive hemophiliac minister at 3:30 p.m. March 19 in Goodson Chapel at Duke Divinity School.
Stanford, who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion as a child, is a teacher, author, speaker and senior pastor of Gulf Breeze United Methodist Church, a 5,000-member congregation in Florida.
He is also the lead vision architect and teacher for Making Life Matter Ministries. Stanford’s latest book is “A Positive Life.”
The public is invited nad the event is free.
Forum on mental health at Amity UMC
CHAPEL HILL — Christine Jernigan is the guest speaker for a forum on mental health at 11:15 a.m. Sunday at Amity United Methodist Church, 825 N. Estes Drive.
Jernigan will share the story of her own personal battle with mental illness, particularly within the church context, including what helped and what hurt in times of crisis.
She will also explain local initiatives that provide support and advocacy for the mentally ill, including Faith Connections on Mental Illness, established to provide education, understanding, and comfort to those suffering from mental illness, their families, individual congregations and community.
Amity is sponsoring a series of forums on social issues important to the Chapel Hill community during Lent, through March 28. Worship begins at 10:00 a.m.; the forums start at 11:15 a.m. All are welcome to attend.
Other upcoming speakers include retired United Methodist Bishop Kenneth Carder; and Ivan Parra and Stephanie Perry with Justice United. For information, visit amityumc.org or call 967-7546.
Catholic diocese to host ‘Get Ignited!’
RALEIGH — The Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, which includes Durham and Orange counties, will hold the eighth annual Ignited By Faith conference, “Get Ignited!” March 19-20 in the Jim Graham Building at the N.C. State Fairgrounds, located at 1025 Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh.
It is the largest conference in the Diocese of Raleigh. Last year, 2,200 people attended. The public is invited.
The mission of Ignited By Truth is “bringing to light the truth of the teachings of the Catholic Church and igniting in our hearts a love for our faith.”
On March 19, an evening workshop, “Discover the Catholic Church,” is devoted to those considering entering the Catholic Church.
Events on March 20 begin at 8:30 a.m. with morning prayer. There is also a session for students ages 10 and up on “Dating and Love in Light of the Gospel of John” and “How to be a Spiritual Hero-Ten Steps on the Christian Adventure.”
The Ignited By Truth conference ends with a 5 p.m. Vigil Mass celebrated by the Most Rev. Michael F. Burbidge, bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh. All are welcome to attend Mass.
Pre-registration is available for Saturday’s program through Sunday, or register at the door. Admission is $45 per adult and $25 per student, which includes Saturday lunch.
For information about speakers and sessions, visit www.IgnitedByTruth.com, e-mail ignited@ignitedbytruth.com or call (919) 789-1IBT.
Talk on prisoner re-entry Sunday
CHAPEL HILL — The United Church of Chapel Hill, 1321 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, will host a discussion at 10 a.m. Sunday on the experience of two men released from Orange Correctional Center within the past year.
The men will be part of the “Re-entry after Incarceration: Swimming Against the Tide” discussion, which will begin with a preliminary clip of the documentary, “Against the Tide,” about prisoner reentry, the obstacles to success and how these men and their support teams coped and are on the road to success.
For information, visit unitedchurch.org or call 942-3540.
Contemplative practice retreat
CHAPEL HILL — The Episcopal Church of the Advocate will hold a retreat, “The Cloud of Unknowning and the Christian Contemplative Tradition,” from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 20 in the education building next to the Chapel Hill Friends Meeting house, 531 Raleigh Road.
The retreat centers around some of the writings of the anonymous author of “The Cloud of Unknowing,” and includes sitting and walking meditation with periods of guided meditation for beginners, instructive talks, and a simple lunch.
The intention will be to learn from the texts to integrate contemplative disciplines into ordinary lives.
Experienced and new practitioners of contemplative practice are welcome. The retreat is open to people from any religious background or none. The day will be led Timothy Hinton, an experienced retreat leader and member of the Advocate.
A $5 donation is requested. Register by Sunday by e-mailing spiritual@ouradvocate.org.
Fauré’s Requiem at United CCH
CHAPEL HILL — The chancel choir and orchestra of United Church of Chapel Hill will present Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem at 7 p.m. March 21 at the church, 1321 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
In addition to the Requiem, organist Mary Beth Petersen will play the Adagio from Chorale No. 3 by Cesar Franck. The choir will sing the American anthems “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning,” arranged by Andre Thomas; Alice Parker’s arrangement of “Saints Bound for Heaven;” and two by North Carolina composers, “I Will Lift My Eyes to the Hills” by Kenney Potter and Gwen Hall’s “Come, You Who Are Filled.”
Vocal soloists for the Requiem are Jack Allen, bass-baritone; Kira Frescoln, soprano; and Tom Terry, tenor. Allen, who has sung in choirs most of his life and is a frequent soloist, has taught instrumental music in schools for many years, most recently at Kestrel Heights Charter School in Durham.
Frescoln is a junior at Carrboro High School, where she sings in the chorus and a cappella group Unnecessary Measures. Terry, who is also a professional dancer and instructor, has appeared on Broadway and danced with the American Ballet Theatre.
Some members of United Church’s Youth Choir also will sing the Fauré Requiem with the chancel choir. The 45-voice chancel choir, directed by Jennifer Anderson, has traveled extensively.
There is no admission charge for the music series. Donations in support of the church’s music program are suggested. For information, visitunitedchurch.org.
Multicultural
expert to speak
DURHAM — The Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed is the guest speaker at 6:30 p.m. March 24 at Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 4907 Garrett Road.
Morrison-Reed is an internationally recognized authority on the history of African-American ministers in Unitarian, Universalist and Unitarian Universalist churches in the United States; and on interracial relationships and multiracial children in our society.
Raised in the Unitarian Universalist faith in Southside Chicago, Morrison-Reed, who is of mixed-race ancestry, married an Anglo-Canadian and raise two multiracial children. He and his wife, Donna Morrison-Reed, have served for 26 years in an interracial co-ministry for predominantly white Unitarian Universalist congregations in Rochester, N.Y. and in Toronto. His most recent book is “In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby.”
There will be a brief worship service followed by Morrison-Reed’s presentation. For information, visit www.eruuf.org or call 489-2575
Send items for local Belief Briefs to Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan at dvaughan@heraldsun.com. The deadline is Monday for Thursday’s Faith section.
