Two chances for Taize services

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Taize, a meditative service, is being held at two venues this month.

The ecumenical form of prayer originated with the Christian monastic community of Taize, which is in the Burgundy region in France. The service involves songs with repetitive refrains, scripture readings, candles, quiet reflection and a crucifix laid on a pillow on the floor.

Christ Church Uniting will hold its service at 7 p.m. next Saturday in the sanctuary at 1300 Kailua Road.

The Newman Center will host its service at 7:30 p.m. on Good Friday, April 18, at its University of Hawai'i-Manoa church, 1941 East-West Center Road; 988-6222.

Friends to hold peace program

The Honolulu Friends (Quaker) Meeting will host a "Spontaneous Combustion Storytellers" program, April 15 to 21.

Tom and Sandy Farley, members of the Palo Alto (Calif.) Friends Meeting, will offer stories and workshops for peace and reconciliation at home and abroad. Certified facilitators of the Alternatives to Violence Project, they are principal authors and illustrators of Earthcare for Children, a curriculum on the environment for religious educators.

The program of events, at the Friends Meeting House, 2426 O'ahu Ave., is:

• April 15, 7 p.m.: Alternatives to violence mini-workshop, covering the Quaker-initiated project begun in the prisons of New York.
• April 17, 7 p.m.: Storytelling for peace.

To register: 988-9310, or e-mail quakers@pixi.com.

A Good Friday lesson for kids

St. Andrew's Cathedral will host "What's So Good About Good Friday?" for children from 9 a.m. to noon Good Friday, April 18.

The three-hour program will focus on Christ's Passion and prepare for the celebration of his resurrection.

There will be stories, a Passion play, and snacks.

For information, call Jenny Wallace: 524-2822 ext. 220, or send e-mail to jennywallace@hawaii.rr.com. The program is designed for children, but an adult sponsor per group is requested.

Students plan fast for peace

Students from Chaminade University will be taking part in Fast Day 2003, fasting for peace and to help end global hunger from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday.

Participants will raise money to benefit Oxfam America.

The Fast Day concludes with a Hunger Banquet at the Silversword Cafe.

For information: Brother Tom Heinle, 735-4774 .

Miracle report investigated

Doctors and priests began meeting in a Catholic Church tribunal in Honolulu to look into a possible miracle attributed to Father Damien.

The panel is reviewing the case of an O'ahu woman who, in September 1998, was suffering from cancer in both lungs. The woman postponed treatment while she made a pilgrimage to Kalaupapa to pray for healing. At the grave of Father Damien DeVeuster, the priest who ministered to leprosy patients, she prayed that he would intercede with God on her behalf.

If the investigation finds legitimacy in the claims, and the reported miracle withstands the scrutiny of theologians, doctors and scientists with the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Damien could be canonized, or made a saint.