Behind the tarps and chain-link fencing, steel beams rise like matchstick creations toward the heavens.

Every day, the skeleton of the new St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church and the Newman Center seems to grow taller -- and more awe-inspiring.

When completed next spring, there is no doubt this traditional Gothic style church and student center will be a sight to behold, and an impressive entrance to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln city campus on the Q street block between 16th and 17th streets.

Which is exactly what Father Robert Matya of the campus church and Newman Center wants.

I think people are drawn to beauty, said Matya, who has been with the Newman Center since 1998. So that is the hope and the idea of the church. I think it will draw curiosity and people will want to come in and visit.

Curiosity -- and the opportunity to walk beyond the barricades brought nearly 200 people to the hot construction site Thursday, when Bishop James D. Conley of the Lincoln Diocese blessed the four cast bronze bells -- named St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John -- in a mostly Latin ceremony dating back to medieval times.

In ancient times, the ringing of the bells was the only form of mass communication, Conley said. Bells tolled with a call to worship, to notify villages of good news, bad news and death; and to warn of impending dangers.

Everyone was attuned to the sounds of the bells, Conley said. Parishes were mapped out to the sounds of the bells.

When bells could no longer be heard because of distance, a new church with its own bell was established.

The bells almost take on a personification, Conley said. Each one is named.

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Bells blessed, final beam placed at UNL's Catholic church and student center

Multi-Million Euro Construction Needed to Accommodate Increasing Number of Worshippers Vatican City, June 03, 2014 (Zenit.org) | 328 hits

A rapidly growing Catholic Church in Norway has resulted in plans to build a larger cathedral in the northern city of Trondheim.

The new cathedral,expected to be completed in 2015,will cost 80m Norwegian kroner (10m), L'Osservatore Romano reported June 2.

The current cathedral in the city, dedicated to Saint Olav, is too small to accommodate its visitors and too challenging to be renovated. It will therefore be demolished to allow the construction of a new church with adequate capacity.

St. Olav's has seen increasing numbers of Catholic and Protestant pilgrims coming from Norway and the rest of Scandinavia ever since Pope John Paul II visited the city in June 1989.

That visit gave considerable impetus to the church, making it an ecumenical hub, L'Osservatore Romano reported. It also helped increase involvement of the Catholic Church in the ecumenical events of central Norway.

Today's Church in Norway has members from more than 70 different nationalities from all continents. Around 10,000 Catholics are registered in the diocese of Trondheim, while the total number of Catholics in the country totals about 150,000.

When considering whether or not to renovate, the diocese took into account the fact that the cathedral, completed in 1973 by the artist Hkon Bleken, had always had problems such as poor insulation, and rust that had affected the steel structures.

For these reasons, the cathedrals curate, Father Egil Mogstad, said it is time to start the hard work of building a new cathedral, with size, functionality, and architectural form in our city."

He anticipates challenges, but believes they can be managed. For example, he noted the parish is using its temporary chapel to celebrate Sunday Mass and, for large events, they can rent a larger church. He also noted the support they have received from volunteers and mentioned contributions of several dioceses in Germany.

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Project Launched to Build New Cathedral in Norway

Clarke County, Miss. It's been nearly two weeks since members of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Clarke County, found vandals and thieves struck their construction site. Pastor Jimmie Bunch of Mt. Zion, says the concrete slab was ready to pour but when he arrived at the new building site he noticed the vandalism.

"Some people came in and stole all of the copper tubing, busted up part of the foundation, stole all of the concrete wire, and stole 40 something pieces of 16 foot lumber," said Bunch. "It set us back a couple of days, but we looked at it as though it's a stumbling block. We are going to step on it by the grace of God and move forward."

In wake of the vandalism Mt. Zion has experienced, many have come forward to help the church get back on their feet and overcome that stumbling block. The group known as Indian Grave Baptist Church Construction Mission Team has volunteers from 5 different states helping Mt. Zion.

"We want to bring glory to God and to enable the church here to continue to minister," said mission team volunteer Carol Carter. "Our ministry ends in a week. There ministry began over a hundred years ago and hopefully in another hundred years if God doesn't decide to send Jesus after the church, they'll still be here."

The church built in the late 1800s has long been a staple in the community and despite the vandalism it recently experienced, the church continues to make strides in the community.

"I think it's wonderful," said Pastor Matt Martin of County Line Baptist Church. "The gospel breaks down barriers and I can see Pastor Bunch here doing a great job in this community. Just a wonderful privilege and opportunity to come and to preach and fellowship with other believers. I know they're going to be a huge blessing in this community to Christ."

The Clarke County Sheriff's Department continues to investigate this case, if you have any information that can help investigators, call The East Mississippi Crimestoppers Line at 855-485-8477.

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Clarke County Church Moving Forward after Being Vandalized

Bambang Muryanto

The Jakarta Post

Publication Date : 02-06-2014

On the anniversary of the introduction of the state ideology Pancasila on June 1, an act of intolerance occurred in Yogyakarta as residents and members of Ormas (mass organisations) attacked a Pentecostal church in Pangukan, Sleman regency on Sunday.

The group stoned the church, which had been vacated by its congregation after Sunday Service, destroying the buildings glass windows.

Police and military officers were powerless to stop the violent act. The regencys public order officers installed zinc fences after the police inspected the area.

Turmudzi, board member from the Islamic study group, Majelis Talim Al Huda said that local residents, along with members of the Islamic Jihad Front (FJI) and Islamic Peoples Forum (FUI) were responsible for damaging the church.

The reason is not related to worship. We attacked the church because it has no building permit, Turmudzi, who suffered injuries to his hands after stoning the church, claimed.

Separately, Sleman Deputy Regent Yuni Satya Rahayu admitted that the administration had not granted a building permit to the church, saying that the church board faked signatures of local residents to fulfill the requirements of the permit.

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Residents, Muslim groups attack Yogyakarta church

When the old steeple at Trinity Episcopal Church in Hamburg had to come down last year, parishioners knew they wanted the new one to have a belfry.

And it happened that one longtime parishioner, Gretchen Zollendeck, had a 134-year-old bell to place in it.

Friday morning, crews erected the new steeple, with the old bell, atop the church on East Main Street within a couple hours.

The 1,700-pound steeple has a 4-foot cross on its top, making the entire steeple 30 feet tall. It rises 60 feet above the ground, and is made of aircraft-grade aluminium, said the church rector, the Rev. Blane Frederik. It was constructed by Campbellsville Industries of Kentucky and erected by Ingersoll Construction.

The bell has a rope attached to it, and will have an electronic strike installed so it can toll on the hour during the day.

While the steeple has architectural highlights of its predecessor, it is a far cry from the old bell-less steeple that was made with wood and covered in lead. That steeple, which had been erected when the stone church was built in 1955, was removed in January 2013 when water started leaking into the churchs walkway.

Water had been infiltrating for some time, Frederik said. The wood had rotted.

He said it was a sad day when the steeple came down, but that day is all but forgotten with the installation of the new steeple.

The steeple is named for longtime parishioner Vera Kaiser, a lifelong Hamburg resident who was active in the church. She died in 2011, just shy of her 95th birthday. Frederik said she made a bequest to the church that was placed in its endowment fund.

Parishioners raised the $20,000 needed for the steeple, but the bell was free.

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134-year-old train bell at home in steeple in Hamburg church

Some church members of Good Hope United Methodist Church grow produce to sell at the church's weekly God's Garden to raise money for a building fund. About $9,000 was raised in 2013.

The harvest is plentiful, and the laborers are vast.

Appropriately, the project entering its second season is called God's Garden at Good Hope United Methodist Church. Last year it generated $9,000, which was a bountiful yield for produce that was sold under the church's picnic shelter.

Parishioners are hoping for an equally good return this year as the church in the Reedy Creek community begins the project again Saturday at the same locale.

Proceeds go toward building a family life center, which is a vision of the church that has no definitive timetable for the structure. The construction plans include moving the parsonage and relocating it this summer. There are other projects, too, that will benefit the building fund, such as bake sales and the sale of freshly cut flowers, which will gear up in the next two months.

Those who visit the produce stand can rest assured they will be purchasing vegetables fresh from Davidson County soil. All of the produce is donated by farmers who are members of the church.

"Lots of folks in our church are farmers. Some are hobby farmers," explains Debbie Vestal, one of the many volunteer organizers. "They donate all of produce."

Vestal said last year they began to wonder what to do with what they didn't sell.

"We decided to donate it to Greater Things Outreach Center in Welcome. It's a win-win situation. That way, it is also benefitting other folks with what we have."

Vestal noted that the produce is competitively priced. "We go by fair market price. It was very successful last year. We've had people calling to see if we were going to do it again this year."

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Good Hope UMC farmers donate to God's Garden

An order preventing deconstruction of Christ Church Cathedral has been lifted by the High Court, Newstalk ZB reported today.

The Anglican Church and the Great Christchurch Building Trust (GCBT) led by Jim Anderton have been engaged in prolonged litigious battle over its future since the 2011 February earthquake severely damaged it.

The church wants it demolished to build a contemporary option, while the GCBT has fought to rebuild it as it was.

After taking it to the High Court, Justice Graham Chisholm ordered a stay of deconstruction until the church committed to rebuilding a new cathedral.

In a decision released this afternoon, Justice Chisholm lifted that stay.

He said the Church Property Trustees have now committed to the construction of a new cathedral, they gave fair consideration to issues, and there was no evidence that improper motives affected the decision.

- By Newstalk ZB

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Christ Church Cathedral to be deconstructed

LAUGHLIN An anonymous donor has stepped up to help fund the construction of the Glady Laughlin Learning Center addition to Laughlin Community Church.

Senior Pastor Gene Lee announced that the challenger will contribute a match of $10,000 to a donation of $10,000 and will put the entire $20,000 gift in a second donors name, thus allowing a $20,000 federal income tax deduction for that individual.

A June 15 deadline has been set for the donors to take advantage of the match. The donations may be mailed to the church at P.O. Box 31527, Laughlin, NV 89028.

Last year an anonymous donor issued a $100,000 challenge. Contributions from residents and visitors exceeded the goal, and $205,000 was raised, enough to begin construction.

With the exterior done, work on the interior of the building has had to be halted until another $200,000 can be raised to meet the contract. In all, the project will cost about $650,000, including furnishings that are not part of the construction contract.

The addition has five classrooms, a conference room, restrooms, a large kitchen and pantry, plus a 2,900 square-foot fellowship hall. When completed, it will be the largest such church-based facility in Laughlin.

The annex is named in honor of church member Glady Laughlin, a retired Bennett Elementary School principal who championed the cause of caring for children and the poor.

Laughlin Community Church is at 2910 S. Needles Highway.

For more information, go to http://www.laughlinchurch.com.

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Anonymous donor steps up to help Laughlin church

Brian Tamaki

Australian Idol 2009 winner Stan Walker will sing in a free concert in a giant marquee put up yesterday in front of the converted pillow factory in Druces Rd, Wiri, which the church bought in 2010.

The price has not been disclosed but the 3.1ha site has a 2011 rating valuation of $7.65 million.

Guided tours will be offered of the sprawling complex, featuring what is said to be New Zealand's biggest permanent LED wall, a 24-metre-wide screen which arrived from China last week to form the backdrop for the main 864-seat auditorium.

Giant photographs of founders Bishop Brian Tamaki and his wife Hannah hang in several public spaces in between a school with 170 students, an early childhood centre for 70, a gym, a recording studio and function rooms.

From outside, the building still looks like a factory. The most conspicuous sign is a giant billboard for the SuperCity gym operated by the Tamakis' son-in-law Kaine Warren, which provides boxing training for local youths on a donation basis and boasts adult fees as low as $12 a week.

Inside, piles of insulation and other building materials were still waiting to be installed yesterday afternoon. Spokeswoman Anne Williamson said volunteers would be working through the night to complete construction in time for a banquet tonight marking the Tamakis' 30 years in the ministry.

"Electricians, welders and builders, my husband included, will turn up after work tonight and will work through until probably 12 o'clock."

The church has funded the new complex by selling its previous base in Mt Wellington, valued at $4.9 million, and by asking each family in the church to donate $1000.

Membership has been reported to be dwindling. Accounts filed with the Charities Office show that donations to the Auckland church declined from $2.1 million in 2008 to $1.7 million in 2012.

Link:
Destiny Church to open 'City of God'

(PRWEB) May 28, 2014

The Church of Scientology Mission of Modena and the Association for Human Rights and Tolerance held a United for Africa benefit concert May 9 at Teatro Michelangelo to raise funds to build schools for African children who would otherwise be denied the right to education.

Her Excellency Mrs. Evelyn Anita Stokes-Hayford, Ghana's Ambassador to Italy, thanked the Association for Human Rights and Tolerance and the Church of Scientology for their efforts to safeguard fundamental human rights through the construction of schools, delivery of educational materials and many other activities and their exemplary help, that has brought joy to many villages in the Northern, Eastern, and Central Regions, thereby bringing improvement into the lives of the less privileged.

The concert was directed and conducted by Laura De Vitis and featured music by American singer/composer Cheryl Porter and performances by the Dynamo music group, tenor Patrick Salati, comedian Duilio Pizzocchi and ventriloquist Samuel Barletti.

The concert motto was taken from the writings of author, humanitarian and Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard: Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream.

Link:
United for Africa Concert Benefits Children of Ghana