Every once in a while, I write an article that I think will rile people up but get little or no response. Then you write what you think will be a noncontroversial, feel-good story and it sets some readers off.
Such was the case with my story about the Sisters of Saint Francis in Sylvania holding a ceremony with local Muslims, including Imam Farooq Abo-Elzahab, to bless an icon depicting the historic 13th century meeting between St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malek al-Kamil of Egypt. (You can read it here.)
Father Patrick Rohen of Sandusky wrote a scathing letter to the editor saying the nuns did not represent the church when they performed the blessing, and added that "these liberal gals," as he put it, should be granted a dispensation to leave the church and convert to Islam. (Here is a link.)
The vitriol caught me by surprise. I know Father Patrick fairly well and have a lot of respect for him. But in this case, I have to politely disagree.
I don't think interfaith dialogue or even a blessing ceremony means that people are undermining their own beliefs; rather, the willingness to work together in pursuit of peace with people of different religious traditions and beliefs is something that strengthens one's own faith and makes the world a little better place to live.
The way I see it, dialogue and discussion are preferable to hatred, isolationism, and violence any time.
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Got a call from Ron Moore today. He's playing a concert at St. George Orthodox Cathedral in Rossford.
Ron said he coined the term "contemporary Christian music" when he was a critic and that he was in on the ground floor of the Jesus rock movement along with Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill.
He converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in 1995 and now plays concerts at Orthodox churches around the world.
A very interesting and unique ministry, indeed.
Had I known more about him and if I had not been out of town until yesterday, I would have enjoyed interviewing him and writing a profile about this unusual troubador.
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Tonight the movie "Sex and the City" opens in theaters and except for one brief twist of fate I would have absolutely no interest in this film. I've never seen the TV show although you can't avoid commercials for the movie and reruns of the show.
But last September when I was in New York City with my wife we took a stroll through Greenwich Village and came up on a street lined with movie studio trailers. It was night time and pretty quiet but it was obvious something was going on here. Turns out they were filming "Sex and the City." Janet and I chatted with a young starlet for 10 or 15 minutes. She said her name was Jehira, but I didn't ask how to spell it. She was sweet and polite and fun to talk to and very attractive. So I was thinking that maybe I would actually go to see the movie just to see her in it.
Then I looked at the movie's credits on imdb.com and there's nobody listed whose name even remotely looks like Jehira. I guess that means she has a really small part. Not enough to get me to pay $10 for a movie ticket, that's for sure.
If I do go to the theater tonight it will be to see old faithful Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Ex-Lax (Ha, sorry, Indy ol' man, just kidding about the title).
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Sad to read that Harvey Korman passed away. He was a brilliant comic actor who brought many laughs to millions of people. I used to watch him on The Carol Burnett Show when I was a kid, sitting on the couch with my Mom, laughing at their zany skits. He was terrific.
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Another star who left this mortal coil recently was Sydney Pollack, one of the top directors in Hollywood, who died May 26. I remember him so well as an actor in Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives." His most celebrated movies as director included the landmark films "Out of Africa" and "Tootsie."

Toledo, Ohio
May 30, 2008