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I'm sure there are loved ones who have heard these words most recently about someone in their biological family. These are the words we're faced with this morning regarding the Pope.

"This is not just about his being Catholic. I don't know that we are not safer because he walked the earth."

Parishioner Mary Grace Llewellyn at Our Lady of Grace Church, upon the death of Pope John Paul II, leader of a billion Catholics worldwide.

An ecumenical memorial service for Pope John Paul II will be held today at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, with a special processional planned for local faith leaders (see below for special Mass schedules in honor of the pope).

Pope John Paul, who died Saturday at age 84, is being remembered across the world this week as a builder of community for people of all faiths.

Lottery passes N.C. House 62-58.

This Sunday, Congregational United Church of Christ will read and discuss "God's Politics" by author Jim Wallis -- and the public is invited. The discussion group meets: 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., April 10, at the church, 400 W. Radiance Drive, Greensboro (274-5378).

The Front Pew will provide the online forum for the discussion, which church pastor Julie Peeples will host. Peeples will take questions and give a review of the discussion after each session.

Here's Peeples (who hopes those who have read the book, are reading the book, want to read the book, or are interested in the topic, will show up) on what to expect:

The Front Pew: Why this book and why now?

Peeples: Many people, Democrat and Republican alike, found themselves disturbed over the tone and substance (or lack thereof) of the 2004 presidential campaign. When religious faith came into play, it was often used as a political prop, or worse, a weapon.

I'm not being facetious ... I'm just wondering. I just get a sense that there's a segment of the community -- not thinking specific race or income bracket here -- that's really not interested in getting into the conversation.

Just an observation. If I'm wrong, tell me I'm wrong.

I know the local faith community is looking for ways to get more people -- not just activists -- involved in the conversation.

"Faith and Community -- A Call to Prayer, A Celebration of Hope" is one of Greensboro's first broad-based, community-wide events dealing with the issues of reconciliation, healing of divisions and racism, organizers say.

What do kids pray for? As seen on notecards attached to the 'prayer board' at the downtown YMCA:

"I prey for my grandma because she is sick. Please prey for her too"
"Please let me go home with my family. I live in a group home."

Have you ever hired someone for an odd job or even a position in your business simply because you knew him or her as a person of faith -- he/she had the 'fish' attached to their vehicle or prayed near you in the mosque or temple? How about picking someone out of a 'Christian' buying guide? What was the result?

In January a colleague, columnist Lorraine Ahearn, began the conversation about the exposure of children to lead paint in Greensboro -- "WONDER WHY LEAD PAINT STILL POISONS KIDS?"

This month, county environmental health officials and Greensboro landlords agreed to embark on a mutually "proactive" education program to ensure that older rental housing in Greensboro is lead-safe for children.

Stan Swofford, who, like Ahearn, is one of the best we've got, has spent years following the case of death row inmate Michael Pinch. His reporting of the evidence has raised questions that have likely saved Pinch's life.

Stay tuned.

I thought of Stan and Lorraine as I read a discussion of journalistic integrity.

Did any of you read Eric Rudolph's statement about his bombing activities, and his religious reasons for doing what he did? As a friend says, "It occurred to me that anyone who read the Sermon on the Mount would have serious reservations at the very least in thinking that God wanted them to kill anyone, but that doesn't appear to even have entered this person's thoughts."

How do you view this version of the Christian religion? What, if anything, does it say about Christianity today?

I remember hearing the gravel and Keisha yelling an expletive.

The car was headed into the gravel median of the roadway, while on the other side was a long line of cars, all potential targets.

We had all fallen asleep -- me at the steering wheel, Keisha in the front passenger's seat, with DeAudra and Kim (other UNC students I hardly knew) in the back. We had all taken turns driving in the wee hours of the morning. Luckily, things didn't end the way they could have.

That was the last memory I had of Kim -- wide-eyed in the rearview mirror -- until I flipped past her picture more than a decade later in the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church directory, where she is listed as Deacon Kim Hudson.

Hundreds of Buddhists with roots in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand gathered today at the Greensboro Buddhist Center on Liberty Road to celebrate their religion's holiest day: New Year's.

The Front Pew is following First Presbyterian Church's inaugural Kleemeier Forum on Christian ethics. The discussion, "Whatever Happened to the Common Good," aims to draw an interfaith audience and will appear online. Comments from the public are invited.

Here's host Bob Dunham, pastor of University Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, who leads the discussion:

Last (Wednesday) in our first session of the Kleemeier Forum we spoke about the lost notion of sacrifice in our culture, and we spoke about the need to recapture a commitment to the common good. I want to thank you for the gracious and helpful comments both in the public conversation and afterwards. The text of my remarks will be posted today on the First Presbyterian Church's website.

Local Masses in honor of Pope Benedict XVI:

Bishop Peter Jugis and the priests of the Diocese of Charlotte will celebrate three Masses of Thanksgiving in honor of the selection of Benedict XVI as the 265th Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church. The Charlotte diocese covers the western part of the state including Greensboro.

The Masses will be celebrated: 7:30 p.m., April 22, Saint Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Rd. East, Charlotte; 7 p.m., April 25, Saint Leo Church, 335 Springdale Avenue,Winston-Salem; and 7 p.m., April 29, Basilica of Saint Lawrence, 97 Haywood Street, Asheville.

"...Paramedics with the EMS, which answers almost daily calls at the high rise, say the elevator service remains spotty and slow...."
This is columnist Lorraine Ahearn on elevator service at the 16-story highrise occupied by senior citizens and run by the Greensboro Housing Authority.
Most of the residents at the Gateway Plaza are elderly and the rest are disabled people over 50, many of whom use walkers and wheelchairs.

Therese Schroeder-Sheker maintains dual careers in music and palliative medicine and is coming to Greensboro to give a concert and also to speak to healthcare workers.

The composer, harpist and singer, is an international concert and recording artist. After making her Carnegie Hall debut in 1980, Schroeder-Sheker has played in centers for the performing arts, cathedrals and monasteries in eight countries over three continents. She also has four solo recordings as well as ten guest artist performances. Her performance is 7:30 p.m., Saturday at West Market Street United Methodist Church, 302 W. Market St. Cost is $10 until the tickets run out.

Schroeder-Sheker will also teach a workshop on grief and pallative care, on April 28, at Wesley Long Community Hospital.

An increase in crimes against gays and lesbians is being attributed by one prominent gay activist to evangelical preachers who say that homosexuality is a sin.

There was a 4 percent increase in crimes against homosexuals from 2003 to 2004, according to a report by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.

"The literal blood of the thousands of gay people physically wounded by hate during 2004 is on the hands of Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Tony Perkins and so many others who spew hate for partisan gain and personal enrichment," says Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Just last night President George Bush said it is not un-American not to share certain religious views.

Democrats are still seething over comments by Sen. Bill Frist, the Republican majority leader who they accuse of exploiting religion for partisan ends -- of protraying them as "against people of faith."

What does it say that the president had to make that point last night?

"Entertainment Tonight" and its sister show, "The Insider," may have paid $500,000 for the rights to broadcast upcoming nuptials between Mary Kay Letourneau, 43, and Vili Fualaau, now 22, who had a relationship with she was his sixth grade teacher.

Says Fualaau, now 22: "She's the same person I fell in love with a long time ago."