In the News

[The Star-Ledger] Some church leaders around the state were sent scrambling to rework their services this weekend after a state Supreme Court decision affirmed that gay couples in New Jersey can begin getting married on Monday.

The Rev. Cynthia Black, lead pastor at the Church of the Redeemer in Morristown, said she had to quickly rewrite her sermon after the court ruled Friday not to overturn a Mercer County judge’s declaration that same-sex couples in the state could be legally married.

[The Record] Thanks to the New Jersey Supreme Court, Doris Dicristina and her partner, Sheila Dynan, had one day — Saturday — to plan their wedding.

They bought clothes for the ceremony and rings at the Macy’s in Rockaway Townsquare mall. They met their pastor, the Rev. Cynthia Black of Morristown’s Church of the Redeemer, to discuss the ceremony. They tried to obtain an application for a marriage license, but were greeted by a locked door at their town hall.

On three consecutive Sundays, September 22, 29 and October 6, St. Paul’s Church in Chatham sponsored a series of films, sermons and discussion on how our faith can help us remove the isolation and stigma that children and adults of all ages with disability encounter in the community, and oftentimes, sadly, in the church.

[MorristownGreen.com] Thirteen youngsters from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown left the classroom for South Street on Sunday to raise money for the community’s needy.

St. Luke's Church in Phillipsburg is included in this article.

[Episcopal News Service] It all started with a sandwich.

Karen Olson was working for Warner Lambert and had taken one of her frequent trips into New York for a lunch meeting when she encountered a homeless woman sitting outside Grand Central Station.

The Rev. Lynne Weber, Rector of Church of the Atonement in Tenafly, is quoted in this article.

[Religion News Service] At an interfaith summer camp in northern New Jersey, two dozen children explored a swamp to learn how creatures depend on safe water.

[Passaic Valley Today] Their reasons for walking were varied: they opposed violence at home, violence abroad, and supported a greater need for unity in the community.

The group of 50 area residents walked down Main Street Friday evening holding up peace signs and listening to residents tooting their horns in support of the cause.

[Observer-Tribune] “Why not try the termites?” Max Condie was asked, as he stood by an open fire at an African orphanage last spring.

“They’re great fried,” he was told.

On another day the 2012 Mendham High School graduate was offered a roasted rat.

As recounted by Sister Barbara Jean of St. John Baptist in Mendham, food was a major challenge for Condie as he began a “gap year” with two and a half months in Cameroon after his graduation from Mendham High School.

On Tuesday, August 20th, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into a law a bicameral bill banning the use of so-called “conversion therapy” techniques by licensed therapists on minors in attempts to change their sexual orientation.

The news was welcomed by the Rev. Diana Wilcox, Assistant Rector at St. Luke’s, Montclair and Chaplain of the Web of Life Christian Community at Montclair State University, who called the practice “a double-edged sword” for people of all ages, but particularly for young people who are still figuring out who they are.