On a leafy Sunday morning, the girls, adorned in lacy white dresses, and the boys, decked out in immaculate suits and ties, excitedly joined their families in a colorful parade to Our Lady of Grace on Avenue W in Brooklyn,…
by Norman Kolenbrander St. Nicholas Orthodox Church is located above The Mystical Rose Catholic bookstore, across from Van Den Berg's Gift Shop on the busiest shopping street in my town, Pella, Iowa. It is the twenty-first century, after all, and…
We want our kids to be all that they can be. We read descriptions of "tiger moms," dictating their child's every move to gain maximum results. We observe the phenomenon of "helicopter parents," constantly hovering to protect, defend, and enable…
"How do you find all that time to read?" a friend asks. "It's my job," I respond. "As a minister, I am a servant of the Word. Words are my tools. I need to keep my toolkit well stocked." This…
Norman Kolenbrander I've decided it's time to "come out of the closet." No, I am not about to leave my loving wife of forty-four years for a same-sex partner. I'm coming out to stand in solidarity with gays and lesbians…
