Brethren

Should the Church of the Brethren relocate its general offices from Elgin, Ill., to the Carroll County town of New Windsor, the location of the Brethren Service Center, there will be a number of happy people in the area. About 80 jobs would move from Illinois to Carroll County, and New Windsor would become headquarters for the 155,000-member church.The reason prompting the move is nothing to rejoice over, however. Donald E. Miller, chief of operations at Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, said a steady decline in contributions is forcing the church to re-examine its financial condition.

The former Marine officer Matthew Hoh, who resigned his Foreign Service post in Afghanistan because he feels the war is pointless and not worth dying for, deserves all the attention he's gotten and more. The Obama administration faces hard decisions there, and the man made a good case against deeper American involvement. He says that our presence among the Pashtun people, the rural, religious people, is only aggravating a civil war between them and the urban, secular (and, it seems, fraudulent)

A lack of sales has stalled plans for the Brethren Retirement Community, a $3 million condominium complex proposed for New Windsor.After nearly five years of planning and about $65,000 in pre-construction expenses, the project is "on hold indefinitely," said D. Miller Davis, planning committee member and executive director for center operations at the Brethren Service Center."

On September 18, 2009, BETTY. Visitation 2140 N. Fulton Avenue Thursday 4 to 8 P.M. Family will receive friends Friday at the First Church of the Brethren, 4500 Liberty Heights 10:30 A.M., funeral to follow at 11 A.M.

Faced with increasing expenses and declining donations, the Church of the Brethren is considering closing its general offices in Elgin, Ill., and relocating to the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor.The 25-member General Board of the church, which has 155,000 congregants nationwide, last week asked for an overall view of the Brethren's ministry into the next century before it votes on the move.The final decision, which would mean transferring about 80 people to New Windsor, could take a year.

William P. Nyce, who served as director of the international crafts marketing program for the Church of the Brethren, died Sunday of progressive dementia at the Leader Nursing Center in Chambersburg, Pa. The Westminster resident was 71.In 1964, after giving up a career in the family-owned printing and merchandising business where he had worked for many years, Mr. Nyce went to work for the Church of the Brethren as supervisor of business procedures at...

The Rev. William A. Hayes, retired pastor of the First Church of the Brethren in Baltimore and a former national officer of the church, died Aug. 21 of kidney failure at his home in Columbia.Mr. Hayes, who was 65, had served the church at 4500 Liberty Heights Ave. from 1977 until he retired in 1992.During that time, he served on the General Board of the Church of the Brethren and chaired its parish ministries commission and an advisory committee on issues and concerns of black members of the denomination.

WESTMINSTER - Like any young woman heading off to her first year of college, Christy Jo Waltersdorff was uncertain what career she wanted to pursue."I went through a phase where I wanted to be a veterinarian, then a forest ranger, then a 4-H extension agent," she said. "Ten years ago I'd never have chosen this direction, but things fell into place and here I am.""Here" is the Westminster Church of the Brethren, where Waltersdorff, 31, was installed Sunday as Minister for Christian Nurture.

The fifth annual International Festival, featuring the theme "A Circle of Friends," will offer the sights, sounds and tastes of many countries.The festivities will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow at Brethren Service Center, 500 Main St., New Windsor.The center hopes to promote multicultural appreciation through educational and interactive performances at the festival, said Kathleen Campanella, coordinator of public information for Brethren Service Center, the event's sponsor.Admission is free.

Whenever a major natural disaster occurs anywhere in the world, the victims can usually count on help from the Church of the Brethren, especially from the church's New Windsor Brethren Service Center.Last year, the center's Emergency Disaster Fund spent nearly $1 million assisting those in need, from West Virginia to Russia. Now, the Mid-Atlantic Disaster Response Network is asking for help at its annual fund-raising auction, an event that has generated more than $425,000 since 1981.This year's auction will be in Westminster on Saturday at Carroll County Ag Center.

On Saturday, December 1, 2007, ANNE MARIE (nee Wright), beloved wife of the late Charles William Fridinger; loving mother of Gregory W. Fridinger and Barbara Lee Fleischman; devoted grandmother of Jill Herr, Kelly Keefe, Jon Fridinger, Sara Fridinger and Maggie Fridinger. Also survived by four great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by a granddaughter, Heather Fleischman. Friends may call on Wednesday, December 5 from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. at ELINE FUNERAL HOME, 934 S. Main Street, Hampstead, where funeral services will be held 11 a.m. Thursday, December 6. Interment New Lutheran Cemetery, Manchester.

When she was first asked to reconstruct the dance performance "How Long, Brethren?" Dianne McIntyre had some serious sleuthing to do. Little evidence remained of choreographer Helen Tamiris' powerful depiction of African-American life created for the WPA Federal Theatre Project in 1937. But McIntyre, an internationally acclaimed choreographer herself, was well suited to the assignment from George Mason University, home of the Project's archives. There, in 1991, "How Long, Brethren?" was staged for the first time since its debut.

In Baltimore with friends Sunday morning, a splendid fall day under blue skies, we marched off to the nearest church and found ourselves in an old brownstone temple of 1852, wooden box pews, stained glass on all sides, old tiled floor, for a High Anglican-Catholic Mass, a troop of choristers in white, altar boys, bearded priests in medieval vestments, holy water and puffs of smoke and bells and chanting of Scripture, precision bowing and genuflecting, all...

Tight end Quinn Sypniewski caught his first career touchdown pass in the Ravens' 27-13 loss to the Cleveland Browns last Sunday. But the weekend was not a total loss for the former Colorado Buffalo. How did you feel about Colorado upsetting then-No. 3 Oklahoma on Saturday? That was great. Colorado has had some struggles the last few years. So to get a win like that is definitely a boost for that program. It was definitely nice to be able to come back on Sunday and talk a little smack to some of our Oklahoma brethren [Chris Chester, Mark Clayton, Kelly Gregg and Corey Ivy]

PARIS -- Long the weirdo of the men's tennis majors, the French Open has become a veritable homecoming king. It's the new global leader in intrigue and pertinence. Its three brethren - the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open - have become those tournaments Roger Federer always wins, and while few could yawn watching Federer play tennis, only the French Open retains the peerless mystery of an ongoing Federer climb. French Open Today through June 10, Roland Garros, Paris TV today: Noon, ESPN2

On March 25, 2007, BARBARA E. YELTON (nee Forwood), beloved mother of Jeffrey B. Yelton and Sherry L. Reese and her husband Ronald, sister to Kathleen Bohn, Helen Freeland and the late Ronald Forwood, also survived by grandchildren, Brittney N. and Curtis D. Reese. Relatives and friends may call at the Meadow Branch Church of the Brethren on Wednesday March 28 from 10 A.M. to 12 noon at which time funeral services will begin. Interment Meadow Branch Cemetery. Memorial donations may be sent to the Carroll Hospice Dove House, 292 Stoner Avenue, Westminster, MD 21157 or Meadow Branch Church of the Brethren, 818 Old Taneytown Road, Westminster, MD 21158.

The Church of the Brethren, a 3-century-old Christian denomination that, along with the Mennonites and Quakers, is considered one of the historic peace churches, faces a modern-day dilemma. Its membership is shrinking, having decreased for the past 27 years. But how does a church that is loath to proselytize recruit new members? As the delegates of the 136,000-member church gather today in Baltimore for their four-day Annual Conference, they will deliberate such subjects as starting new congregations, establishing foreign missions and reaching out for converts -- all of which fall under the broad banner of evangelism, the theological term for religious recruitment.

On July 5, 2006, HARRY EDWARD CREAMER, JR. of New Oxford, PA, formerly of Highlandtown. A Memorial Service will be at 10 A.M., Friday, August 4, 2006, in the Nicarry Meeting House, at the Brethren Home Community, 2990 Carlisle Pike, New Oxford, PA 17350. Interment of cremains will be in Crownsville Veterans Cemetery.

WASHINGTON -- When House Republican leaders gathered last week for a news conference on the steps of the Capitol, it was supposed to be a Memorial Day salute to veterans. But the event quickly deteriorated as reporters crowded around beleaguered House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois. They shouted questions about whether he was under investigation in a lobbying scandal and whether he would sue the television network that reported he was. "That's something my lawyers are taking care of right now," answered Hastert, who was so pressured by the media swarm that he had difficulty shaking hands with the veterans being honored.