It's rare that a mafia boss can leave the violent life of crime and live to tell the story. But that's what happened with Michael Franzese, a former member of a notorious New York mafia family, who abandoned crime for Christ.
The "Lights of Magnolia" installation would include Chinese figures, including dragons and foo dogs, but also figures that represented the flora and fauna of Magnolia Plantation, such as peacocks and camellias.
How could I tell my wife that I wanted to go to Iraq to fathom the sorrow that had become my job to understand, not just regret? More than that, I wanted to tell families that I had seen how their loved ones handled the act of dying.
Ahead of the 18th annual Charleston Leadership's Prayer Breakfast on Nov. 19, readers recount the power of prayer in their own lives.
Emanuel AME Church recently donated more than 50 boxes worth of correspondences it received following the 2015 church shooting to the S.C. Historical Society, which will preserve them for survivors, researchers and others.
We feel safer living in a California community that implements “fire-wise” practices in spite of living with a few inconveniences like my jammed electric recliner and no TV to watch.
THE POWER WORSHIPPERS: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. By Katherine Stewart. Bloomsbury. 326 pages. $28.
After former Vice President Joe Biden was refused communion at a South Carolina Catholic church, Charleston area faith leaders reacted to the incident, pointing to the different ways denominations engage in one of Christianity's holiest practices.
The annual gathering of university gospel choirs aims to draw students closer to God while also offering courses on finances, mental health and stress management.
“If you’re not planning to live, you are planning to die.”
The Charleston Leadership Foundation’s 18th annual prayer breakfast on Nov. 19 will feature keynote speaker Michael Franzese, who walked away from a life of organized crime.
My doubts used to worry me a bit, but as I’ve aged I’ve come to see those doubts as an honest wrestling match, the kind of struggle that sharpens my wit, keeps my mind open and builds my spiritual strength.
Fifty years since a monumental uprising helped spark the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement, members of the Charleston area faith community say there's still work to be done.
Norris Burkes revisits his first column for a newspaper on Oct. 11, 2001, in response to the terror attacks of Sept. 11.
Thousands of Clemson students participate each year in worship services and mission trips organized by the university's Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter.
Charleston-based choral ensemble The King's Counterpoint specializes in early music and sacred music.
For the longest time, I assumed that anyone born in my decade is “too young to die.” I made that assumption in my 20s and I’ll probably feel the same way 20 years in the future.
A new Charleston church hopes to illustrate there are many millennials who want to experience God through age-old sacraments, songs and traditions.
Instead of looking at the sin everywhere, I started searching for genuineness.
The Taylor Festival Choir, led by its founder Rob Taylor, will open its 2019-20 season with a concert titled "Oktoberfest in Song: Bach and Brahms, Beer and Brats."
It was founded by local business leaders who were determined, as the end of WWII neared, to not let Charleston "slide back into the obscurity" as it did after World War I, said Hugh Lane Jr., whose father, Hugh Lane Sr., served as one of the founders.
Seminole warrior Osceola ended up in prison on Sullivan's Island, where he died at age 34 in 1838.
If you knew what you were going to die from, would that change the way you live?
Serving as the synagogue's sexton, Dessaure has worked at Emanu-El as long as the building itself existed.
A collection of audio tapes and other material includes speeches by Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy and Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Robert Scoggin.
At 10:22 a.m., the exact time of the bombing in Birmingham, a bell will toll to honor the four victims: Addie Mae Collins, 14, Denise McNair, 11, Carole Robertson, 14, and Cynthia Wesley, 14.
I’m a chaplain who doesn’t always like to go to church. Truthfully, some churches make me uncomfortable.
Many churches use powerful storms as opportunities to advocate for flood control measures and provide relief to the devastated communities.
If you are honest with yourself today, I suspect you sometimes recognize the deceptive voice of privilege. It’s the voice we use when we insist that people accept us simply because we’re a Christian, or because our family is rich, or because we speak English or because we are tall white men. Or because we are a chaplain.
Charleston Pride Week has begun, but not all of the Lowcountry's LGBTQ community is celebrating.
A lawsuit filed by a church against a South Carolina town last year for prohibiting worship services at a public facility has prompted the municipality to lift the ban.
"Educated" is the memoir of a woman raised by Mormon survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, where her mother mixes herbs for healing as her father salvages things from the junkyard.
Leaders are considering turning a valuable 5-acre parcel, formerly home to Rural Mission, into a sea islands retreat center.
While hospice sometimes happens in a hospital, my work happens in a patient’s home. I join a team of social workers, nurses, aids and volunteers who provide comfort to people in their final six months of life.
A new documentary film is a first step that has led to conversations about other ways to confront, and to come to terms with, the College of Charleston's difficult past.
The Rev. Hillary Taylor wants to disable the guns and repurpose them in the Saluda community as gardening tools or artwork.
"I don’t find fault with those who find it necessary to leave their church. It’s probably our nature to seek more agreeable environments when things become uncertain."
Here's a list of museums, monuments and markers in the tri-state region where you can learn about the historic Civil Rights events in the region.
Billy Green wants the children to look back fondly at their summers spent with him and to pass the tradition of hard work onto future generations.
Feel like taking a trip with me? If so, I’m inviting you to join my wife and me as we return to Honduras March 8-15, 2020.
The Rev. Wayne Gregg has had the unique experience of worrying if his Sunday morning sermons will be interrupted by a vehicle slamming into the sanctuary.
Have you ever been in such physical pain that it gave others a bad impression of you? If so, you’re definitely not alone in this reaction. I’ve been there, too.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston announced last month an array of programming and special services to mark its bicentennial, culminating with a closing event on July 20, 2020, in Columbia.
The true result of prayer can’t always be measured in outcome. Maybe prayer gains some power in the input. Perhaps prayer has a power to heal even when it does not cure.
Christian book publishers and some Charleston-area faith leaders fear that a proposed tariff on Chinese imports could lead to a shortage of Bibles in the United States.
Author Mary Helen Hensley returns to Charleston to talk about her experiences and how understanding can lead to healing.
Our veterans need special places to talk to one another about the difficulty of military-spouse relationships.
Students from Palmetto Scholars Academy have donated more than 100 pounds of produce to local churches and food banks since establishing a garden April.
Many Americans make big decisions without consulting with clergy, a new poll says. Some Charleston area faith leaders say that may not be a bad thing.
This strategy echoes the advice of Teddy Roosevelt who said, “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
Neither Sam nor Jane expected to experience that depth of love again. “That being said,” Sam told how, “a different kind of love can be found in one’s eighties, and Jane and I have found it.”
Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim's temple will undergo a $1 million renovation beginning this summer.
Real faith is relation-based, not fear-based.
