The club's 2009 donation efforts were awarded to Laura Worth, M.D., Ph.D., medical director in Pediatric Stem Cell Therapy and the principal investigator on the Stem Cell Transplant Exercise Protocol. The $10,000 donation will help fund the purchase of child-friendly exercise equipment for patients in the study (such as dance mats, Nintendo Wii video game systems and stationary bicycles that integrate with video games) that can remain in patients' rooms during their isolation and raise their spirits while promoting physical activity. In this way, exercise-disguised as play time-will enrich the lives of sick children who cannot go outside or see friends.
For more info visit the website: http://ridersforthecure.org/

New York Times article by KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Anne Reigeluth, a chaplain-in-training at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, was walking the oncology floor last week when a cancer patient began moaning in pain. Ms. Reigeluth stepped into her room, held her hand and tried to calm her.

She asked the woman if she had a favorite place. A lake, she answered. What time of year did she like to be there? Summer. Soon, the woman was quieter, imagining herself at the lake and recalling better times.

"I wanted to take her mind off her pain and agitation," Ms. Reigeluth said outside the room. "I said: 'I'll stay with you until the nurse comes. And I'll come back.' "

This is what hospital officials call Zen care, which is nondenominational and more about stress reduction, breathing exercises and "being present" with patients and their families than about quoting Scripture or administering last rites.

Read the complete article here

"A place where the past does not lead up to the present and where the future is hardly imaginable."
--Arthur Frank, The Wounded Storyteller

Have you recently experienced loss through any of the following?

• Death
• Relationship Failures
• Disappointments
• Failing health
• Financial Collapse
• Catastrophic Events
• Failed expectations in life or
• Any unexplainable circumstances beyond your control?

Sessions:

Special Seminar for Clergy and Religious / Ministry Professionals
Friday, Oct 9 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Plenary Workshop for Everyone
Saturday, Oct 10 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Location:
Lifeline Chaplaincy
1415 Southmore Blvd.
Houston, TX (in the Museum District)

Registration:
By phone 713-524-1055
E-mail lifeline@lifelinechaplaincy.org

Deadline: Tuesday, Oct 6
Lunch will be served each day. Suggested donation $ 5
No registration fee.

This invitation is sent to you by:
Paul Riddle, D.Min., BCC
Director of Spiritual Care
Lifeline Chaplaincy Houston
1415 Southmore Blvd.
Houston, TX 77004-5845
713-524-1055
E-mail: priddle@compassnet.com

Sponsored by The Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance at Rice University

Karen Armstrong is "arguably the most lucid, wide ranging, and consistently interesting religion writer today," according to Salon.com. In The Case For God, she moves from the Paleolithic age to the present, detailing the great lengths to which humanity has gone to experience a sacred reality, with a focus on the kind of faith that speaks to our polarized modern times. She first gained prominence with her groundbreaker, A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (1993). Others have included The Battle for God, A History of Fundamentalism (2000); Buddha (2001); and The Bible: A Biography (2007). Armstrong participated in Bill Moyers' remarkable series called Genesis on PBS. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, Armstrong has been in demand as an authority on Islam and religious compassion. She has addressed members of the U.S. Congress, the United Nations, and the World Economic Forum in Davos. Armstrong will greet fans and sign books at the end of the evening.

The Progressive Forum is producing this event in association with Brazos Bookstore.