Barbara G. Wheeler, of New York City and Granville, New York, died on October 24 at Calvary Hospital in New York City, with her husband Sam and her son Isaac at her side. She was 79.
Dr. Keisha E. McKenzie told the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty during his Leading Theologically broadcast last month she’s drawn to biblical characters with vision, including the prophet Jeremiah and John of Patmos, especially the latter with his “vision of a new Earth populated by an uncountable number of people from all kinds of backgrounds.” Her affinity is for “people who have learned what it is to be just and faithful and true and kind. A community of love as practice — that’s the vision John was drawn to.”
A panel convened by Union Presbyterian Seminary’s Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation spent 90 minutes Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, discussing the importance of protecting religious freedom while remembering King. President Joe Biden declared Sunday, Jan. 16, as Religious Freedom Day.
The Rev. Dr. Katharine Rhodes Henderson has already announced her plan to transition as president of Auburn Seminary in New York City. So when she was asked this week during Leading Theologically about the work her soul must have, a famous question posed by the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, Henderson was ready.
Long before the pandemic and the social upheaval of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, the church had been preparing and mentoring leaders who could lead communities in faithful means of protest. The New Poor People’s Campaign, co-chaired by Presbyterian pastor the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and Disciples of Christ pastor the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, is one such visible and contemporary example of this work.
