Children's program to begin soon

The Pioneer Clubs will start a new year of activities with a kick-off event from 2-4 p.m. Sept. 16 at Christ Presbyterian Church.

The club is open to children in grades 3-8 and includes Bible study, games, crafts, outdoor activities and field trips. For more information, call 334-6292.

Church to hold Fun Fest at Jackson City Park

Jackson Congregational Methodist Mission, which meets in the old Spirit Shop, will hold a Fun Fest beginning at 3 p.m. Sept. 15 at the Jackson City Park, shelter No. 5.

There will be live music, crafts, face painting for the children and gospel music with an open mike. An auction will begin at 5 p.m. Both new and used items and gift certificates will be auctioned.

All proceeds from the event will be used for a church building fund.

Revival services at Oriole church

Iona Baptist Church in Oriole, Mo., will hold revival services at 7 p.m. Sept. 16-19. Evangelist is Tom Bray Jr., and special music will be presented each night.

Cardinal to visit area for anniversary Mass

Cardinal William Wakefield Baum, who served as the third bishop for the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese, will visit the area Friday to mark his 50th anniversary as a priest and his 25th year as a cardinal.

Mass will be celebrated at 7 p.m. Friday at Old St. Vincent's Church, with a reception afterward at St. Mary's Cathedral.

Presbyterian high court to hear case of gay elder

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The supreme court of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. has scheduled arguments this month in the case of a gay man whose 1997 installation as an elder in a Connecticut church has been challenged.

The hearing of the Permanent Judicial Commission will be Friday at the Doubletree Guest Suites hotel in Downers Grove, Ill.

Two members of the First Presbyterian Church in Stamford, Conn., filed the judicial action that has kept Wayne Osborne from the lay leadership position to which church members elected him.

Osborne has acknowledged he is gay, but he has declined to say whether he is sexually active.

A clause in the Presbyterian constitution bars gays who are sexually active from becoming church officeholders.

The case centers on how much church leaders can ask potential church officers about their sexual behavior.

The denomination's General Assembly this year voted to lift the gay ban. But the measure still must be ratified by a majority of the church's 173 presbyteries, or regional legislatures, over the next year.

-- From staff, wire reports