Religion & Faith

(03/08/12) Church officials in Ogdensburg say Roman Catholic parishes across the North Country will lose roughly a third of their priests over the next decade.

The Diocese has expanded efforts to recruit new seminarians willing to serve as priests. But the rapid decline is forcing big changes in the way Catholic churches operate.

Brian Mann spoke recently with Bishop Terry LaValley and has this update. more

(03/01/12) This week, North Country Public Radio has been talking to religious leaders and politicians in our region about the national debate surrounding birth control and sexuality. It's become a big issue for Republicans in the 2012 presidential primary.

Republicans in Congress are also advancing national legislation that would allow all employers, not just religious groups, to deny health insurance coverage for things like contraception if those services violate the beliefs of the company's owners.

These culture-war debates could shape big races here in the North Country this November, including the battle for the 23rd district congressional race. Republican challenger Matt Doheny has accused Democratic congressman Bill Owens, of working "to violate the free exercise of religion."

Republican Assemblywoman Janet Duprey from Peru is also expected to face a strong primary challenge, in part because of her support for same-sex marriage, which is now legal in New York.

This political debate may, at times, seem disconnected from the reality of modern American life. According to the widely-respected Guttmacher Institute, roughly 90% of fertile, sexually active women in the United States are using contraception. But for some women, religious teachings play a profound role in shaping and defining their sexuality. Away from the glare of politics, faith and intimacy can be closely intertwined.

Our Plattsburgh correspondent Sarah Harris sat down recently to talk in-depth with Erica Macalintal. She's a 22-year-old nursing student at SUNY Plattsburgh who will graduate this May. Macalintal is a devout Roman Catholic who says her sexual life has been deeply influenced by the theology of her Church. more

(02/29/12) Yesterday we began a conversation about social issues that are in play during this election year, ranging from contraception to prenatal testing to the role of religion in politics and public life. Catholic bishops across the country are working to defeat laws requiring that insurance coverage provided by religious groups include services like contraception and vasectomies.

Polls show that the vast majority of American families, including Catholics to use contraception. But in a conversation with Brian Mann yesterday, Bishop Terry LaValley of Ogdensburg said the church's opposition to contraception is firm.

"Because it's a fundamental teaching of our faith. It's a question of life, of the preservation of life."

LaValley said requiring faith groups to offer insurance coverage for services like contraception and vasectomies amounts to "an attack on religious freedom."

The Rev. Laurena Will has been pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Ogdensburg for seven years, and an ordained minister for 20. Her church owns the building that houses the Ogdensburg Planned Parenthood Clinic. Martha Foley spoke with her yesterday. Will sees the insurance mandate and the religious freedom issue that rises from it; from a very different perspective. more

(02/28/12) After the long recession, most pundits expected the 2012 political campaign to revolve around economic issues.

But politicians on the right and left have instead been reviving some surprising social questions, ranging from contraception to prenatal testing to the role of religion in politics and public life.

In an interview with Newsweek magazine, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, argued that opposition to insurance coverage for those services amounts to "an attack on women."

"Many of us are outraged, really outraged," Sen. Gillibrand told the magazine. "In the year 2012, we should not be debating access to birth control. No boss should be making a decision about what health care their employees should be eligible to take."

Polls show that the vast majority of American families use contraception and think contraception should be widely available. Surveys also suggest that a smaller majority of Americans think religious groups should provide full insurance benefits to employees.

But Bishop Terry Lavalley, who heads the Diocese of Ogdensburg, sees this very differently.

He argues that Federal changes to healthcare laws proposed by the Obama administration threaten the religious freedom of groups like the Roman Catholic Church.

Bishop LaValley met recently with Brian Mann to talk about the Church's prominent role in this year's political campaign and about the difficulties of teaching Catholic doctrine in an age when even many Roman Catholics are making very different moral choices. more

(02/27/12) A new film called "The Amish" premieres tomorrow night on the PBS program American Experience. There's an advance showing tonight at SUNY Potsdam.

For many people watching the program, the Amish will seem very mysterious and far-removed from their everyday lives.

But in big parts of the North Country, the Amish are part of everyday life, we shop alongside them, do business with them, and share the roads with their horse-drawn buggies. more

(02/27/12) New York civil rights advocates want a meeting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo following a decision by the attorney general's office not to investigate the New York Police Department over its monitoring of Muslim students following the Sept. 11 attack.

The Associated Press reports that in a letter yesterday, the New York Civil Rights Coalition refuses to accept the decision by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

Schneiderman's office said there were legal obstacles that prevented the probe.
The coalition writes that the governor must direct state authorities to investigate the surveillance.

The Associated Press reported last week that the New York Police Department kept close watch on websites and blogs maintained by Muslim student associations across the northeast U.S., including at SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University.

The surveillance reportedly took place in 2006 and 2007. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has faced a firestorm of criticism. But he continues to defend the police department, saying the city needs to be vigilant against terrorism.

Susan Stebbins is an anthropology professor at SUNY Potsdam. She's also special assistant to the president for diversity. The surveillance reportedly took place in 2006 and 2007. But Stebbins tells Julie Grant the college is just finding out about it now. (NCPR did request an interview with the New York Police Department, but didn't hear back for this story.)

(02/14/12) A St. Lawrence County community is being reminded, again, of an 80 year-old rumor many people would rather forget.

A new novel re-imagines what happened when a little girl went missing overnight in Massena. It's based on a true story from 1928. The town's small Jewish community was accused of kidnapping her for a ritual murder.

Julie Grant set out to find out what really happened. She found that after 80 years, it's not easy to parse the truth from rumors and memories.

But she did find that people from cultures around the world brought together in America's "melting pot" were easily pulled apart in a time of crisis. more

(02/10/12) For half a century, one of the most repressive nations in the world has been Burma, or Myanmar, as its military government renamed it several years ago. But recently surprising political changes in that Southeast Asian country have led to a possible opening to the West.

Some of the people watching most closely are the Burmese Karen refugees. They're an ethnic minority, many of them Christian, who live right here in upstate New York. Our story comes from David Chanatry with the New York Reporting Project at Utica College. more

(02/06/12) The top Roman Catholic official in the North Country is blasting the Obama administration for requiring churches to provide health insurance to employees that includes services such as contraception and sterilization. more

(01/02/12) After 188 years, the First Baptist church in Potsdam has voted to close. The remaining members gathered for their final services this weekend. A congregation of thirteen founded the little American Baptist church in 1824. Nora Flaherty has the details on the dissolution of the tiny church. more