SPECIAL EDITION:
Faith, leadership and COMMUNITY
In times of division and disagreement, faith can promote the kind of healing that binds us together. Across Kansas, people of faith are exercising leadership by working across factions and energizing others inside and outside of their congregations. This edition of The Journal features stories detailing that often difficult work.
In this issue, you will learn about:
• The efforts of the Catholic Dioceses based in Wichita and Dodge City to respond to changing demographics that include an influx of Hispanic parishioners, p. 10.
• Two examples of Kansans who have taken very different stands on a difficult issue – gays and gay marriage in the church (print edition only). A story about Matthew Vines begins on p. 42. On p. 46, The Journal profiles Pastor Rob Schmutz.
• A Christian youth group’s efforts to build eternal citizens in an urban area of north-central Wichita (print edition only), p. 73.
About the Cover:
This depiction of Our Lady of La Vang, an apparition of the Virgin Mary who helped persecuted Vietnamese Catholics cure themselves of illness, was photographed by The Journal’s Jeff Tuttle at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Wichita. The parish is located in the south-central part of the city and serves individuals who speak three different languages – Spanish, English and Vietnamese.

This article was originally published in the Winter 2017 issue of The Journal, a publication of the Kansas Leadership Center. To learn more about KLC, visit http://kansasleadershipcenter.org. For a subscription to the printed edition of The Journal, visit klcjr.nl/amzsubscribe