A Jew and a Christian, Making Loans and Saving Homes
- play show:
Date: 11 March 2009
Beating Predatory Lenders at Their Own Game
When it comes to confronting bankers that make bad loans to poor folks, Rev. Graylan Hagler and Bruce Marks say they like to “make it personal." They crash press conferences. They turn up at analysts' meetings. They knock on CEOs' doors on Saturday nights. The United Church of Christ pastor and secular Jew are the rabble-rousers behind the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, or NACA, which has helped tens of thousands of people re-finance their mortgages. This week, they sit down with Interfaith Voices to reflect on their battles with lenders and their shared belief in social justice.
Bruce Marks, CEO of NACA
Rev. Graylan Hagler, development director of NACA and pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church in Washington, DC
Father Damien, the 'Leper Priest'
Begins at 22 min 30 sec
This October, the Vatican will canonize Father Damien De Veuster, a kindly Belgian priest with a most unwanted flock. From 1866 until his death, Fr. Damien offered hope to people living with leprosy who had been exiled by the government to a remote Hawaiian island. He ultimately contracted leprosy and died of the disease at age 49.
Fr. Lane Akiona, pastor of St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church in Honolulu, Hawaii
Truckin' For Jesus
Begins at 33 min 45 sec
You might think the men and women who drive America's cross country trucks are gritty, rough and independent. Long hours behind an 18-wheeler, however, can make for a lonely life. Matt Largey reports on a truck stop ministry along the dusty highways of Maine that offers spiritual solace to America's hardest-working drivers.
Produced by Matt Largey for the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Karma Trippers and Bookstore Buddhists
Begins at 41 min
Put away your meditation pillows…and your checkbooks. Kobai Scott Whitney critiques the way Americans want to put
Enlightenment on their credit cards.
Kobai Scott Whitney, Buddhist prison chaplain, teacher at Plum Mountain Refuge Meditation Center
This Week's Interfaith Calendar
March 15 - Guan Yin Day (Buddhism)
Guan Yin is considered by many Buddhists in East Asia to be the female form of Avelokiteshvara, the Buddha of compassion. Her birthday is celebrated on the 19th day of the 2nd month of the Chinese lunar calendar.
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day (Christianity)
Marking the death of Ireland's patron saint in the 5th century, this holiday is now as much a cultural celebration of Irish heritage as it is an observance of the man who Christianized the emerald isle.
