c. 2007 Religion News Service
Hotel offers room at the inn for Marys and Josephs
LONDON (RNS) Travelodge, determined to help make amends for that “no room at the inn” business back in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, is offering free Christmas accommodations to married British couples named Mary and Joseph.
Travelodge, which owns 322 hotels in the United Kingdom, said that starting Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, and lasting to Twelfth Night, Jan. 5, couples matching its criteria will get a one-night stay on the house.
“The phrase `no room at the inn’ is something that resonates with us in the hotel business,” says Travelodge’s operations director, Jason Cotta. “Therefore, this year we have decided to evoke the true spirit of Christmas and invite Mary and Joseph couples as our guests.”
Sandy Leckie, manager of Travelodge’s inn at Covent Garden in London, said there may not be any gold, frankincense or myrrh in the rooms set aside for the Marys and Josephs, but “it’s definitely more comfortable than a stable.”
Travelodge did add that accommodation would, if need be, “definitely have room for a baby and a manger.”
_ Al Webb
Virginia Tech professor named Beliefnet’s Most Inspiring Person
(RNS) The Holocaust survivor who helped save students’ lives before dying during a shooting spree at Virginia Tech last April was named by Beliefnet.com as its Most Inspiring Person of the Year.
Professor Liviu Librescu, 76, was one of 32 killed at the school in Blacksburg, Va., but is credited with preventing more deaths by barricading the door of his classroom and telling students to jump out of windows to avoid the gunman.
“We stand at a moment in time when tragic acts like this week’s shootings in Colorado and the horrible event at Virginia Tech that took Dr. Librescu’s life have become disturbingly familiar,” said Deborah Caldwell, vice president of content and managing editor of Beliefnet.
“It is vitally important that we honor and acknowledge the selfless courage and sure-footed spirituality that guided Liviu Librescu _ inspiring us as they did him _ to be the best we can possibly be.”
Librescu is the eighth person to be honored as Beliefnet’s Most Inspiring Person. Last year, the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pa., was honored for its forgiving reaction to the murder of five schoolgirls in that community.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Farley wins 2007 Grawemeyer Award
(RNS) Sister Margaret A. Farley, a Roman Catholic nun and former Yale Divinity School ethicist, has been awarded the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in Religion by the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and the University of Louisville.
A member of the Sisters of Mercy, Farley received the award for her book “Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics,” which was called “an important message in light of all the confusion surrounding sexuality today.”
“The religious right issues stark decrees while the entertainment industry tells us `anything goes,”’ said Louisville seminary professor Susan Garrett, who directs the award program. Farley’s work draws “clear and compelling guidelines from Christian tradition on what makes love `just.”’
Farley, the first woman to teach full-time at Yale Divinity School, is past president of the Society of Christian Ethics and the Catholic Theological Society of America.
Past recipients of the Grawemeyer Award, which comes with a $200,000 cash prize, include novelist Marilynne Robinson, theologian Miroslav Volf and ethicist Larry Rasmussen.
_ Daniel Burke
Quote of the Day: Presidential candidate Mitt Romney
(RNS) “Attacking someone’s religion is really going too far. It’s just not the American way, and I think people will reject that.”
_ Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, reacting on the “Today” show to Mike Huckabee’s asking in a New York Times article whether Mormons believe “Jesus and the devil are brothers.”
KRE/RB END RNS
