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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 28, 1994)
Religious comics pray to find joy in living By David Briggs The Associated Press Take 60 dour-faced Presbyterians, then have them touch their knees and toes together, stick their tongues out and sway back and forth, all the while warbling “Singing in the Rain.” It’s all in a day’s fun—er, work— for Sister Mary Christellc McAluso, who earl icr this month inducted 4,000 people into the so-called Order of the Fun Nun at a national conference of religious educators. Their initiation was to recite “Mary Had A Little Lamb” with their right index fingers on the nose of the person to their right and their left index fin gers on the nose of the person on the other side. As you might guess from her tac tics, religious comics like McAluso, who bills herself as “The Fun Nun,” arc a different breed. They eschew the staples of some contemporary come dians — cruelty, profanity and cyni cism — in favor of a brand of humor that encourages people to find joy in the human condition, laughing with, and not at, each other. Religious comedy is not theirjob: It is a vocation. In McAluso’s theological world view, God is unfathomable love. When she helps another person feel better, she says, she receives zyoy beyond human understanding. It doesn’t matter if it’s 60 people at a small church or 4,000 people at the national conference in Anaheim, Ca lif., says Me Aluso, a Sister of Mercy at the College of St. Mary in Omaha. “If I’ve been able to make one other human being smile,” she says, “my life on this Earth has been well-re warded.” *** Liz Curtis Higgs slept with more men than she could count, and used alcohol and drugs with abandon dur ing her “lost decade,” starting at age 17, before she made a commitment to Christianity. Since that day in 1982, coffee has been her strongest stimulant, and she is happily married with two children. That she changed her life around wasn’t the surprising part. What she didn’t realize, she says, is that being religious could be so much fun. “1 think the Lord gave me a sense of joy again and a purpose, and that helped me laugh more,” says Higgs, a comic writer and speaker based in Louisville, Ky. “When you clean out a lot of areas of your life, your laughter can be a lot more genuine, and not a cover-up.” In her frank book, “One Size Fits All and Other Fables.” Higgs holds little back as she talks about the diet ing roller coaster she climbed onto at age 10 and the related problems of self-esteem that led her to seek affir mation in casual sex and alcohol abuse. “I really felt like I lost my sense of humor. Life wasn’t fun forme. I really began to get depressed,” she says. Today, the comedian from the Christian Church (DisciplesofChrist) is an unapologctic size 22 who bills herself as “a big, beautiful woman in a narrow, nervous world.” With her belief in the resurrection of Jesus, Higgs says she takes her attitude toward life from the 31 st chap ter of the Book of Proverbs: “Strength and dignity arc her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.” *** A sense of humor has never been more critical for clergy, says the Rev. Ronald Wcinclt, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Rincon, Ga. Low pay and long hours arc two traditions churches have clung to when other barriers fell. There are also the added indignities of being broadly tarred with the brush of sex-abuse scandals and being placed under great er pressure to attract new members in a weak economy. Add the natural tendency of clergy to sacrifice their 1 i ves for others and of congregations and denominational leaders to encourage workaholism, and being a minister has turned into a “brutal occupation,” Wcinelt says. “Instead of getting strokes,” he says, “we’re getting kicked in the you-know what for trying so hard.!’ The son of an alcoholic, Weinclt says he had to make a choice whether to rage in self-pity at the extraordinary demands placed on clergy or “look at myself and say how silly and funny it is.” His response was to form the Asso ciation of Battered Clergy, a support group that offers broad doses of humor to help the healers help themselves. The association’s newsletter. The Parish Chute, dispenses advice on top ics ranging from the politically cor rect way to refer to a eunuch — “gonadically impared person” — to ecclesiastical oxymorons such as “yuppie pastor.” If some of the humor has a hard edge ... well, that’s life, he says. And it helps relieve the stress. “There’s no way I would be able to survive it,” Wcinelt says, “if I wasn’t able to laugh at what happens.” Indoor skating rink may be constructed in south Lincoln By Melanie Branded Staff Reporter The newly formed UNL Hockey Club may be able to practice closer to home if a proposed indoor ice rink in south Lincoln becomes a reality. Brad Ellis, vice president of the UnivcrsityofNcbraska-Lincoln Hock ey Club, said club members had to travel to Omaha to play hockey be cause there were no facilities in Lin coln. A new rink in Lincoln would cut down on the time spent commuting, Ellis said. It also would generate more interest in the club because members could skate year-round. Brian Knutson, secretary of the UNL Hockey Club, said he had talked to people who had attended and en joyed Omaha Lancers hockey games and were interested in seeing hockey in Lincoln. Hockey players and fans aren’t the only ones hoping to get an indoor ice rink in Lincoln. Penny Rinehart, a junior Spanish major, said she just started to skate this winter and skated at cither Holmes Lake or Oak Lake if it was cold enough. “It would definitely be used by a lot of people that I know of — hockey players and ice skaters,” she said. “I’d be there all the time.” Mark Claydon, a real estate broker, has made a proposal for an indoor ice rink that would cover about 35,000 square feet and contain a X5-foot-by 200-foot ice surface with hockey boards. The proposed rink would be constructed in the west portion of Peterson Park at Highway 2 and South wood Drive. Claydon said he realized Lincoln needed and could support an ice rink because of the massive growth of in door ice sports brought about by the -44 We may have Dan Jansens and Bonnie Blairs in Lincoln and not know it until we get this rink built. —Claydon Real estate broker -»t - Olympics. He also said the facilities in Omaha were filled to capacity, and he reasoned that the demand there would overflow to Lincoln. He has ordered a feasibility study and a business plan. Claydon said the rink would be open and accessible to people of all ages. He anticipated scheduled ice times would be available for those who want to book the ice for hockey or ice skating. Figure skating lessons, lcarn-to-skate programs and open publ ic skating also could be available. “It’s a high-quality, pleasing envi ronment where the community could assemble and enjoy athletic recreation al activities at no cost to the taxpayers of Lincoln,” he said. Rales for reserving the ice have not yet been set, Claydon said, but would be kept as low possible. The rink’s hours also have not been determined, but he said he would like it to be open from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. He said the construction of the rink would improve the variety of recre ation in Lincoln by making ice sports available year-round. The sports won’t be at the mercy of ihc weather, he said. Claydon also said it would be a high-quality place where figure skat ers and speed skaters could train. “We may have Dan Jansens and Bonnie Blairs in Lincoln and not know it until we get this rink built, he said. Claydon has not yet met with the City Council about the proposal. How ever, he met with Lincoln Mayor Mike Johanns and presented the prelimi nary results of the study. He said the mayor gave his full support for the rink. Claydon said Johanns did not find any fault with the preliminary results of the feasibility study and thought it was thorough and accurate. He said the mayor was impressed with the effort put into the project over the past 12 to IX months. He said Johanns made positive comments that the city of Lincoln would have a nice rink. 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