Faith

LANCASTER - Three elderly Mennonites were tied up and assaulted with a stun gun by a home invader who raged against their faith and vandalized their Bible, authorities said. The victims, all women over 84, remained hospitalized in central Pennsylvania on Saturday, according to the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era. The ordeal began Friday morning while two of the women were at a house in Clay Township, Lancaster County, part of an area that is a traditional Mennonite stronghold.

Some members of her family, Anne Lamott says, speak in puzzled and condescending tones of her "little blind spot. " That "blind spot" is her faith, the subject of her latest book, Traveling Mercies (Pantheon, $23), which traces Lamott's journey from drugs and booze to a deep and sustaining belief in God. That faith, which seems always to have lurked within her even though she was brought up by nonbelieving parents, emerged first in college when a professor introduced her to Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard's retelling of the story of Abraham.

Some time ago, afire with good intentions, I volunteered with a religious charity whose work I admired. I had hardly attended the orientation meeting when family circumstances forced me to resign. For years afterward, the group sent me its newsletter, which described its worthwhile projects and constant need for helping hands. My poor showing comes to mind whenever Al Gore or George W. Bush delivers a speech on how faith-based organizations offer the last, best hope for solving the country's social problems.

It's ironic that the studio founded by the son of Hollywood founding father Samuel Goldwyn should be the one releasing October Baby. Apparently, the acquisitions department never took to heart Goldwyn the elder's most famous Goldwynism about what movies are supposed to do: "Pictures were made to entertain. If you want to send a message, call Western Union. " October Baby is earnest, sober, and serious, a faith-based film that clothes itself in more subtle, faith-friendly garb.

We are accustomed to thinking of Anton Bruckner's music as religiously devout, his symphonies scouring the heights of assorted raptures. Mozart far less often reveals his devotional side, so caught up are many of his masterpieces in the wit and poignancy of civilization. Verdi is another story altogether - blood and passion and heroics blaze across his opera scores; except when considering the Requiem Mass, who identifies this giant with devotion? Thus, Riccardo Muti's thoughtfully constructed program with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Westminster Choir last night presented an uncommon opportunity to examine each man's response to, and affirmation of, faith.

It's not easy to find a more symbolic place of refuge and hope than the biblical town of Zoar, just a short distance from Sodom, which, according to the Book of Genesis, was destroyed in a burst of spiritual outrage over the lifestyles of its inhabitants. It was also no stretch in 1794 for a group of 18 African-Americans looking for spiritual refuge to officially name their church African Zoar, which later became the Zoar United Methodist Church. Though it kept its allegiance to the Methodist faith, the 18 chose to break away from St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church where they had been members, because its predominantly white congregation wouldn't allow the black members to fully participate in the worship service.

Christian mysticism and the lives of mystics who have converted their faith into action for community involvement will be the subject Sunday of the Temenos Conference and Retreat Center's "Explore the Mystical Traditions of Religion. " The series runs through April 2. Theresa Whitedove and the Rev. Susannah Currie will explore the lives of Christian mystics whose spiritual encounters were instrumental in their leading lives of community social involvement. Sunday's program will run from 2 to 4 p.m. at the center on Route 162 in West Chester.

Most Democrats, like most other Americans, are concerned about the effect of the Iranian-contra scandal on the standing of the United States in the world. But many Democrats are also privately gleeful that the affair seems to be scrubbing the Teflon off President Reagan. Such a visceral reaction is natural. Yet the president's debacle is no cause for a liberal celebration. By an ironic twist, Reagan - an antigovernment man to the core - has managed to accomplish something the liberals had not: revival of the public's faith in government.

I am writing in response to the June 16 article "Nation's bishops approve changes in Mass language," which tells that the Vatican is considering some alterations in the Mass to reorient it to the original Latin. As a classics major at the College of the Holy Cross, Latin is a passion of mine. However, I strongly disagree with these proposed changes. In my opinion, the best Latin translators are those who acknowledge the idiomatic differences of the two languages, and so attempt to remain true to the message along with interpretation of the text.

Faith, hope and charity. It appears that these are the management principles used by the city's clerk of quarter sessions, Peter D. Truman. First, we have faith in him. Then we abandon all hope. The charity part started shortly after Truman was elected in 1987. Millions of dollars under control of his office were deposited in certificates of deposit at Jefferson Bank. Shortly thereafter, a lawyer representing Truman instructed the bank to lower the interest payable on those CDs and send the difference - about $21,000 - to the Afro-American Foundation.