As we embrace the multifaceted historical realities of Black History Month, it is not irony but ethnic reality that calls our attention to those passages of scripture in Mark 15:21 and Luke 23:26. The ...

In the New Testament narratives of the Crucifixion, you make only one appearance, one that is brief but meaningful: you were selected to help Jesus carry his cross. In Matthew’s Gospel (27:32), we ...

This is French artist James Tissot’s depiction of Simon of Cyrene being called on to carry Jesus’ cross after Jesus fell on the way to his crucifixion. Tissot lived from 1836-1902. (Courtesy Photo) ...

I admire people who take up crosses for the greater good. The surgeon who sacrifices a prestigious career to serve a backwater community. The gutsy journalist who risks her reputation to expose ...

When Simon of Cyrene enters Jerusalem, he is intent on murder. The biblical witness doesn’t state this as a fact, but we need to pull a few threads to see how it all unravels. Simon is the man whom ...

Recently I picked up The Little Black Book, written by the late Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw, Michigan, to help me reflect on Scripture and deepen my relationship with Christ. One of the reflections ...

Throughout this Holy Week with our society’s increased burden and social distancing, I’ve been thinking of my favorite semi-obscure biblical figure — Simon of Cyrene. Simon shows up briefly in three ...

Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate his fifth anniversary as pope April 19. It’s clear by now that he won’t get the same treatment on that day that he did for his other anniversaries. For the world’s ...

Henry Masters has a thing for Simon of Cyrene. Nearly two decades ago, Masters wrote and published a book about the African man summoned from the crowd to carry Jesus’ cross to Calvary. Now, at age 76 ...

There is a lot more to church than a Sunday morning service, and Springdale’s Mary Ann Stenson knows, because she has volunteered in many capacities at St. Simon of Cyrene Church since joining Feb. 4, ...