ITEMS OF INTEREST August 18, 2008 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

with contributions from Justin Paprocki

IT IS WITH DEEPEST LOVE and gratitude for our dear friend Richard Bergenheim, CSB, that we inform you of his unexpected passing on July 20, 2008. His wife, Phebe, was with him in Kansas City as he continued his meetings with Christian Science teachers and practitioners, on behalf of The Christian Science Monitor as well as the other Christian Science periodicals.

As you know, Richard had just completed his tour of duty as Editor of the Monitor, with John Yemma taking the reins as Editor, July 20, 2008. In his new position as President of The Mother Church, Richard had been sending us almost daily e-mails, telling of the strong support that he had felt in the field for the Monitor and other periodicals.

When we received the news of his passing, we immediately remembered a recent message in which Richard spoke of his prayers for a Monitor reporter who was in a tumultuous area of the world. He quoted a phrase he loved from a hymn: "None can beyond Thy omnipresence stray" (Violet Hay, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 66). We're comforted to know that Richard and his family are embraced in that omnipresent Life, too.