ELCA NEWS SERVICE June 15, 2005 ELCA Pastor Featured In June 19 CBS-TV Special 05-104-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Heidi B. Neumark, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregation in New York, is among several church leaders who will appear in the "Sacred Spaces: More than Steel and Stone." CBS-TV stations will broadcast the program June 19 as part of the network's "Religion and Culture" series. "Sacred Spaces" is an interfaith special about places of worship, according to a news release from CBS-TV. The 30-minute program is to be broadcast at 8 a.m. Eastern Time, 5 a.m. Pacific Time. The program examines how churches, temples and mosques are used for rituals, and it explores what makes a worship space become a sacred space, the release said. "Sacred Spaces" includes visits to various worship sites across the United States and conversations with clergy, professors, historians and a liturgical designer. The program highlights scenes from "mega" Protestant churches, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, and Temple B'nai Jeshurun, Temple Israel and the Islamic Cultural Center's Mosque, all in the New York area. "What struck me most particularly was the need for a public witness that the church is a community with generous space for those who are pushed to the edges in other places," Neumark told the ELCA News Service. "Here in Manhattan, space is at a premium. The poor and the undocumented are the first who find themselves unable to afford space. I wanted to present the church as a place where the reverse is true, where, when it comes to space, the last shall be first." "I also wanted to bear witness to the work of justice and social change," she added. Other people featured in the program are Judith Dupre, author of "Churches," who gives a perspective on Christian sacred spaces; the Rev. Richard Vosko, a liturgical designer; Jerrilyn Dodds, professor of Architectural History and Theory, City College of New York and author of "New York Masjid: Mosques of New York"; and Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, Hebrew Union College, who presents the history and meanings at the center of various Jewish rituals. John P. Blessington is the executive producer of the CBS-TV special; Liz Kineke is the producer. The program was produced in cooperation with the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission, which includes the National Council of Churches U.S.A., United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Jewish Theological Seminary and the Southern Baptist Broadcast Communication Group. --- Information about the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission and CBS-TV's Religion and Culture series is at http://www.interfaithbroadcasting.com on the Web. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news