Face to Faith with Bob Herguth

Kevin Matthews, long-time Chicago radio host, known for his humor and ability to conjure and juggle a “cast” of fictional characters on-air, tells the Chicago Sun-Times Face to Faith podcast about his new mission of spreading the word about Jesus’ mother Mary, and “power” of the rosary.

Camela Daley believes a miracle – through the “intercession” of late friar Solanus Casey, who recently took an important step toward sainthood – saved the life of her newborn son a decade ago. The boy, named for Casey and now in 4th grade, attended the friar’s “beatification” ceremony with Daley this month. She spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times for the Face to Faith podcast and column.

Dr. Martha Twaddle, for decades has worked with seriously ill patients, including many at end of life, in a way is a “midwife for the end,” believes “we got to take good care of the chassis” – our bodies – but life also is about “growing and developing our spiritual self.” She talks to the Chicago Sun-Times for the Face to Faith podcast and column.

Smokie Norful, Grammy-winning gospel artist, grew up in Arkansas and Oklahoma, now senior pastor of non-denominational Christian church with branches on South Side and in far southwest suburbs, interviewed for the Chicago Sun-Times "Face to Faith" podcast and column, doesn’t believe bible “to be a metaphorical book,” just became author himself.

Atoor Merkail, Assyrian Christian whose immediate family – seeking stability and better life – left native Iraq last year to settle in Chicago area, part of Middle East minority with rich history, targeted by ISIS in recent years. She speaks to the Chicago Sun-Times' Face to Faith podcast about her experiences.

Donna Quinn, Catholic nun, feminist, once caused controversy for volunteering at clinic offering abortions, talks to the Chicago Sun-Times for the Face to Faith podcast, calls ordination of priests – only available to men – a “hoax,” sees Eucharist as “part of our everyday life . . . a grandparent who embraces his little grandchild . . . is Eucharist to me.”

G. Edwin Taylor, “warlock” in Church of Satan, first read Satanic Bible as a teen and thought, “Damn, this is me,” tells the Chicago Sun-Times Face to Faith podcast his group doesn’t worship the devil, members are atheists but use Satan as a symbol because he represents “pride . . . liberty . . . individuality.”

Lin Brehmer, morning host at rock station WXRT, New York native, raised in Congregational church, now “sort of a creative agnostic,” tells Chicago Sun-Times for Face to Faith podcast he can “get as blissed out walking through the Louvre as I can imagine somebody kneeling in prayer in a church pew would be.”

Shannon Johnson Kershner, pastor of historic Fourth Presbyterian Church on Chicago’s Mag Mile, native of Texas, speaks to the Chicago Sun-Times for the Face to Faith podcast, says about faith, “I think complacency is deadly . . . I’m always going to be on this journey of discovery.”

Andrea Jaeger, grew up in Skokie and Lincolnshire, tennis prodigy in 1980s, told the Chicago Sun-Times for the Face to Faith podcast that when injuries ended pro career she knew “what I was really called to do” on a full-time basis “was starting,” helping kids with cancer, still runs charity, was Episcopalian nun for several years.

Miranda Rae Mayo, actress on Chicago Fire, raised Baptist and Mormon before being introduced to “New Thought” at aunt’s church, tells the Chicago Sun-Times "Face to Faith" podcast that she embraces meditation and “mindfulness,” believes “God is pure love . . . pure light, abundance.”

Sam Acho, Chicago Bears outside linebacker, son of Christian minister, does missionary work with family in Nigeria, tells the Chicago Sun-Times for Face to Faith podcast “my faith” in Jesus “is a part of who I am,” also believes “the world needs less religion” and “more relationships.”

Scott Turow, best-selling author of 13 books, out with new novel set against Balkan conflicts, raised Jewish in West Rogers Park, former federal prosecutor, tells the Chicago Sun-Times in "Face to Faith" podcast that he understands “the spiritual elements that move so many other people and, of course, I feel them too, but I don’t put the same name on it.”

Cardinal Blase Cupich, one of Pope Francis’ first big appointments in the U.S., leader of Catholic Church in Chicago, raised in Nebraska, regularly encounters people on the street who “ask me to pray for them” – tells the Chicago Sun-Times for the Face to Faith podcast that some of the "greatest Christians I know" don’t have a "faith system."

Daniel Biss, state senator, Democrat running for governor, “modest observance” to Judaism as child and now, tells Chicago Sun-Times for Face to Faith podcast/column that “it’s important to live as if there isn’t” an afterlife.

Martin Marty, Lutheran pastor, retired U of C professor, wrote book on Martin Luther’s “95 Theses” as 500th anniversary approaches, believes new “Reformation,” spanning denominations, would have to focus on “a recovery of love and justice.” Spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times for "Face to Faith" podcast and column.

Amber Stocks, head coach at WNBA's Chicago Sky, grew up in non-denominational Christian congregation where mom was a choir director, dad a church administrator. Says in Chicago Sun-Times 'Face to Faith' podcast, “I don’t think you can open up a science book and see the wonders and have doubt of the existence of a magnificent loving creator.”

"Face to Faith" podcast, from Chicago Sun-Times, on Marilyn Pagan-Banks, United Church of Christ minister, pastor in Humboldt Park, activist in Rogers Park, runs anti-hunger group, counsels gang members, believes “it’s not too late for anybody.”

Patrick T. Reardon, a longtime Chicago writer, is out with a new book of poems on faith, family and the death of his brother Reardon was raised Catholic in Austin and believes not running “away from the hard stuff” is a “kind of prayer.”

Steve Sarowitz, 51, a Chicago tech entrepreneur and Paylocity founder, is a philanthropist. He was raised Jewish but is now Baha’i, which teaches there’s “essentially one faith being revealed over the history of humanity.”

Chris Kennedy, a Democrat running for governor and the son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, embraces “social justice” Catholicism, admires “hero priests” and describes Illinois’ state budget crisis in moral terms.

Nneka Jones Tapia, the Cook County Jail warden, was raised Catholic and then Baptist but now finds God at home, through her Bible and among the cell blocks. Her dad was once arrested for drugs and sent to prison. “I developed this desire to just want to help people who were incarcerated and their families because I knew what that felt like.”

Melky Cabrera, the White Sox outfielder from the Dominican Republic and a Christian, says God “has given me everything that I’ve asked for" "Let it be God’s will if we lose or win," Cabrera says.

Sally Timms, a member of the band the Mekons, lives in Chicago but was raised Protestant in the Church of England in Britain. She doesn’t believe in God but likes “visiting places of worship.”

J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire heir to Hyatt hotels fortune and a Democrat running for governor, talks about his Jewish faith and losing both his parents when he was young. “There’s always that question that exists I think when you contemplate the world: ‘If God exists, then why all the suffering?’ . . . That question is almost the basis for faith. And if you can get past that question, then I think you retain your faith.”

Daoud Casewit, the president of American Islamic College in Chicago, Muslim convert, believes Islam will grow steadily in Illinois in coming years. Casewit’s school is among only a handful of Muslim colleges in the United States. “We’re as American as we are Islamic.”

Raised Catholic, Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli, represents criminal suspects and always finds “something redeeming" in them. In a system ripe with the potential for abuse, she says a “moral compass” is critical for cops and prosecutors.

Famed astronaut Jim Lovell, who lives in the Chicago area, was part of the Apollo 8 moon mission in 1968. A Presbyterian, he's soared into the sky but believes in heaven — on Earth.

Nearly 20 years ago, an FBI document described Michael Magnafichi as a “rising star” in Chicago’s underworld. How would he describe himself today at age 55? “Well, not up and coming in the mob, that’s for sure. I describe myself as first just enjoying life I guess . . . I still play a lot of golf.”

Ameya Pawar is a Chicago alderman and Democratic candidate for governor. A Hindu and a child of immigrants from India, he rejects the “worship” of wealth as he faces of against several wealthy candidates.

Hip-hop artist Sir the Baptist grew up in a church, the son of a preacher, and he has an interesting take on organized religion: “Till this day, I don’t like it.” And he has set some lofty goals for himself:“I just want to be an example, I’m not worried about the rapper money . . . I want to be the first hip-hop chaplain.”

Grammy-nominated blues singer Shemekia Copeland tells the Sun-Times' Bob Herguth how faith is a part of her life and her art. Does God like the blues? "Hell, yeah," she says.