Kathleen Kastilahn

Kathleen retired from The Lutheran in fall of 2009.

The part of Kathy's job as editor of the People & Faith section that she liked best was working with terrific freelancers, which just might have something to do with the fact that she wrote for the magazine for 18 years before joining the staff in 1992.

She lives in Evanston, just north of Chicago, with her husband, Bill. They met there as undergrads at Northwestern University — at the Lutheran Center, probably the only place on campus where a journalism student and a tech student would cross paths.

Their two grown sons live in Chicago: Will and his wife, Jodi, and Dan.

Kathleen and her husband are members of St. Paul Lutheran Church. One Saturday a month she works as a volunteer salesperson at 10,000 Village, a fair-trade store that is part of a nationwide network sponsored by the Mennonite Central Committee where all the goods are made by craftspeople from the developing world. She particularly enjoy it because my travel for the magazine has brought me to many of the countries involved — from Bolivia to Thailand.

• 'We want peace for all people'
  Ann Helmke, ELCA pastor and director, peaceCENTER of San Antonio
• 'Build bridges among the faith communities'
  William E. Lesher, ELCA pastor and chair, board of trustees, 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions
• From Latvia, with parables
  Rubenis uses parables to point the way
• 'Lord, teach us to pray'
• Learning to dream
  Children in Laos 'see' a better life
• Chasing down a rumor
• 'The Lutheran' editor resigns
  David L. Miller will join the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
• The people right next door
• What Desmond Tutu taught me about counting sheep
• Jesus is risen!
• 'Purpose-Driven' and Lutheran, too
  Eric Burtness tells what we can learn and why we should
• Music for waiting
• Making Pepparkakor
• Ministry at The EDGE
  Art gallery draws students to stop and see
• Young and alone
  Refugee children find new families through LIRS
• Jóvenes y solos
  Los niños refugiados encuentran nuevas familias por medio del LIRS
• When religion becomes evil
  A teach-in with Charles Kimball
• First-time war protester in 'moral minority'
• Zimbabwe arrest
  Pondering the positive
• Helping hands
• Well done!
• Saturday night live
• Church supper
• Struggling for life
  Church development work brings hope in hard times
• 'They're the future'
• Cassava for a change
• Egg
• Joined at the heart
  Kathy's detention reveals the strength of our worldwide communion
• Homes away from home
  Foster care through Lutheran Services in America provides these for children separated from their parents
• Sunday loaves
• Serving the first slice
  Community kitchen finds new way to feed the poor
• 'Grace' alone not enough
• Minn. floods damage homes, churches
• O, Jerusalem!
  How can the violence be stopped in this holy city and in the Middle East?
• What do you say ...
  to your kids when they tell you they're afraid?/i>
• 'I can pray'
• 'I held the cup'
  Serving communion gave widow joy'
• Treating the burns of stress
• Lessons from the desert
• Stopping traffic
  LWR boosts effort to halt Indian bride trade
• Pass it on
  The way to keep the faith is to speak it, share it, spread it
• The story behind Seven Stanzas
• Chaplain creates artful retirement
• It's time to rebuild
  Lutherans in Granite Falls, Minn., cope with tornado damage
• Diversity would be 'heavenly'
• Monday clinic
  The week begins with check-ups and love at an AIDS ministry center in Thailand
• Off on the right foot for 2000
• Marked for God
  Malaysian Lutherans take the gospel to mountain people
• Asian Lutherans form international network
  It was a mountaintop event
• Inside Jean LemMon's Better Homes
  'The secret of our success is simply love,' says the editor of the world's largest family life magazine

• The end of the day
• Miracle at 6:44 a.m.
• Leaning into Lent
• No church for Lincoln
• 'A man of Lutheran virtues'
• The path to healing
• One minute more
• The Next Big Thing
• Dive in the pool?
• Dig in
• 'Don't Push Send'
• E-gratitude
• Our (extra) gray day
• Cookies for sale
• 'Green' grandmas
• Pennsylvania: Autopsy today for church shooting victim
• The problem with poinsettias
• New Year's readings
• From twenty six pillars, everything
• Losing the race
• Water, water everywhere
• Good harvest
• 'Purple' benediction
• Peace-full day
• Green 101
• The family that eats together
• Beer in the basement?
• Still summer!
• Rain on our parade
• Good mileage
• More like a mom?
• Mother's Day for Peace
• 'Thank you, Immanuel Lutheran Church'
• Stressed out?
• Gifts of giving
• Peace-by-piece
• Troubling news from Tanzania
• The world's 'most popular hymn'
• 'Irreverent' Molly
• 'O Lord, open my eyes'
• What suits her?
• Happy New Year! Again...
• Happy Holidays!
• Don't sit down
• LSTC's Zygon head elected bishop in Sweden
• Growing pastors on the Northern Plains
• Walking where 'the stones breathe'
• Popeye's problem?
• Lutherans not growing...
• 'Life still tough for Katrina survivors'