Edward P. Hahnenberg is chair of Catholic systemic theology at John Carroll in Ohio. He is author of Ministries: A Relational Approach (Crossroad, 2003). He can discuss the role and future of lay ministers in the priest shortage.

Rabbi Peter J. Haas is a Jewish studies professor and director of the Rosenthal Center for Judaic Studies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He wrote Human Rights and the World’s Major Religions: The Jewish Tradition (Greenwood Press, 2005).

Since 1990, Cedar Village, a retirement and nursing home in Mason, Ohio, has held a “Mitzvah Day” every Dec. 25, in which Jewish staff members volunteer to work for Christian staffers. Contact Rachel Festenstein, director of marketing and community outreach.

Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi is a quilter whose work is included in the Smithsonian Museum’s collection. She is the founder and director of the Women of Color Quilters Network. She was the co-curator of a quilt show titled “Threads of Faith” at the American Bible Society in New York City. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Mark Graham is an associate professor of religious studies at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. He has written a paper on comedy and religious criticism.

Alice Bach is an associate professor of Catholic studies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She has written about the Bible in popular culture and its translation into Hollywood films.

Alam Payind is director of the Middle East Studies Center at Ohio State University in Columbus.

Mary V. Merrill is a volunteer consultant and trainer based in Columbus, Ohio.

The Ohio Health Care Ethics Committees Information Project, run by Cleveland State University, has surveyed hospital ethics committees throughout the state twice.