doctor. james olesky, easing the pain of children who are very sick. >> i would reach my hand through the bars, and just hold their hand. and just i guess in my own way pray and hope and wish and lay hands on them. plus, a voodoo priestess in new orleans. >> voodoo recognizes an invisible world of great power and of spiritual power, and that the surface reality is really just the surface of things. major funding for "religion

and ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lilly endowment, an indianapolis based private family foundation dedicated to its founders' interest in religion, community development, and education. additional funding by mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. and the corporation for public broadcasting. welcome. i'm bob be a ber nety. it's good to have you with us. faith based relief groups rushed this week to help victims of deadly storms and tornadoes that struck parts of the midwest and plains. in joplin, missouri, the hardest hit, at least 125 people were killed by one of the worst tornadoes in the u.s. in 60 years. more than 200 people remain missing. volunteers are helping with the massive cleanup and providing food and shelter to the homeless. missouri governor jay nixon

singled out the contributions of members of the faith community. >> i was moved by the unanimity of the various faith leaders that were with us today. they were -- they're the ones that are sitting across the table from folks with great losses. some of those folks behind us have lost their entire churches. >> many u.s. relief organizations say their resources have been severely depleted by the series of recent disasters, including the earlier tornadoes and the mississippi flooding. the international red cross is also appealing for more financial support saying the worldwide need for humanitarian aid is unprecedented. the recent violence in the ivory coast and the conflict in libya were citeed as major causes. violence continues for people in several countries in the middle east and north africa. in yemen more than 100 people were killed in anti-government protests this week. protests also continue in syria

where the death toll has now surpassed 1,000. leaders of the g-8 countries meeting in france this week said they plan to provide $40 billion in aid for arab nations trying to establish democracies. during his week-long trip to europe, president obama addressed the stalled peace talks between israelis and palestinians. at a press conference with british prime minister david cameron, the president reiterated his support for a two-state solution, but he urged the palestinians not to seek u.n. recognition at this time. >> what the united nations is not going to be able to do is deliver a palestinian state. the only way that we're going to see a palestinian state is if israelis and palestinians agree on a just peace. >> the president's comments came a day after israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu addressed a joint meeting of the

u.s. congress. he said he would work with the palestinians. >> i am willing to make painful compromises to achieve this historic peace. >> although netanyahu recognized the need for two states, he said he will not compromise on many contentious issues, including the right of palestinian refugees to settle in israel and the divion of jerusalem. in other news, a new gallup poll found that for the first time a majority of americans, 53%, believe gay marriage should be recognized as valid under the law. that's a nine-point increase over last year. those who changed their views of gay marriage were exclusively democrats and political independents. there was no change among republicans. the house of representatives has unanimously approved a selection of a new chaplain. the reverend patrick conroy is a jesuit priest who teaches at a

jesuit high school in portland, oregon. in addition to providing counseling, the house chaplain presides over memorials and other ceremonies. he also opens each session with a prayer. the popular atlanta evangelical preacher eddie long has reached a settlement with four young men who accused him of using his money and influence to coerce them into sexual relationships. long denied the allegations. the four young men originally filed their suits against long last fall, but now because of the settlement, the cases will not go to court. we have a story now about a caring and forthright pediatrician at the university of medicine and den tryst tri in newark, new jersey. his name is james olesky. he first became well-known for his identification and treatment of young children who had contracted aids from their mothers. now olesky specializes in

palliative and hospice care for children with all kinds of problems. he works with a group called circle of life to relieve the pain of very sick children and to help their families take care of them at home. dr. olesky tells his own story. >> i don't have a big lap like santa. do you like that rabbit? that's yours. it's a purple rabbit. that's purple. all right. i was told that three times she was in the icu. yeah. in the u.s. we've been mostly concentrating on curing every child, we're not going to let a child die. now, that's a great challenge to motivate by, but the ones we can't cure we just wash our hands and move on, and they're left to -- by themselves. i guess this is part of our play therapy. i went into pediatrics because i love children, and i thought i would help children, and i

wasn't prepared to go to funerals, so many at least in the beginning of my career. my teeth were cut on all the aids kids i took care of, and kids would come in, you know, with all their baby teeth were black and down to the gumline. they'd have abscesses, and their thrush was so bad it would make it impossible for them to swallow or eat. so then you have an infant. in the beginning when people were initially afraid, people had aids and were dying, they were left alone. everyone shunned you, even your doctor. in that era i would reach my hand through the bars, because kids always were in these cages, and just hold their hand or leg and just i guess in my own way pray and hope and wish and lay hands on. one of the reasons i have gotten into the circle of life and

palliative and pain medicine is that i saw what a bad job i did in aids. very painful disease, and i wasn't aggressive in the beginning. i am now, but i learned -- one patient i learned from, quinetta, he had a tumor in her gi track. the only way she could relieve her pain because i wasn't giving her enough morphine was to sit in bed scootched over and rocking, and somehow that helped her pain, i guess. when she died, i went in to talk to her grandmother who i was very close with. i went into the room to tell her, and the next thing i know i'm in her arms crying, and she's comforting me. i just wanted to point out to the medical students that pain management and what i like to call palliative care in chronic diseases is not just taking care of children who are dying and end of life care like hospice.

this is a much more long-term approach to how we improve the lives of children, and pain management has not been a great success by pediatricians in the past. i mean, we've been afraid to use drugs that really control pain and have under treated pain for such a long period of time. less than 1% of patients with chronic illnesses ever get addicted and use drugs for drug's sake use. 99% of them never happen. so what we do is we don't treat the 99% because we're worried about this 1% and it's crazy. so for children it's even more of an argument you have to make because people say you're going to make them addicts. you're not going to make them addicts. >> that's a 12-month-old female with a history of abscess who was readmitted on sunday and started on the five-day course

of antibiotics. she's been doing well. she's been afebrile the entire time. >> and we could take that nasty old i v-out. >> yes. she's done with her antibiotics it can come out. >> great. i'm going to give you this rabbit. what the circle of life is all about is any child with a chronic illness that's causing pain, to be as aggressive with the pain management as you are with treating whatever the disease the child has. so that when they do live longer, it's quality of life, and when children are ready to go on, circle of life is also committed to helping families deal with that dying process. and we're struggling. we have two nonpaid physicians. we have two paid nurses, a halftime counselor, and yet we've been able to service so many families in new jersey and make a difference. >> how are you? it's good to see you. we're glad you're here.

>> i already had a group of patients that i think needed and would benefit from palliative care. one of them was my favorite patient of all time, leann turbot. leann was a special person. she sort of arrested, if you will, her mental and physical growth because of an endocrine problem she had. t added to the gi problems she had identified to the immunology problems she had added to the anatomical ventricular brain and blood supply system that she had. i almost wondered how she survived. if you were closer, i'd come and draw your blood like i used to, but, you know -- and i sort of grew up with leann over the 25 years i have known her trying to treat her immune deficiency. the specialist at the hospital should be able to draw blood.

i'm not the only person that can do that. >> you are. >> no. >> circle of life will keep her at home. that's what we need and that's the people that we want to be here. it keeps her surrounded by the things that she loves and still not feeling well, it keeps us as a family together. we're not separated because when you're in the hospital, you're totally separated. >> there was one person that you liked that was on it and who was that? >> justin bieber. >> well, she's -- >> she knows mommy and daddy are with her and that the people that will come in to help her are loving people that are very gentle and very kind and they're going to respect what makes her feel good and they're not going to scare her. >> looks really beautiful. if you look at the history of islam and the prophet mohammed, he made statements like, doing good, kind acts to others is important, but relieving the

suffering of others, the reward is god. and if you look at the christian ethics, you have christ saying suffer the little children unto me. it reminded me of the aids kids. you know, christ would have, if he was here, he would have embraced the aids kids. he wouldn't have, you know, said, i don't want to get that disease. he haven't have put on a gown and mask and gloves. he would have embraced them. do you want to tell me a little bit about the baby? our role as physicians as healers is to relieve pain and suffering and to meet the spiritual needs of the families and children. that doesn't mean that you take on the role of their religious advisers, but that, first of all, you respect what their religious and spiritual beliefs are, and i think it's important for physicians to have some type of spiritual bedrock if they're going to do this.

>> we can dim the lights according to the time of day. >> when i was first in aids, people would interview me and say you're a pioneer. i never knew what that meant. but maybe in a way circle of life is a little pioneering, but i'm hoping that instead of just being a pioneer, we end up being the standard of care. >> you have my bunny. i have the same one. we match. >> what circle of life does is to ensure every child in new jers jersey, every child in the united states, and internationally. >> for a link to the website for circle of life, the group the doctor works with, go to our website at pbs.org.

now, voodoo in new orleans. there's a woman there named sally ann glassman who insists that voodoo is much misunderstood by people who think it's some kind of magic. miss glassman is a popular community organizers helping create, for instance, a new health and heeling center. she's also a voodoo priestess who talked with lucky severson last fall about voodoo's roots in african slavery, the caribbean, and the catholic church. she also spoke about voodoo's belief in spirits who can possess a person, about its healing practices, and about what she calls an invisible world of spiritual power. >> it's about midnight the first of november, known in the world of voodoo as the day of the dead. a time to visit a cemetery and the spirits of those who have moved on. this is new orleans, and the voodoo presess leading the

celebration is sally ann glassman. >> we all have loved ones who have passed, and what a comfort to be able to visit with them and to know that they're there with you and to be able to tell them that you love them and know that your message is received and just be in their presence again. it's a tremendous comfort. >> it's been a long evening starting with the ritual dancing, the beat of the drums. sally ann in her element. there are other voodoo priestesses in new orleans, but she is one of the most popular, one of the most unlikely, a jewish girl from maine who says she knew as a child that there was something different about her. >> i started to put things together and realized that particularly adults were a little taken aback by me and, you know, they really seemed a little afraid of me. and then i started realizing i knew more about them than they were telling me. >> those outside the voodoo realm seem to have always been

afraid of it. she thinks she knows why. >> i think when you ask questions about why is voodoo so vilified, the clearest answer i can give you is at voodoo recognizes an invisible world of great power and of spiritual power, and that the surface reality is really just the surface of things. there is a vaster more beautiful world going on inside throughout, above, beyond, within all of that. >> a majority of the voodoo practitioners are women and then are catholic according to martha ward, a professor of anthropologie at the university of new orleans. she wrote a book on the queen priestess of them all in new orleans who was actually two women with the same name, a mother and daughter. each known as marie leveau. >> they were good catholics. they were married and buried within the catholic traditions. >> and there are other

similarities, she says. >> catholics have a lot of saints. they lose something, so they have a saint for losing something. they have a saint for battered women. whatever you want, there's a saint that will specifically help you. >> in voodoo they're called spirits. the spirits of ancestors. >> there are all these myriad spirits that are really intermediaries, and first i should say that there is a supreme dee et in voodoo. there's a god. but in between god and humanity are these thousands of spirits. maybe one time you're possessed by the warrior spirit and another time you're possessed by another spirit and you see the world through rose colored glasses. when i look at voodoo, i see this is a group of spirits that are there to help us in everyday life. >> karen jeffries moved to new orleans after divorcing her husband, a lieutenant rutheran .

she said she grew up in a fundamentalist home. >> christ is still my foundation of spirituality, but then i find that voodoo acknowledges another spiritual realm. >> she now owns a bed and breakfast in the french quarter. >> shortly after i purchased this house, i heard about a voodoo ceremony for the protection against hurricanes. so i went out of curiosity. it was really fascinating to me. i ended up going back to all the bigger public ceremonies that sally ann glassman would hold. >> as the celebration of the day of the dead danced on, there seemed to be a discernible change in sally ann's countenance. >> there's different levels of possession a person can experience and when i go into that kind of state, i have no idea what's happened. i just know that when i come out of it, people are looking at me funny and i'm in a different place than i was before. >> all of these herbs have different uses. >> sally ann says she has been

accused of casting spells on people, something she says she wouldn't do even if she could. she says using black magic can be risky business. professor ward says cursing someone in voodoo, such as sticking pins in dolls, is not something to fool around with. >> all religions are used that way, period, full stop. i've done it and you've done it. have you ever cursed somebody? we're all capable of bringing mild to big curses on others. in voodoo what goes around comes around, and if i curse you, i'll get fixed. >> she describes voodoo as a religion that can be shared with other religions. in new orleans back in the early 1800s voodoo was the widely accepted religion among slaves until the slave uprising that threatened white slave owners. >> if you were a slave lying in captivity and hard labor and

your prospects were certainly very limited, this belief in an invisible world of great spiritual power would certainly be empowering. and if you were a slave owner intent on keeping a people down, oppressing them, then this belief would be terrifying and disturbing, and instead of saying that the situation or the institution of slavery was this terrible evil, it was much easier to say these people are evil and we're just keeping them contained. >> they said slave rebellions like the same way we say crime. they were terrified. voodoo went from being an ordinary, accepted thing to a demonized, stigmatized, racialized e s e racialized, sex you'llized white identify og. >> sally ann says she knows what it's like to be called evil. >> and i say to them how can you

possibly think that it's already to call me evil? how can you think that? i've certainly been called a witch, sometimes a good witch, sometimes a bad witch. i'm not a witch. just a person like anybody else. >> but she's not just anybody else when she walked through the neighborhood. everyone seems to know her and like her. >> being a priestess is a demanding job, and i say job lightly because it doesn't pay. people come to me and need things. they need help. i'll try to be a mediary between these individuals and help them in those crossroads where human prayer meets spiritual presence and do all kinds of healing. >> sally has worked tirelessly here in the community. she makes the streets safer because that's something the spirits can do -- help us do if we ask them, make our streets

and neighborhoods safe for us, help people put on roofs after katrina. >> the priestess said the spirits have always protected new orleans from hurricanes and katrina would have been worse if the spirits hadn't intervened. >> as it happens, katrina did not hit us over the head. it did turn to the east and it did downgrade from a category 5 to a -- i think it was a category 3 or lower when it hit, and it wasn't the hurricane that kicked our butts. you have to spend a little time taking care of your environment or you're going to get hurt. >> after katrina she spearheaded the drive to build this multimillion dollar health and healing community center to help those struggling to rebuild their lives both spiritually and physically. still, she says, there are people who say it's not a good idea to have a voodoo priestess involved in such a public project. >> but i always say to myself, you know, voodoo's ancestors

endured slavery and captivity and they kept their beliefs alive. who am i to be upset over having to defend a practice, you know? who am i to say i can't handle this. >> it seems improbable that voodoo will ever be widely regarded as anything but scary and dark, and in sally ann's view misunderstood. for "religion and ethics newsweekly" i'm lucky severson in new orleans. finally, in rome outside the main train station there's a new 17-foot tall statue of the late john paul ii. the overwhelming popular verdict is it's awful. the artist says he had in mind john paul opening his cloak to envelope a child, but others say it looks like a bell or a sentry box or a bathroom fixture. one roman said the head looks like a bullet and likened it to muss lee nis. the may jor of rome has

appointed a commission to advise him on what to do. that's our program for now. i'm bob abernethy. you can follow us on facebook and twitter, find us on youtube, and watch us anytime anywhere on smartphones and iphones. there's also much more on our websi website. you can comment on all of our stories and share them. audio and video podcasts are also available. join us at pbs.org. as we leave you on the eve of memorial day, scenes from arlington national cemetery in virginia.

major funding for "religion and ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lilly endowment, an indianapolis based private family foundation dedicated to its founders' interest in religion, community development, and education. additional funding by mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. and the corporation for public broadcasting.