Holding Holden in our hearts

The briefing

A columnist recalls that hymnwriter Marty Haugen was on retreat at Holden Village when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, and that news reached the remote Lake Chelan center only days later. Haugen composed "Healer of our Every Ill" to help the community process its grief. With the Little Giant Fire burning near Holden and mudslides having already closed the center indefinitely, the writer returns to the hymn as a prayer for disasters natural, national and personal.