A photo cutline that accompanied a Lenten food-drive story about Nexus UCC in Fairfield Township, Ohio, erroneously identified the church's name as the "Nexus United Church of Satan" in its Feb. 19 edition.

The offending reference to "Satan" in the Middletown (Ohio) Journal newspaper — which serves communities north of Cincinnati — baffled the Rev. Gregg Brekke, Nexus UCC's pastor, since the same story, photo and cutline ran without error last week in three newspapers owned by the same publisher, Cox Ohio. See the printed newspaper page here.

In his church's blog, Brekke explained that the Middletown Journal picked up the article as filler, "but someone in the production cycle changed 'Nexus United Church of Christ' in the original caption to 'Nexus United Church of Satan.'"

The newspaper's editor, Lisa Warren, insisted that the mistake was a copy editor's error and was not intentional. Warren explained to United Church News that the offending copy editor, who was retyping the cutline for the Middletown Journal's use, had recently seen a report on the Church of Satan and, in typing, she transcribed the church's name incorrectly. (Update: On Feb. 20, the Middletown Journal ran this explanation.)

Brekke, in his blog, said the newspaper had conceded to him that the mistake was "intentional, not typographical."

"The editorial staff is in a flurry, wondering how to respond and how to get at the bottom of this 'edit' that came out only in the Middletown Journal edition of the article," Brekke said in his blog.

Despite the newspaper's offensive error, Brekke said the publicity the mistake has generated "highlights our ability to forgive and demonstrate the character that we possess."

"This gives the people of Nexus an incredible opportunity to be the grace-filled people Christ calls us to be – forgiving those who wrong you, praying for those who persecute and/or 'punk' you," he said.