The Columbian

Churches & Religion

Turns out that dogs are more likely to be pets of the faithful, while cats have an edge with folks who don't show up for Sunday services.

Study: Faith may shape pet choice

March 13, 2020, 6:05am Churches & Religion

The Rev. Allen Kuss is a devout Catholic and the proud owner of a pug dog named Kiku-San. Read story

Javier KM prays in the mostly empty nave of The Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater in downtown Vancouver.

Clark County churches suspend, limit services as virus tests faithful

March 13, 2020, 6:04am Churches & Religion Free

As the church bells rung announcing the 12:10 p.m. Mass at The Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater, the lights were turned down and the priest left the sanctuary. A handful of people prayed silently in near-empty pews. Read story

A sign showing support for residents is displayed on a lawn in New Rochelle, N.Y., Wednesday, March 11, 2020. State officials are shuttering several schools and houses of worship for two weeks in the New York City suburb and sending in the National Guard to help with what appears to be the nation's biggest cluster of coronavirus cases, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

Pray and wash: Religion joins with science amid virus crisis

March 12, 2020, 9:13am Churches & Religion

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted multiple religious faiths to change or cancel services as houses of worship try to help contain the disease. But some church leaders are also tackling another task: communicating a message that elevates both faith and science. Read story

Police officers wearing masks patrol an empty St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. Pope Francis held his weekly general audience in the privacy of his library as the Vatican implemented Italy's drastic coronavirus lockdown measures, barring the general public from St. Peter's Square and taking precautions to limit the spread of infections in the tiny city state.For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

Virus lockdown hits Vatican as pope livestreams audience

March 11, 2020, 8:34am Churches & Religion

Pope Francis held his weekly general audience in the privacy of his library Wednesday as the Vatican implemented Italy’s drastic virus lockdown measures. Read story

Mike Gorman, of Vancouver, practices fire dancing at during the new moon drum circle at Wattle Tree Place in Vancouver.

Wattle Tree Place in Vancouver attracts those seeking community, spirituality

March 8, 2020, 6:05am Churches & Religion

Embers, the odor of sage and thumping rhythms drifted into the Saturday night sky. The full moon peered at a group singing in unison around a fire pit. Read story

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. leads a procession behind the casket of Jimmie Lee Jackson during funeral rites March 1, 1965, at Marion, Ala. From left, John Lewis, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, King and the Rev. Andrew Young.

The road to Bloody Sunday began 30 miles away

March 7, 2020, 6:03am Churches & Religion

Della Simpson Maynor remembers the mounted police officer cracking her elbow with a baton. She recalls the panicked marchers unable to escape the onslaught, and the scuffle between officers and a young church deacon who was trying to protect his mother and grandfather. Most of all, she remembers the gunshot. Read story

A Muslim prays from a hotel overlooking the Kaaba, the cubic building at the Grand Mosque, in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, March 4, 2020. On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Health Minister Abdel-Fattah Mashat was quoted on the state-linked news site Al-Yaum saying that groups of visitors to Mecca from inside the country would now also be barred from performing the pilgrimage, known as the umrah.

Virus halts pilgrimages to Mecca, Friday prayers in Iran

March 4, 2020, 8:40am Churches & Religion Free

The coronavirus outbreak disrupted Islamic worship in the Middle East as Saudi Arabia on Wednesday banned its citizens and other residents of the kingdom from performing the pilgrimage in Mecca, while Iran canceled Friday prayers in major cities. Read story

Seminarian Daniel Rice, left, sits with classmates during a lesson Feb. 5 on the Gospel of Luke at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa. Future Catholic priests remain unflinchingly optimistic despite scandals that have driven faithful from the pews.

After abuse scandals, Catholic seminarians pledge to ‘get it right’

February 29, 2020, 6:04am Churches & Religion

The seminarians walk along a hallway lined with photos of classes of priests who came before them. Some are pious alumni who have become their teachers and mentors; others climbed the Catholic hierarchy to be revered as bishops and cardinals. Read story

Catholic devotees have ash sprinkled on their heads during Ash Wednesday rites Feb. 26, 2020 in Paranaque, metropolitan Manila, Philippines. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has recommended sprinkling ash on the head of devotees instead of using it to mark foreheads with a cross to avoid physical contact and fight the spread of the new coronavirus in the Lenten period in places of worship.

Caution, cancellations mark Ash Wednesday in time of virus

February 26, 2020, 8:51am Churches & Religion

Pope Francis celebrated the Ash Wednesday ritual kicking off the Catholic Church's Lenten season in traditional fashion, while other Masses in northern Italy were canceled over fears of the new coronavirus. Read story