The Columbian

Churches & Religion

Statues of La Santa Muerte are displayed at the Masks y Mas art store in Albuquerque, N.M.

U.S. bishops decry La Santa Muerte

February 25, 2017, 5:04am Churches & Religion

Bishops in the United States are denouncing the skeleton folk saint known as La Santa Muerte — a figure Roman Catholic leaders in Mexico routinely have attacked for the deity’s connection to violence and the illicit drug trade. Read story

Barbara Jatta, left, director of the Vatican Museums, and Alessandra Di Castro, director of Rome's Jewish Museum, stand in front of a bas relief showing a menorah at the end of a Monday press conference in Rome.

Vatican, Jewish group team up

February 25, 2017, 5:01am Churches & Religion

The museums of the Vatican and Rome’s ancient Jewish community are hosting their first joint exhibit, building on decades of improved Catholic-Jewish relations following centuries of mistrust. Read story

Sally Amon of Olivette, Mo., reacts as she saw toppled gravestone of her grandmother Anna Ida Hutkin at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, a suburb of St. Louis on Tuesday. Vandals have damaged or tipped over as many as 200 headstones at the Jewish cemetery in suburban St. Louis, leaving the region's Jewish community shaken and anxious. (Robert Cohen/St.

Support pours in for damaged Jewish cemetery near St. Louis

February 22, 2017, 10:27am Churches & Religion

A suburban St. Louis Jewish cemetery badly damaged by vandals is getting a show of support from cleanup volunteers, well-wishers and financial contributors from across many faiths. Read story

Fircrest Neighborhood Association Co-Chair Margaret Milem, right, listens as Khalid Khan of the Islamic Society of Southwest Washington gives a "What is Islam?" presentation to neighborhood association members at their Feb. 7 meeting. Some residents in the neighborhood were upset association leaders opted to go through with a meeting topic focusing on religion.

Talking about faith in Fircrest

February 22, 2017, 6:01am Churches & Religion

Neighborhood association meetings typically cover such topics as zoning and development issues, how to secure local grants and organize neighborhood cleanups, which is why a recent meeting of the Fircrest Neighborhood Association stuck out. Read story

Thalia Arenas, left, a humane educator, gives volunteers an orientation at Central California SPCA.

‘Catholic Muslim’ fine with faith

February 18, 2017, 6:05am Churches & Religion

Thalia Arenas of Fresno sometimes is asked, “How are you Muslim if you’re Mexican? I don’t understand.” Read story

The Saint John's Bible Heritage Edition involved 23 artists and took 15 years to create.

Illuminated Bible new twist on tradition

February 11, 2017, 6:00am Churches & Religion

The image glows 30 feet away. Up close, its gold embellishment is meant to awe, and reflect, an onlooker. Read story

Mayor Tim Leavitt, left, joins local religious leaders during an interfaith gathering at Vancouver Heights United Methodist Church on Wednesday afternoon.

Faith leaders gather, speak out on behalf of the marginalized

February 8, 2017, 9:22pm Churches & Religion

Elizabeth Dunsker’s great-grandfather managed to escape a Siberian prison where he’d been thrown “because he dared to speak out against the czar,” she said. The other side of her family overheard a “plan to burn and pillage their town and to rape and murder everyone who survived.” Read story

Crews with Right Manufacturing move a steel beam inside the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Hazel Dell.

Slow pace for rebirth of Hazel Dell church building

February 7, 2017, 6:50pm Churches & Religion

Though they were hoping to be back under their unique boatlike roof by Easter, members of the First Congregational United Church of Christ are going to have to wait a bit longer. Read story

FILE - In this July 15, 2008, file photo, Cardinal George Pell walks onto the stage for the opening mass for World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia. Seven percent of priests in Australia's Catholic Church were accused of sexually abusing children over the past several decades, a lawyer said on Monday, Feb. 6, 2017. Cardinal Pell has previously testified before the commission about how church authorities responded to allegations of child sex abuse during his time in Australia.

7 percent of Australian Catholic priests accused of abuse

February 6, 2017, 1:39pm Churches & Religion

Seven percent of priests in Australia's Catholic Church were accused of sexually abusing children over the past several decades, a lawyer said Monday as officials investigating institutional abuse across Australia revealed for the first time the extent of the crisis. Read story

Living Hope Church turned its chapel into an overnight warming center for the homeless several nights this winter.

Living Hope Church opens doors to homeless

February 5, 2017, 6:05am Churches & Religion

On a recent cold winter night, a man showed up at Living Hope Church about 3 a.m., having ridden a bike from Salmon Creek to the central Vancouver church. Read story