The Columbian

Churches & Religion

Parishioners who refuse to abandon their locked-up Our Lady of Mount Virgin Catholic Church converse after a service without Mass held on the sidewalk July 17 in Seattle's Mount Baker neighborhood.

‘Spiritual refugees’ feel loss of closed churches

August 6, 2022, 6:01am Churches & Religion

For the past three Sundays, a couple of dozen people gathering to pray in Mount Baker have met outside a locked church door. Read story

Vatican beats deficit projections, gives uncertain outlook

August 5, 2022, 11:06am Churches & Religion

The Vatican recorded a 3 million-euro deficit last year, far less than the 33 million euros projected, but faces an uncertain financial future due to structural problems, an underfunded pension system and other debts, the Holy See said Friday. Read story

Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gather during an open-air Friday prayers at Grand Festivities Square within the Green Zone, in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022.

Hundreds of thousands gather for mass prayer in Baghdad

August 5, 2022, 8:11am Churches & Religion

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis heeded the call of an influential Shiite cleric to gather in a show of strength for a mass prayer in the heart of Baghdad’s government zone on Friday. The gathering took place amid an escalating political crisis that has put the country’s capital on edge. Read story

A dirt road leads to what was once the home of Paul Adams and his family on the outskirts of Bisbee, Ariz., Oct. 26, 2021. Adams, a Mormon and U.S. Border Patrol agent living with his wife and six children, admitted he had posted videos on the dark web of him molesting two of his children, a 9-year-old girl and a younger daughter he began raping when she was only 6 months old. Adams committed suicide after his arrest. The revelation that Mormon officials directed an effort to conceal years of abuse in the Adams household sparked a criminal investigation of the church by Cochise County attorney and a civil lawsuit by three of the Adams' children.

Seven years of sex abuse: How Mormon officials let it happen

August 4, 2022, 8:53am Churches & Religion

MJ was a tiny, black-haired girl, just 5 years old, when her father admitted to his bishop that he was sexually abusing her. Read story

MJ and her adoptive mother sit for an interview with The Associated Press in Sierra Vista, Ariz., Oct. 27, 2021. State authorities placed MJ in foster care after learning that her father, the late Paul Adams, sexually assaulted her and posted video of the assaults on the Internet.

4 takeaways from AP’s Mormon church sex abuse investigation

August 4, 2022, 8:15am Churches & Religion

When an Arizona bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church, learned that a member of his ward was sexually assaulting his 5-year-old daughter, he followed church policy and called the Mormon Abuse Help Line. Read story

Pope Francis speaks to journalists aboard the papal flight back from Canada Saturday, July 30, 2022, where he paid a six-day pastoral visit.

After taxing trip to Canada, pope says he’ll slow down

July 30, 2022, 2:43pm Churches & Religion

Pope Francis acknowledged Saturday that he can no longer travel like he used to because of his strained knee ligaments, saying his weeklong Canadian pilgrimage was “a bit of a test” that showed he needs to slow down and one day possibly retire. Read story

Cloistered nuns walk on a terrace of the Catholic Monastery of St. Catherine on the Greek island of Santorini on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. Twice a day, the nuns recess to chat on the convent's wide terraces, the Aegean Sea shimmering in the distance.

13 cloistered nuns pray for world

July 30, 2022, 6:02am Churches & Religion

Cruise-ship tourists crowding souvenir shops and couples chasing the perfect Instagram sunset throng the alleyway outside the Monastery of St. Catherine, steps from Santorini’s world-famous volcanic cliffs. Read story

FILE - Small boats make their way through the Frobisher Bay inlet in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada on Friday, Aug. 2, 2019. In his extensive papal travels, Pope Francis has never journeyed further north than Iqaluit, the capital city of the Inuit-governed territory of Nunavut in northern Canada.

‘Rescind the Doctrine’ protest greets pope in Canada

July 28, 2022, 11:20am Churches & Religion

Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Thursday at Canada’s national shrine and came face-to-face with a long-standing demand from Indigenous peoples: to formally rescind the papal decrees underpinning the so-called “Doctrine of Discovery” that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Native lands and resources. Read story

Pope Francis waves as he leaves the parish community of Sacred Heart after a meeting with Indigenous peoples Monday, July 25, 2022, in Edmonton, Alberta.

Pope in Canada honors grandparents after Indigenous apology

July 26, 2022, 8:12am Churches & Religion

Pope Francis is celebrating his first big Mass in Canada on Tuesday to honor grandparents, a day after he apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in severing generations of Indigenous family ties by participating in Canada’s “disastrous” residential school system. Read story

Philanthropist Michael Lynch, honorary capital campaign co-chair, said, "Our new Open House Ministries West building will allow us to more than double the number of people we serve with only a small increase in operational costs.

Open House Ministries breaks ground on Vancouver apartment building for families transitioning out of homelessness

July 25, 2022, 8:19pm Churches & Religion

Open House Ministries broke ground Monday afternoon on a 30-unit apartment building at West 12th and Jefferson streets for people transitioning from homelessness. Read story