Churches & Religion

Paul Demanyik, pastor at Ukrainian Baptist Church, walks out the front doors of the church in northeast Vancouver on Feb. 22. Demanyik is among those who are closely watching the situation at the border of Ukraine and Russia.

Vancouver church sets special service for Ukraine

March 24, 2022, 6:46pm Churches & Religion

Ukrainian Baptist Church, 7321 N.E. 110th St. in Vancouver, will be holding a special service at 10 a.m. on Sunday aimed at bringing people together to support Ukraine. Read story

Paul Ndong, right, joins dozens of parishioners for a French Mass at the Church of Notre Dame in New York, on Sunday, March 6, 2022. Many parishioners come from former French and Belgium colonies in West and Central Africa, like Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, Togo and Congo.

French Mass unites parishioners

March 19, 2022, 6:02am Churches & Religion

When Landry Felix Uwamungu Ganza moved to New York from Rwanda in August, the Columbia University freshman searched for sanctuary, a sacred place to carry out his Sunday morning rituals just as he had back home. Read story

Melanya Humeniuk checks the pierogies to make sure they are tightly pinched together before they are boiled. Volunteers at St. Michael The Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church in Baltimore have been busy all week making Ukrainian specialties, including potato and sauerkraut pierogi. All the profits will be donated to help Ukrainians at war with Russia.

Baltimore church makes pierogies to aid Ukraine

March 19, 2022, 6:00am Churches & Religion

Growing up in Baltimore’s Canton neighborhood in the 1950s, Maria Kaczaniuk embraced her Ukrainian heritage, learning to embroider traditional dresses and pillows, dance in the Ukrainian style and cook Ukrainian food. When she married a fellow Ukrainian American in Baltimore, they spoke to their children in Ukrainian at home. Read story

Boy Scouts reach deal with Catholic committee in BSA bankruptcy

March 18, 2022, 4:36pm Churches & Religion

A committee representing several Catholic entities in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy has reached a settlement with the BSA and is withdrawing its objections to its proposed reorganization plan, attorneys told a judge Friday. Read story

‘It was just unbearable’: American Rabbi who stayed in Ukraine for siege flees with family as bombs near Sumy

March 13, 2022, 6:05am Churches & Religion

In the middle of relaying the story of his family’s 32-hour escape from war-torn Ukraine on a Romanian roadside Tuesday, Rabbi Yechiel Shlomo Levitansky paused to roll down his window for a passing motorist. Read story

Clark County organizations ramping up aid for Ukraine

A boy holds a toy as he rests Friday in a center for Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw, Poland. Warsaw has become overwhelmed by refugees, with more than a tenth of all those fleeing the war in Ukraine arriving in the Polish capital, prompting Warsaw's mayor to appeal for international help.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, Clark County churches, nonprofits and other organizations are ramping up efforts to provide support for Ukraine and its roughly 2 million refugees who have fled to neighboring countries. Read story

Jehovah’s Witnesses flee Russia

Dmitrii and Nellia Antsybor, who are from Russia and sought asylum in the United States in 2021, show Jehovah's Witness Watchtower literature printed in Russian on Feb. 28 at the home where they are living in Federal Way. (Ted S.

Over the past five years, hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been subjected to raids, arrests and prosecution in Russia. Many others have fled – including one couple, Dmitrii and Nellia Antsybor, who flew to Mexico last year, walked across the U.S. border to seek asylum, and now hope to build… Read story

Methodist conservatives to launch breakaway group in May

FILE - A gay pride rainbow flag flies along with the U.S. flag in front of the Asbury United Methodist Church in Prairie Village, Kan, on April 19, 2019. A group of theologically conservative United Methodists plans to launch a new worldwide denomination on May 1, 2022. This will begin the breakup of the third-largest religious body in the U.S.

A group of theologically conservative United Methodists plans to launch a new worldwide denomination on May 1, impatient to get started after yet another pandemic-related delay to a formalized divorce agreement with their denomination. Read story