Churches & Religion

Tourists visit the Church of the Nativity, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021. The Church of the Nativity, built on the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born, is wrapping up a three-year restoration project just in time for the normally busy Christmas season.

Christmas in Bethlehem: Gilded treasures, but few tourists

November 19, 2021, 9:07am Churches & Religion

Ahead of Christmas, a towering wooden screen — once blackened with soot from millions of worshippers’ candles — is being restored to its gilded glory in the Church of the Nativity, built at the site where many believe Jesus was born. Read story

Bryon Ledin of Clark Public Utilities lends a hand as hundreds of holiday lights are hung in the trees Wednesday morning at Esther Short Park in downtown Vancouver. Due to COVID-19-related mandates and staffing impacts, the in-person event was canceled, but the city and the Vancouver Rotary Club are creating a video set to broadcast on CVTV that will kick off the community tree-lighting.

Vancouver lights up the holidays

November 17, 2021, 5:27pm Churches & Religion

Thousands of lights are being wound around trees in Esther Short Park in the days leading up to the Nov. 26 lighting of the community tree. Read story

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops holds its Fall General Assembly meeting Tuesday in Baltimore.

Bishops consider Communion document

November 16, 2021, 4:32pm Churches & Religion

Pope Francis’ top envoy to the United States cautioned the country’s bishops on Tuesday that the church needs to listen before it teaches as they deliberated at their fall meeting on a sensitive document about Holy Communion that emerged amid debates over Catholic politicians’ support for abortion. Read story

Montana Jewish Project President Rebecca Stanfel, left, and Jewish community member Erin Vang, right, leave the old synagogue Thursday in Helena, Mont. The nonprofit Montana Jewish Project purchased the building, originally built as Temple Emanu-El in 1891, from the Helena Catholic Diocese, which bought the building in 1981.

Montana synagogue returns to Jewish community

November 14, 2021, 6:02am Churches & Religion

The Jewish community in Montana’s state capital has not had a place to gather in 80 years. But a group of Helena Jews is set to change that by buying back the old synagogue that was built more than a century ago and sold soon after for $1. Read story

Dave Ley, co-owner of Exoticars, an auto restoration shop specializing in classic vehicles, pulls a restored statue of the Buddha outside Oct. 11 in McCandless, Pa. Workers repaired and repainted the figure for the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center.

Car shop restores temple statue

November 13, 2021, 6:02am Churches & Religion

The major branches of Buddhism are often known as “vehicles,” or ways of spiritual practice. Read story

Orthodox shrine near 9/11 memorial blessed

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople leads the official door-opening ceremony of lower Manhattan's St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church on Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021. The old St. Nicholas church was the only house of worship destroyed during the 9/11 attacks when it was crushed beneath the falling south tower.

The spiritual leader of the world’s Eastern Orthodox Christians gave his formal blessing Tuesday to an ornate shrine that will replace a small parish church destroyed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City. Read story

Orthodox patriarch ‘recovering well’ in New York hospital

FILE - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew leads the official door-opening ceremony of lower Manhattan's St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church on Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021. The spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians was recovering in a New York hospital Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021, a day after a medical procedure delayed his return home to Turkey at the end of a U.S. visit.

The spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians was recovering well in a New York hospital Thursday after a medical procedure delayed his return home to Turkey at the end of a U.S. visit, according to a doctor who treated him. Read story