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What's an LA Jew to do on Yom Kippur if they don't go to synagogue?

Religion / Religious News /

LOS ANGELES — Yom Kippur is a complicated day for Miriam Bar-Zemer.

The Jewish holiday, which begins this year on the evening of Sept. 24, is considered the holiest day of the year — a time of deep introspection, fasting and repentance, which Jews have traditionally honored by spending the day in synagogue in a collective act of prayer, ...Read more

Alie Skowronski/Miami Herald/TNS

'They have been suffering so much.' Migrant families lean on faith in Catholic baptism ceremony

Religion / Religious News /

MIAMI — It took months of trekking across Central America to escape economic hardship in Venezuela and get to Miami for Karen Ugas, her husband and her five kids.

They needed everything — food, clothes, a place to live and most of all, a plan to figure out their next step in a new country — and a lot of faith.

Ugas says she and her ...Read more

Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Archbishop concedes the Baltimore archdiocese is considering bankruptcy; survivors say they'd oppose the move

Religion / Religious News /

BALTIMORE — When Teresa Lancaster learned the Archdiocese of Baltimore could file for bankruptcy in the face of an anticipated deluge of lawsuits over its history of child sexual abuse, the news only strengthened her resolve.

Lancaster, a victim of childhood sexual assault in the 1970s and an attorney based in Annapolis, is a prominent voice ...Read more

Pope praises religious freedom on first papal visit to Mongolia

Religion / Religious News /

Pope Francis praised Mongolia for its openness to religious freedoms as he met with political leaders during the first-ever papal visit to the nation, hemmed between Russia and China.

Francis, speaking alongside Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa in Ulaanbaatar, also applauded the nation’s efforts to promote peace and preservation of the ...Read more

Carl Juste/Miami Herald/TNS

Latin Mass not just for older Catholics -- what's driving Miami's newer, younger members?

Religion / Religious News /

MIAMI — It’s the kind of Catholic Mass your grandparents might remember: The liturgy is spoken in Latin, the choir sings Gregorian chants and women wear chapel veils, or “mantillas.” But, this Traditional Latin Mass isn’t full of elderly parishioners.

At Our Lady of Belen Chapel in West Miami, roughly 350 people — young and old — ...Read more

Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office/TNS

NYC says mosques can now broadcast call to prayer on Fridays and during Ramadan without a permit

Religion / Religious News /

NEW YORK — New York City mosques can now broadcast the Islamic call to prayer freely on Fridays and during evenings in the month of Ramadan without a permit, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday, seeking to foster a spirit of religious inclusivity in the five boroughs.

Under NYPD guidance outlined by the Adams administration, mosques’ ability to ...Read more

Karl Merton Ferron/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Episcopal priest included in Maryland AG report on Catholic sexual abuse resigns

Religion / Religious News /

An Episcopal priest whose name was blacked out in the Maryland attorney general’s report on sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore has resigned his position as priest-in-charge of a parish in Western Maryland.

The Rev. Thomas Hudson, onetime spiritual leader of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Allegany County, left the ...Read more

In push to withhold names from Maryland AG report, accused Catholic priests respond to allegations of abuse, cover-up

Religion / Religious News /

BALTIMORE — When a city judge called for “more transparency, not less,” it was in reference to his decision to reveal 43 blacked-out names in a Maryland attorney general’s report on the history of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore.

But it also applies to the inclusion in his opinion of some of the arguments ...Read more

Kevin Richardson/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Judge orders most Catholic Church names made public in Maryland AG report, calls for 'more transparency, not less'

Religion / Religious News /

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore judge has ordered the release of most of the redacted names in the attorney general’s report on the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s history of child sexual abuse, according to court records unsealed Tuesday.

The order allows for the release Sept. 26 of 43 of 46 blacked-out names, including those of five high-ranking ...Read more

Kevin Richardson/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Baltimore Catholic Church abuse: Judge orders most redacted names in AG report can be made public

Religion / Religious News /

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore judge has ordered the release of most of the redacted names in the attorney general’s report on the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s history of child sexual abuse, according to court records unsealed Tuesday. ç

The order allows for the release of 28 of 31 blacked-out names, including those of five high-ranking church ...Read more

An aging Minneapolis church gave its building to a younger congregation

Religion / Religious News /

MINNEAPOLIS -- On flyers, they called it the "Back to the Future Celebration." In conversation, they referred to it as the "great handover."

This summer, Walker Community United Methodist Church, which dates back more than a century, gave its Minneapolis building to New City Church, a growing congregation just eight years old. The move signals ...Read more

GENEVA HEFFERNAN/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Archdiocese of Philadelphia agrees to $3.5 million settlement in priest sexual assault lawsuit

Religion / Religious News /

PHILADELPHIA — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will pay $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that one of its priests sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy in Delaware County nearly two decades ago.

Filed in 2020, the lawsuit alleges that Pastor John Close raped the boy at St. Katherine’s of Siena in Wayne in 2006. The plaintiff, whose ...Read more

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images North America/TNS

New law lets Minn. churches help homeless people by building tiny homes on property

Religion / Religious News /

Valerie Roy chose to paint the door on her new tiny home in Roseville a bright shade of cerulean.

"It's called 'Dignity Blue,' as a matter of fact," said Roy, 53, who was homeless for years but now rents the structure built on a church's property. "This is the most dignified approach to long-term homelessness that I've seen in this country."

...Read more

Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

San Francisco archdiocese says bankruptcy 'very likely' given child sex abuse lawsuits

Religion / Religious News /

The Archdiocese of San Francisco will "very likely" file for bankruptcy in order to deal with a wave of lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by its priests and other employees and volunteers going back decades, the archbishop said.

In an open letter Friday, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said the option was the result of "much contemplation...Read more

Vinay Gupta/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

India religious violence threatens Modi's image before G-20

Religion / Religious News /

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares to welcome Group of 20 leaders next month, some of the worst religious violence in years threatens to taint his efforts to showcase India as a strategic counterweight and investment alternative to China.

Clashes between Hindus and Muslims this week left six people dead near New Delhi’s international ...Read more

Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS

Final Mass comes for dozens of Catholic parishes across the St. Louis region

Religion / Religious News /

ST. LOUIS COUNTY — Longtime parishioners of St. Andrew Catholic Church in the Lemay area gathered in the pews Wednesday night to share memories and a prayer of lament.

“In a land where faith was strong, stood a parish proud and long. Named for St. Andrew’s guiding light, a beacon shining through the night. ... As we bid farewell in sorrow...Read more

Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Pope Francis tells trans youth that 'God loves us as we are' -- even 'if we are sinners'

Religion / Religious News /

Pope Francis told a young transgender person that “God loves us just as we are” in a new podcast released Tuesday by the Vatican.

Francis’ comments were featured in the second episode of Vatican Media’s “Popecast” ahead of World Youth Day — a global event set to take place in Lisbon, Portugal, from Aug. 1 to 6.

The leader of the ...Read more

Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/TNS

A church rises from racism to celebrate a centennial of triumphs in Pasadena

Religion / Religious News /

PASADENA, Calif. — Bishop John H. Taylor followed a glimmering golden cross beyond the white bricks and into St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, where dozens had gathered to mark the Pasadena church’s century-long march through history.

The angelic sounds of choir members draped in lavish robes and colorful stoles reverberated off stained glass...Read more

Amanda McCoy/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS

Group says Fort Worth bishop overstepping his authority, asks Vatican for his removal

Religion / Religious News /

FORT WORTH, Texas — A group upset with decisions made by Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson has sent a petition to Rome calling for his removal or resignation.

Steve Knobbe, president of the Laity in Unity Foundation said in an interview Friday that the petition and letter were sent to the Vatican and to the the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S...Read more

Lord's Prayer is 'problematic' due to 'oppressively patriarchal' reference, says Church of England leader

Religion / Religious News /

The language in the Lord’s Prayer might be “problematic” for some people, the archbishop of York said Friday during his address to a meeting of the Church of England’s ruling body.

The Most Rev. Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, was specifically referring to the words “Our Father,” which opens the prayer that Jesus taught ...Read more