Sun coverage: Religion in the news

The mark of a leader

Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien will receive his pallium at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican tomorrow, a capstone event marking his connection to the Catholic hierarchy and to the church worldwide.

Marking 200 years of faith

The 200-year-old Neo-Gothic chapel is so carefully tucked behind a shaded block of Paca Street that many Baltimore natives don't know it exists.

Quick cuts part of Passover tradition

The Sunday before the holiday is a big day for a hair salon in Pikesville as parents rush their kids in for one more trim.

From the altar, a vow of protest

Some clergy say until Maryland allows same-sex marriage, they'll conduct religious rite but others must sign legal papers.

Catholic bicentennial

The Archdiocese of Baltimore will celebrate its bicentennial starting next month with work on a new prayer garden near downtown, musical performances in the Basilica of the Assumption and an exhibit of the Catholic community's history at St. Mary's Seminary.

First Easter challenge to new pastors

With Sunday rapidly approaching, the Rev. Mervin McKenney admitted to being a bit nervous as he prepared his first Easter sermon as an ordained minister.

The moon, sun, equinox, and Easter's elusive dating

If the youngsters are shivering in their new Easter finery - instead of basking in the gentle April sun most of us are accustomed to - you can blame it on the stars.

St. Leo's takes a holy day to the streets of Little Italy

The bells of St. Leo's started tolling at 4 p.m. as parishioners filed out of the church onto the streets of Little Italy. They had just attended a Good Friday service.

Academy resumes dipping U.S. flag

Midshipmen are again dipping the American flag before the altar cross at Sunday services at the Naval Academy chapel, restoring a tradition that supporters say shows reverence but that critics say violates the separation of church and state.

Creating divine designs

Catholic University students devise -- and Md. firms build -- the furnishings for Pope Benedict XVI's papal visit in April.

Organ crew builds the 'voice of God'

To the crowd assembled on the lawn of a Severna Park church, each of the thousands of oddly shaped segments was created to do one thing: evoke the voice of the divine.

Religious America is changing faith

The United States is on the verge of becoming a country in which Protestants are no longer the majority - probably for the first time in history, according to an extensive survey whose findings illustrate the ever-shifting landscape of religion in America.

Cherry Hill to Capitol Hill

City native Barry C. Black marks several 'firsts' as U.S. Senate chaplain

Questions, concerns over pastor's divorce

Controversy surrounding the divorce case of the Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant - the flashy, influential pastor of the Empowerment Temple - will likely be addressed at the annual conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church next month.

Clicking with Jesus

Internet-savvy Christians want to save their fellow man, one video at a time

4 candidates named for Episcopal diocese

Four candidates from across the country have been chosen by a search committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland to replace retired Bishop Robert W. Ihloff.

Allergies lead churches to new practices

The Rev. Bill Miller-Zurell was recently presiding at Communion, moving from congregant to congregant, offering the body, offering the blood, until he got to a little boy who, seeing the piece of bread, stopped the pastor short.

Maryland Journal

Celebrating a miracle legacy

Hundreds of Peruvian-American Catholics reinforced ties to their religious heritage yesterday as teams slowly carried an image of Jesus that is revered in their native country for its miraculous powers through the streets of Fells Point.

At St. Leo's, nourishing a tasty tradition

A church kneads, stirs and rolls its way toward dinner for 2,000

Transgender man allowed to remain as church pastor

The highest judicial body of the United Methodist Church announced yesterday that a transgender man can remain pastor of a congregation in Charles Village.

Lombard as center of Jewish life

Museum exhibit recalls time when street was bustling with merchants and immigrants

Serving others during Ramadan

Mallory Terry, who lives on a Northwest Baltimore block in Upton where half the rowhouses are vacant, wasn't expecting to see a throng of people collecting food and clothing outside the Ul-Haqq mosque when she took her two sons for a walk yesterday.

High Holy Days head outside

As the sun sets tonight, when faithful Jews across the region flock to synagogues to honor creation in services steeped in tradition, thousands of others will gather with picnic dinners in a Baltimore County park.

Cultivating knowledge of Jewish culture

In a Reisterstown field, a circular garden connects nature with the months of the Jewish calendar and ties agriculture to Jewish heritage.

It's goodbye, hello for a congregation

Members of Beth Jacob Congregation are celebrating their last Shabbat service today.

Hope floats

The steel skeleton is more visionary art than ark. Still, a visitor can make out the arklike bowed front of Pastor Richard Greene's roadside attraction off Interstate 68. Three stories high and set in concrete, the steel structure shares a foothill with its loyal billboard: "Noah's Ark Being Rebuilt Here."

Catholics retain hope for Latin Mass revival

Mary Ellen Lamantia wept through the entire service the first time she attended a traditional Latin Mass.

Sun profile

Mentor to priests steps down

The responsibilities of a Roman Catholic priest have changed over the last quarter-century - and so have the expectations at St. Mary's University and Seminary, whose president-rector, the Rev. Robert F. Leavitt, is stepping down after nearly three decades of leadership.