Photos of the Week: Kazakhstan religious conference, fire destroys historic LA church

By Kit Doyle · September 16, 2022
 (RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes world religious leaders in Kazakhstan, a fire at an historic Los Angeles church and more. Exile Tibetan Buddhist nuns wait to distribute bread to a congregation gathered to listen to the Dalai Lama at the Tsuglakhang temple in Dharamsala, India, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia) Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, center, arrives to give a talk for Southeast Asian Buddhists at the Tsuglakhang temple in Dharamsala, India, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia) A Los Angeles fireman recovers musical instruments following a fire at the Victory Baptist Church in Los Angeles, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. Authorities say an arson investigation is under way after a fire destroyed the historic church in South Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) A woman stands next to the remains of the Victory Baptist Church following a fire in Los Angeles, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. Authorities say an arson investigation is under way after a fire destroyed the historic church in South Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Demonstrators blow shofars, traditional Jewish ritual instruments, outside the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 14, 2022, during an abortion rights event organized by the National Council of Jewish Women. RNS photo by Jack Jenkins Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, head of foreign relations for the Russian Orthodox Church delivers a speech at the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation during the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Sept.15, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) Pope Francis addresses the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Sep. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) Members of Hasidic Jewish communities protest outside the New York state Education Department Building where a vote was pending on new requirements for private schools to provide a basic high school education, Sept. 12, 2022, in Albany, New York. Hasidic leaders say the regulations would harm their schools, where boys study the Talmud almost exclusively. (Will Waldron/The Albany Times Union via AP) Catholic priests at a thanksgiving Mass for the elevation of Archbishop of Hyderabad Anthony Poola to cardinal, at St. Mary's High School in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. Archbishop Poola is the first member of the Dalit community, considered the lowest rung of India's caste system, to become a cardinal. ( AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.) Archival Photos The Rev. Robert Owens, a Baptist minister from Brooklyn who heads the Gospel Chords Program, displays his organization's first long-playing record, "Happy Today" by the Echoes of Harmony, during International Black Expo in 1971 in New York. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society. The sister of Israeli army private Yaakov Zimmerman, one of five killed in a May 2, 1980, attack on Jews in Hebron, Israeli-occupied West Bank, weeps during his funeral on May 3, 1980, at a military cemetery near Tel Aviv. Another 17 were wounded in the ambush, in what was described at the time as the worst incident of West Bank terrorism since it was captured by the Israelis in the 1967 war. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society. Officials of the National Conference of Laity, an independent Catholic group, announce in 1971 in Washington, D.C., that the NAL "will officially direct its 25 affiliates throughout the United States to counter the lobbying efforts of Catholic bishops in the various state legislatures." The organization also planned to challenge the tax exemption of U.S. dioceses "on the grounds that the bishops' lobbying efforts on behalf of Catholic schools now constitutes a substantial expenditure of funds." At the press conference — held in conjunction with the meeting of Catholic bishops, are, from left: Patricia Brunner, president of the Washington Lay Association; Dr. Joseph O'Donoghue of New York, NAL executive director; Paul Reilly, of the Washington Lay Association and John Murdoch, President of the Pittsburgh NAL Affiliate. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.
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