The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow’s “pulpit” for his worship services. Photo courtesy of Bruce Reyes-Chow
Need to know: Wednesday, March 18, 2020
As COVID-19 leads to canceled religious gatherings, faith leaders embrace the digital
As in-person worship is banned in many places in the wake of COVID-19, many clergy are scrambling to learn how to shift services online via Zoom, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and other digital platforms.
What if Easter, Passover and Ramadan get canceled?
The coronavirus pandemic may disrupt major religious holidays such as Easter, Passover and Ramadan.
As religious groups weigh virus response, Samaritan’s Purse donates a field hospital
The donation of the field hospital in Cremona, in northern Italy’s hardest-hit Lombardy region, represents one of the largest faith-based responses to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Interfaith clergy unite for mothers and housing activists who took over vacant LA house
Activists and clergy gathered Sunday evening to pray for a group of mothers after they took over a property as a shelter from the coronavirus.
There are things the Black Death can teach us today
Historians tend to take seriously the contention that Jewish communities were less affected by the plague itself, if not from the hatred it unleashed, because of their ritual hand-washing, writes Avi Shafran.
This is not the end of the world, according to Christians who study the end of the world
The worldwide upheaval caused by the fast-spreading novel coronavirus pandemic has many people reaching for their Bibles, and some starting to wonder: Could this be a sign of the apocalypse?
Latest news from RNS
Despite coronavirus, in Italy communion is stronger than quarantine
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — For the past three days now, my entire neighborhood has emerged from balconies and windows to sing together. People I have never spoken to before now greet me every day at six in the evening.
‘Prayer in the Time of Coronavirus’: LA parishioners worship in mostly empty pews
‘It feels apocalyptic,’ said parishioner Sal Lopez after the service at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Los Angeles. ‘It was so empty in there.’
Crystals, chocolate, astral travel and good vibes for the soul
Crystals aren't just trendy. I AM Academy is using them to build ‘a community of people who are looking to change themselves and change this world’ through astral travel, meditation and other metaphysical means.
More views from RNS
When a priest and housemate falls ill, the practical becomes spiritual
(RNS) — When a member of my Jesuit community announced he had COVID-19, I could not do the Christian thing and rush to give him comfort. Instead, I updated my power of attorney and wondered who I'd infected.
The problem of ‘social distancing’ for women who already do too much
(RNS) — Women are at risk for depression even in the best of times — and the uncharted territory we’re now entering is not going to be the best of times.
In a New York minute, everything has changed
There is no modern precedent for this historical moment. That is precisely why we need faith.
