Author: Reporter

Hmong Americans recall ancestral spirits while teaching “new year” traditions to the next generation

For the annual fall renewal of her shaman spirit, Mee Vang Yang will soon ritually redecorate the tall altar in her living room where she keeps her father’s ring-shaped shaman bells. She carried them across the Mekong River as the family fled the Communist takeover of her native Laos four decades ago. Today, they facilitate the connection to the spiritual world she needs to help fellow refugees and their American-raised children who seek restoration of lost spirits. “Like going to church, you’re giving beyond yourself to a greater power,” said the mother of six through a translator in Hmong....

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Nearly 20% of United Methodist congregations have abandoned the denomination over LGBTQ rights

More than 6,000 United Methodist congregations, a fifth of the U.S. total, have now received permission to leave the denomination amid a schism over theology and the role of LGBTQ people in the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination. Those figures emerge following the close of regular meetings in June for the denomination’s regional bodies, known as annual conferences. The departures began with a trickle in 2019 — when the church created a four-year window of opportunity for U.S. congregations to depart over LGBTQ-related issues — and cascaded to its highest level this year. Church law forbids the marriage or ordination...

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Iconic churches struggle to accommodate a flood of both curious tourists and faithful worshipers

A recent Saturday evening Mass at Sagrada Familia parish had all the hallmarks of a neighborhood worship service, from prayers for ill and deceased members to name-day wishes for two congregants in the pews. But it also featured security checks to get in and curious tourists peering down to take photos of the worshippers from above. The regular Mass is held in the crypt of modernist architect Antoni Gaudí’s masterpiece church, one of Europe’s most visited monuments. With tourism reaching or surpassing pre-pandemic records in Barcelona and across southern Europe, iconic sacred sites are struggling to accommodate the faithful...

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Russia targets Ukrainian civilians in largest drone attack since the start of its full-scale invasion

Russia on November 25 launched its most intense drone attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in 2022, targeting the Ukrainian capital, military officials said. “Kyiv was the main target,” Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his Telegram channel. In total, Russia launched 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones against Ukraine, of which 74 were destroyed by air defenses, Ukraine’s air force said. The attack was “the most massive air attack by drones on Kyiv,” said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city administration. Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat confirmed later that the air defenses...

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A barren moonscape: Residents fear Gaza will remain uninhabitable when the war finally ends

Israel’s military offensive has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are still standing, but most are battered shells. Nearly 1 million Palestinians have fled the north, including its urban center, Gaza City, as ground combat intensified. When the war ends, any relief will quickly be overshadowed by dread as displaced families come to terms with the scale of the calamity and what it means for their future. Where would they live? Who would eventually run...

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Left Behind: Families of some unreleased hostages in Gaza face the enduring nightmare of waiting

Ofri Bibas Levy has been haunted by nightmares since October 7, when her brother, sister-in-law, and their two young children were snatched by Hamas militants from their homes and dragged into the Gaza Strip. In those dreams she sees her captive relatives, all except for her brother Yarden. That subconscious omission may reflect her ordeal: Out of the Israeli hostages, only women and children are expected to be among the 50 people released during a four-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that started on November 24. All of the Israeli men, and many women, will remain captive in Gaza...

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