Source: The Boston Globe

On December 20, 2000, The Boston Globe reported that this year's list of donors to families in need is low. Maria Contreras, who runs an adopt-a-family program in Boston, asks people to sponsor families, providing blankets, clothes, kitchen appliances and the like. This year, she said her list of needy families has grown and her list of donors has shrunk. Her organization, Soldiers of Health, even sent 250 letters to churches and businesses all over Boston. The families are chosen on a case-by-case basis, and they are families that...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On December 18, 2000, The Christian Science Monitor reported on a Christian and her appreciation of Ramadan. She focuses on fasting, because it requires self-restraint. As she understands it, fasting is a way for people to turn away from materially satisfying the physical body and instead, turn to spirituality, to "a realm beyond the physical and to the home of the perfect and divine." She believes that the spirituality emphasized during Ramadan is not restricted to one religion or only one time of the year. In a...

Source: The Times-Picayune

On December 17, 2000, The Times-Picayune reported that Encuentro, an initiative created to establish guidelines for Hispanic Catholics, has spread to other cultures as well. "'We are Roman Catholic in the Church but we come from many walks of life to be Roman Catholic,' said Francine Collins, a parishioner at All Saints Catholic Church in New Orleans, who spoke at Encounter 2000. 'God doesn't call us to be one uniform. He gave each of us many gifts to use for him.' Parishioners took turns reading poem verses about their different...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 17, 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported that a historic Los Angeles church, ruined by arson last year, will undergo restoration soon. "Several hundred worshipers and well-wishers turned out on a sun-splashed Saturday afternoon as Cardinal Roger M. Mahony presided over a dedication to begin restoration of the historic church. It serves a community made up mostly of immigrants from Mexico and Central America and their children. Emotions ran high as the cardinal, resplendent in his pointed cap, or mitre, and cream-colored...

Source: The Washington Post

On December 17, 2000, The Washington Post reported that "for many Americans, the Christmas season is incomplete without the Salvation Army's ubiquitous red kettles, tinkling bells and brass bands urging harried shoppers to remember the needy. Some know that its dependable track record of serving the poor and afflicted has led Americans for the last eight years to give it more money than any other private charity--$ 1.4 billion in 1999 alone. But few people realize that the Salvation Army is an evangelical Protestant denomination...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On December 13, 2000, The Christian Science Monitor reported on the experience of a Swedish Christmas, celebrated on Christmas Eve with tradition dishes such as Swedish meatballs and lutefisk. The article is by an American author who was raised in a Swedish family.

Source: The Plain Dealer

On December 10, 2000, The Plain Dealer reported that creches are important to many Christians during the Christmas season. "For many families, figurines of baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the stable at Bethlehem have always had a place under the Christmas tree or on the mantel. But recently, retailers are seeing increased sales of Nativity sets." Creches come in many different styles, from simple to ornate, and often acquire sentimental value as they are passed down in families.

Source: The Boston Herald

On December 9, 2000, The Boston Herald reported that "Norwood selectmen voted pro-creche this week, placing themselves on the opposite side of the Nativity scene issue that has entangled Lexington officials in court." Lori Novick requested that the creche, located in front of a public school, be removed. She is concerned that it might make non-Christian children feel marginalized and left out. An attorney for the ACLU is monitoring the situation, as is attorney and head of the Citizens for the Preservation of Constitutional...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 8, 2000, The Los Angeles Times reported that "an Islamic holiday display now shares a patch of grass in Mission Viejo with Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus, marking what Muslim leaders say is the first time in California that the holy month of Ramadan has received equal billing with Christmas on public space. The small billboard shows a photograph of the Kaaba--the central shrine of Islam in Mecca, Saudi Arabia--with a message: 'Season's Greetings.' A caption under the photo reads 'The First House of Worship on Earth.'...

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On December 7, 2000, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that "recalling this summer's mosque controversy in Palos Heights, a United Methodist bishop said ethnic bias is partly behind Long Grove residents' fight against a Korean church's plan to move into their community. Traffic and property values are the big reasons that residents oppose the Good Shepherd Church's plan, Bishop C. Joseph Sprague said Wednesday. At the same time, 'I have to wonder if the fact that this is a Korean congregation has anything to do with the kind of...

Source: The Boston Globe

On December 7, 2000, The Boston Globe reported that "a federal judge ruled yesterday that Lexington selectmen aren't violating anyone's rights by refusing to allow the Knights of Columbus to display a creche on the town's historic Battle Green during the Christmas season. In a 12-page ruling, US District Judge Nancy Gertner concluded that a new town ordinance that bans unattended structures from being placed on the common for more than eight hours was designed 'primarily to protect the historic and aesthetic qualities of the...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 6, 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported that "whether they want it or not, most residents of San Juan Capistrano will receive an early Christmas gift in the mail next week--an 83-minute movie on the life of Jesus. San Juan Capistrano residents will be among the 1.1-million households in 10 cities across the U.S. who will get the 'Jesus' video this holiday season from local churches and Christian leaders. The campaign is run by the San Bernardino-based Jesus Video Project, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. In...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 4, 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported that "with its Moorish domes and bell towers, the splendid Mission San Carlos Borromeo in Carmel is the jewel of the California mission system. The small cell where Father Junipero Serra lived and worked has been meticulously preserved. When he died on Aug. 28, 1784, the remains of California's apostle were buried at the foot of the main altar. Now, however, a displaced tribe of Indians is trying to stake a claim in what Serra called the 'Garden of God,' south of San Francisco....

Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 3, 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported that "Biola University in La Mirada is set to hold the region's first major town hall meeting on the crisis Monday with Jews, Muslims and Christians. The Christian university's forum--expected to draw 3,000 people under the eyes of extra security guards--will attempt to move beyond finger-pointing to discuss concrete peacekeeping ideas. It reflects what organizers say is the small beginning of a return to dialogue, two months after the outbreak of violence that froze the peace...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On December 2, 2000, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "it is Sunday morning at Atlanta Friends Meeting House on Howard Street in Decatur. The Friends, better known as Quakers, gather here each week for their special form of worship, a comfortable togetherness interrupted only if the Spirit moves someone to talk. Some weeks no one speaks at all. As churches across the country begin the almost constant activity of Advent and Christmas from musical programs to pageants to parties, the Quaker...