BOSTON (RNS) Groups of Boston-area Catholics who have waged an eight-year battle to block the sale of parish buildings are running out of options as the Vatican has rejected their appeals to keep six parishes open. By G. Jeffrey MacDonald.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI thanked American nuns for their “fidelity and self-sacrifice” in a speech to U.S. bishops in Rome. He also praised the American church’s efforts in favor of immigration reform. By Alessandro Speciale.

CLEVELAND (RNS) Parishioners from 12 mothballed parishes have begun organizing committees in preparation for their churches' reopening, even as some are getting 'edgy and anxious' as the process drags on into its second month. By Michael O'Malley.

(RNS) Grace Community United Church of Christ in St. Paul, Minn., took a stand on gay rights, lost most of its congregants and on June 1 may lose its church, too. By Lauren Markoe.

(RNS) A stuttering priest can sound like the beginning of a bad joke, but clergy who stutter are increasingly willing to talk about their stuttering, and how a profession that rewards particularly inspiring speech can be open to those with speech impediments. By Lauren Markoe.

NEWPORT, Wash. (RNS) Just outside of town, Sravasti Abbey is one of the only monastic communities in the West for Americans to study the Buddha's teachings. The abbey now has five U.S.-born, fully ordained nuns, which allows ceremonies to be held. By Tracy Simmons.

(RNS) Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said Friday that five priests accused of sexually abusing children last year would be barred from ministry and could be defrocked, while three others were cleared by a church-led investigation and could return to pastoral work. By David Gibson.

SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) If you suspected the newly released U.S. Religion Census overstated the Mormons' growth rate, you were right. That’s because, this time around, the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints changed the way it reported its membership to the researchers. By Peggy Fletcher Stack.

TORONTO (RNS) Later this spring, an entire Bible in Inuktitut, the language of Inuit people and the most widely spoken aboriginal tongue in Canada's Arctic, will be dedicated at an igloo-shaped church in Nunavut, an autonomous region carved out of the Northwest Territories in 1999. By Ron Csillag.

(RNS) In a move that will give bishops more flexibility to remove ineffective pastors, the United Methodist Church voted on Tuesday (May 1) to end guaranteed clergy appointments. By Adelle M. Banks.

CHICAGO (RNS) In the first decade of the 21st century, America's religious landscape shifted dramatically, with minority groups making sizable gains as established Catholics and Protestants lost ground -- literally, according to a new study. By Kevin Eckstrom.

(RNS) Jerry DeWitt’s transition from true believer to total skeptic took 25 years. It began, he said, with the idea of hell. How could it be, as he had been taught and preached, that a loving God would damn most people to eternal fire? By Kimberly Winston.

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS/ENInews) Kenyan churches are tightening security after a lone attacker exploded a grenade inside an evangelical church in Nairobi on Sunday (April 29), killing one person and injuring 15, while a string of bombings in Nigeria killed 19 people. By Fredrick Nzwili.

BETHESDA, Md. (RNS) The goal of the Clergy Project is not to pull pastors from the pulpit, but to provide those who have already lost their faith with a safe place to anonymously discuss what what’s next. By Kimberly Winston.

CLEVELAND (RNS) When Bishop Richard Lennon began closing 50 Catholic churches three years ago, the bulk of the faithful quietly moved on. But Patricia Schulte-Singleton was not intimidated by a Roman collar, a bishop's edict or the raised eyebrows of the obedient. By Michael O'Malley.