Louisville, Kentucky The Festival of Faiths is a series of periodic events sponsored by one of America’s most unique religious institutions: the Center for Interfaith Relations. Based at the Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisvule, Kentucky, the Center for Interfaith Relations was the unusual outgrowth of an effort to renovate the cathedral. Since the renovation, … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2014
MARDI GRAS OF CAJUN COUNTRY
New Roads, Lake Charles & Alexandria, Louisiana Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the mother of all religious celebrations (religious in the theoretical sense). Better known as Carnival, which refers to the entire week of celebrations, Mardi Gras began in ancient times as a prepatory feast for the Lenten season. But in the modern era, especially in the United States … [Read more...]
MESA ARIZONA EASTER PAGEANT
Mesa, Arizona Easter Pageants are an age-old tradition in the United States, with celebrations ranging from small presentations in community churches to large-scale Passion Plays. Among the longest-running and now by far the largest annual performance is the Mesa Arizona Easter Pageant. This production, organized by the Church of Latter Day Saints, has been around for … [Read more...]
GREAT PASSION PLAY
Eureka Springs, Arkansas Eureka Springs, Arkansas is home to a number of interesting Christian sites, largely a legacy of Gerald Smith. A prominent if controversial figure, Smith turned Eureka Springs into something of a religious vacation destination. Here he established a center with everything from a Bible Museum to the largest statue of Christ in the United States. … [Read more...]
HOLY LAND EXPERIENCE
Orlando, Florida The Holy Land Experience, located in the midst of Orlando’s theme-park belt, is a living museum of sorts dedicated to recreating life in Jerusalem as it might have been during the late Second Temple period. Although it has been criticized for ‘Disney’-fying Christianity and the life of Christ, it nevertheless offers a fascinating and unique window into the … [Read more...]
WEDDING CHAPELS OF LAS VEGAS
Las Vegas, Nevada One of America’s strangest religious institutions, for lack of a better term, can be found in one of America’s strangest cities: Las Vegas. Here, lining the famous Strip and elsewhere throughout the city, can be found dozens of small churches, almost all of which cater exclusively to weddings. Here, in America’s wedding capital, countless couples tie the … [Read more...]
YMCA HERITAGE SITES OF BUFFALO
Buffalo, New York The YMCA, an international Christian services organization, has been active in the United States since its founding in the mid-19th century. Of the thousands of branches in America, the oldest and most historic branch still in existence is in Buffalo, New York. Dating from the 1850s, the Buffalo YMCA was the second to be founded, and it is an important … [Read more...]
CENTRAL HOUSE HOTEL
Boscobel, Wisconsin The Gideons International is one of the best known yet unknown homegrown American Christian organizations. Virtually everyone who has ever stayed in a hotel room and found a Bible therein knows it was most likely placed there by the mysterious group known as the Gideons, but most people known nothing beyond this. The origins of this busy but little … [Read more...]
BOYS TOWN
Boys Town, Nebraska Boys Town is America’s most famous orphanage and one of its best known home-grown Catholic institutions. Founded in 1917, it was the brainchild of Edward Flanagan, an Irish-born priest. It began as a simple orphanage in Omaha and over the next few decades grew into a mini-town populated by troubled youths from all over America. Immortalized by Hollywood … [Read more...]
HEADQUARTERS OF THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS
New Haven, Connecticut Ever since its inception, Christianity, and the Catholic Church in particular, has inspired the creation of countless religious organizations, the vast majority of which seek to carry out the work which Jesus of Nazareth charged all Christians with. These have come in many forms, from monastic orders to missionary societies to charitable … [Read more...]
