The Supreme Court is telling California that it can’t enforce coronavirus-related restrictions that have limited home-based religious worship including Bible studies and prayer meetings.The order from the court late Friday, April 9, 2021, is the latest in a recent string of cases in which the high court has barred officials from enforcing some coronavirus-related restrictions applying to religious gatherings. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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The Supreme Court is telling California that it can’t enforce coronavirus-related restrictions that have limited home-based religious worship including Bible studies and prayer meetings.

St. Columbanus Catholic Church is offering a hybrid option for parishioners this Holy Week and Easter. (WTTW News)

For the second year in a row, Chicago’s Jewish and Christian communities are preparing to celebrate Passover and Easter amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For some, that means coming together with friends and loved ones over Zoom. For others, it will be a mix of online worship and in-person celebration.

Joseph Saunders and other members of Chicago’s St. Sabina Catholic Church rally outside the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Chicago demanding resolution of the investigation into allegations against the Rev. Michael Pfleger on Wednesday, Feb 24, 2021 in Chicago.

After the first allegations surfaced in January, the Archdiocese of Chicago temporarily removed Michael Pfleger to investigate, leading to fierce backlash from parishioners trying to clear his name. They’ve flooded the archdiocese’s phone lines and staged rallies. They’ve also challenged the accusers’ accounts.

In this Saturday, July 7, 2018 file photo, the Rev. Michael Pfleger speaks to protesters before marching on the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago. (AP Photo / Annie Rice, File)

The 59-year-old man alleges in an affidavit shared late Tuesday with church officials that the Rev. Michael Pfleger once grabbed his crotch over his clothes in the priest’s bedroom area at St. Sabina Church in the summer of 1979 as the then 18-year-old accuser pretended to sleep.

Gottlieb Chapel (Courtesy Gottlieb Memorial Hospital)

Hospitals don’t just offer health care. Many offer care for the human spirit as well as the human body. We talk with a chaplain at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park about the challenges of ministering to patients and families during a pandemic.

Rabbi Douglas Goldhamer, who started Skokie’s Bene Shalom congregation in 1972, at his Evanston home on Feb. 5, 2021. (WTTW News)

For nearly half a century, a place of worship in Skokie has exclusively served deaf Jewish congregants. But now, that special synagogue is fighting to stay afloat. We visit Bene Shalom to learn more.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger appears on “Chicago Tonight” on Sept. 19, 2019. (WTTW News)

Cardinal Blase Cupich asked the Rev. Michael Pfleger to step down as senior pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church while the Archdiocese of Chicago investigates an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor more than 40 years ago. 

A screenshot from the “Black Voices” community conversation on Monday, Dec. 28, 2020. (WTTW News)

It’s a New Year’s Eve tradition. Check out our virtual discussion about the history of Watch Night services with Brandis Friedman, host of “Black Voices,” and a panel of guests.

(Myriams-Fotos / Pixabay)

With coronavirus deaths surpassing 300,000 and the coronavirus surge — and winter temperatures — forcing people indoors, some people are leaning on their faith and religion to help.

(RJA1988 / Pixabay)

Hanukkah and Christmas are held during some of the shortest days of the year — meaning, they’re also the darkest. But these holidays offer light through menorahs and advent candles, and now, the glow of a computer screen.

In this Sunday Oct. 6, 2019, file photo, Washington D.C. Archbishop Wilton Gregory greets churchgoers at St. Mathews Cathedral after the annual Red Mass in Washington. (AP Photo / Jose Luis Magana, File)

In a surprise announcement from his studio window to faithful standing below in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said the churchmen would be elevated to a cardinal’s rank in a ceremony on Nov. 28. 

Pastor T. L Barrett sings as Dwayne Barrett, the drummer of his choir, adjusts his microphone at the pastor’s South Side Pentecostal church on Sunday, July 12, 2020. (Evan Garcia / WTTW News)

Pastor T. L. Barrett wrote and recorded soul-infused gospel music in the 1970s with his youth choir. Forty years later, his music is reaching new generations — via some star-studded names.

In May, Metro Praise International Church in Belmont Cragin defied the stay-at-home order that closed churches statewide. (WTTW News)

Worshippers were able to legally meet together Sunday in Chicago churches and other religious institutions — albeit with limitations in place — for the first time since orders meant to limit the spread of the coronavirus took effect.

In this Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020, file photo, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts arrives before President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Leah Millis / Pool via AP, File)

A divided Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal by a California church; an appeal from two churches in the Chicago area was also rejected.

The Rev. Marshall Hatch joins “Chicago Tonight” via Zoom for a conversation on Monday, April 13, 2020. (WTTW News)

Black Chicagoans are almost six times more likely to die from the new coronavirus than white residents, according to state and city health officials. We talk about the city’s ongoing health disparities with the Rev. Marshall Hatch of New Mount Pilgrim Church.

Saba Mahjabeen, right, and Gizman Mawi, center, waive as Sophia Baig looks on during a drive through Eid al-Fitr celebration outside a closed mosque in Plano, Texas, Sunday, May 24, 2020. (AP Photo / LM Otero)

Eid al-Fitr — the feast of breaking the fast — marks the end of Ramadan, when Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. Just like they did during Ramadan, many are resorting to at-home worship.