But over the last year the Holy Rosary Church has been a house divided - sometimes the opposite of a spiritual refuge.

The chance of a spiritual refuge holds great promise for me, for all of us.

Quakerism's founder, an itinerant preacher named George Fox (1624-1691), dwelled on the "inner light" existing within all people that could be used as a spiritual refuge.

For eight months after the attack, St. Paul's Chapel, which survived unscathed, stayed open around the clock to serve as a spiritual refuge and meditative retreat for construction workers, firefighters and others involved in rescue and demolition work.

At the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy, where many African students find spiritual refuge, talking about the attacks has become a part of the service.

The mosque initially served as a spiritual refuge for students, but over time, as Muslim families settled in Laramie, more people began to use the blue house as their regular place of worship.

The Alexandra church is simultaneously a spiritual refuge and a processing center for rural blacks new to the city.

Sensuous, chromatically singular and transcendentally iconic, the single-color paintings of Thursz (1925-1992) offer visual and spiritual refuge from the bustle of metropolitan life.

At its essence, the group provides students, Christian or not, a spiritual and social refuge in the midst of what can be a difficult time, high school, members say.

It also serves as temporary spiritual refuge to thousands of Jewish refugees from Iran who have transited through Vienna over the past 30 years.