But on Election Day, Washington National Cathedral’s ornate iron doors were open wide. Fresh air blew through the soaring vestibule, and light streamed in through the stained-glass windows.

Church leaders said that the cathedral may no longer be able to keep its doors open seven days a week if it did not raise £300,000 by the end of March. The Very Rev Christopher Dalliston ...

A gavel knocked on the Cathedral door and the shuffling of nearly 50 bishops’ footsteps in the dark narthex went still. Two more knocks boomed outside, and then, in flooded the March sunlight ...