Sunlight is just starting to filter through the palms east of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in downtown Las Vegas when The Rev. Courtney Edward Krier begins his day.

At 7 a.m., the priest’s floor-length black cassock sweeps along the courtyard of the church on the corner of Ninth Street and Ogden Avenue as he pours out old holy water in preparation for his first Mass of a long day. Back inside, he fills the large, silver pot with water from the kitchen tap and carries it down a narrow hallway and into the elaborate church, where it is placed by the door and blessed for use by congregants in ritual purification as they enter the church. MORE