(RNS) — On Ash Wednesday this year, about a dozen people attended a noon service at Boston’s Old North Church, founded in 1723. Two days later, a handful of worshippers took part in a Shabbat service at Newport, Rhode Island’s Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1763. Congregations participating in sacred rituals — it is something both houses of worship have been doing longer than the United States has existed. Such places of worship are rare . The Hartford Institute for Religion Research estimates