JOANETES, Spain — Xavier Pallàs plants his feet on the belfry floor, grips the rope, and with one tug fills the lush Spanish valley below with the reverberating peal of a church bell. Clang-clong!

Sitting in a chair with ropes looped around both feet and hands, Joan Carles Osuna, a student of the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers, performs playing all four bronze bells at the church bell ...

The Rev. David Price can think of only one thing he’s done in his eight and a half years as rector of St. Mary’s Cathedral that hasn’t drawn complaints. Under his direction, the flagship church of the ...