• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
The Archdiocese of Baltimore prayed for peace in Baltimore City when summer began.

Archdiocesan leaders seeking solutions to epidemic of violence

August 27, 2009
By Catholic Review
Filed Under: Local News, News

The Archdiocese of Baltimore prayed for peace in Baltimore City when summer began.

Rarely was tranquility a reality.

Since Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien met with city religious leaders May 27 at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park to deplore violence – murders, beatings and shootings have dominated local headlines and newscasts.

The crime problems that have plagued the city for decades have been an unwelcome presence in poor neighborhoods and tourist attractions alike.

Now the archdiocese and The Catholic Review, which is funding a Sept. 12 “Gun Turn-in” at St. Gregory the Great Parish (story on Page 13), are trying to find ways to stop the bloodshed.

More than 140 murders have taken place in the city this year, after an encouraging 2008 that saw homicides dip 17 percent from 2007. Still, the 234 murders left Baltimore’s homicide rate, with 37 slayings per 100,000 residents, near the top among major American cities.

The city grabbed national headlines in July when 18 people were shot during a gang confrontation, horrifying Archbishop O’Brien, who formerly was the head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services.

“It’s safer in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think, sometimes,” Archbishop O’Brien told The Catholic Review. “Still, there are good people out there patrolling the streets and taking an interest in the neighborhoods and sacrificing themselves for the youth in the communities. If not for them, it could be much worse.”

Concern grips even the Inner Harbor, where an Aug. 16 gang altercation resulted in two people being shot at the Light Street pavilion.

“I just think we have to work harder,” Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden told The Catholic Review. “Those are desperate people doing desperate things. They are divorced from the community and have no sense of care or concern. When you have shootings like that – or when children or a pregnant woman get shot – there’s no sense of concern. We really have to turn those things around. That’s unsettling.”

A Baltimore boy who attended the Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s annual awards luncheon Aug. 18 said he was at the Inner Harbor the night of shooting. He did not witness the shooting but later saw the victims.

“I saw a lot of blood trails,” the 13-year-old said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

The same day of the CCHD luncheon, a black man was beaten by three white men at Fort Armistead Park, in the city near the Francis Scott Key Bridge. One of the men arrested, Calvin E. Lockner, goes by the nickname “Hitler,” according to Frederick H. Bealefeld III, Baltimore police commissioner.

“All of us really need to be enraged about what has happened and what continues to happen through so many instances throughout our city,” said Monsignor Damien G. Nalepa, pastor of St. Gregory the Great. “Racism, pure and simple, is a sin. Sin always exists, but we need to do all we can to eliminate and reduce it.”

Monsignor Nalepa stood alongside Mayor Sheila Dixon at a news conference about the beating.

Bishop Madden has met with various city faith leaders this year about promoting peace and did so again recently. He said faith leaders want to meet regularly, discuss theological cause for further activism and support for faith-based groups on the ground.

“I think it highlights the need for people to work together,” Bishop Madden said. “They can flood the place with policemen, but they can’t do it by themselves. You have to have the community and the churches working together.”

The archdiocese held a peace collection in parishes June 20-21 that brought in $45,000 for Operation Safe Streets and other initiatives.

Meanwhile, an outreach worker for Operation Safe Streets, which partners with St. Veronica in Cherry Hill and Baltimore’s St. Ann and St. Wenceslaus, was shot during a July cookout.

St. Wenceslaus will hold a peace walk Aug. 30 at 1 p.m. at the East Baltimore church. According to the church’s pastor, Third Order Regular Franciscan Father Peter Lyons, the walk was organized by Safe Streets and churches and civic groups have been invited to pray for “peace in the face of increased street violence.”

Officials want to forge a connection with the city’s young people and strengthen relationships among urban youth ministers. Margaret Brogden, the archdiocesan coordinator for youth ministry formation, said the church can be an “effective agent” in the city.

“It’s close to my heart because I grew up in the city in Cherry Hill,” Brogden said. “I’ve worked in the city as a youth minister and I know some of the issues. Some of them were brand new to me because they weren’t there when I was younger. I wasn’t afraid of drive-by shootings when I was younger. These are the issues our kids are facing and we don’t want to lose our kids to the streets.”

Click here for a full transcript of Archbishop O’Brien’s interview about the plight of Baltimore City.

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Catholic Review

The Catholic Review is the official publication of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • ‘God showed up in a very powerful, powerful way’: Archdiocese of Hartford investigating possible eucharistic miracle
  • A miracle at a Sunday Mass in Connecticut
  • Cathedral of Mary Our Queen to host world premiere of Passion setting
  • Men urged to be on fire for faith at Catholic Men’s Fellowship of Maryland conference
  • Fullerton Passion Walk a ‘deeply moving’ experience

| Latest Local News |

Catholic group pushing for inclusive housing in city

Sulpician Father Louis Reitz dies at 93

Sister Regina Marie de l’Eucharistie Loftus dies at 86

| Latest World News |

Arrests made for ‘unruly conduct’ at Virginia university that disrupted pro-life meeting, injured student leader

Doctors say pope can be discharged from hospital

Pope visits pediatric oncology ward, baptizes infant

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Arrests made for ‘unruly conduct’ at Virginia university that disrupted pro-life meeting, injured student leader
  • Doctors say pope can be discharged from hospital
  • Pope visits pediatric oncology ward, baptizes infant
  • Movie Review: ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’
  • Catholic group pushing for inclusive housing in city
  • Additional charges filed in Vatican finance trial
  • El Papa saldrá del hospital tras tres días de hospitalización debido a bronquitis
  • Grand jury votes to indict former President Donald Trump, shaking up 2024 campaign
  • Lasting peace can exist only without weapons, pope says

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED