Cumberland town meeting addresses need for parish restructuring May 5, 2011By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News CUMBERLAND – In an April 28 town meeting marked by a combination of hopefulness, apprehension and anger, approximately 250 people gathered at St. Mary in Cumberland to ask questions about a proposal to create a new area parish out of five existing ones.
Letters that made a difference April 26, 2011By George P. Matysek Jr. Filed Under: Blog, The Narthex Father Milton Hipsley holds his rosary at his Mercy Ridge residence in Timonium last year. (CR/Owen Sweeney III) Father Milton Hipsley’s letters started arriving on my desk in the summer of 2009. Very neatly written in all capital letters, the notes always seemed focused on the importance of kindness and of taking time for
Pope John Paul II’s visit to Baltimore touched many lives April 19, 2011By George P. Matysek Jr. Filed Under: Local News, News Jim and Pat McDonnell spent less than a minute in the presence of Pope John Paul II, but it was enough to change their lives.
Clergy shortage, shifting demographics bring need for change April 14, 2011By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News “Since I have been working in multiple-parish ministry, I have been struck by the importance of working with a team of people – most of whom, of course, are lay Catholics,” Monsignor Hannon said. “We work together for the good of our parishes and for the good of the archdiocese.”
First blood of the Civil War spilled in Baltimore 150 years ago April 14, 2011By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News Days after Confederate forces in South Carolina captured Fort Sumter without any casualties, the first bloodshed in the Civil War happened in Baltimore on April 19, 1861.
Cumberland-area parishes consider uniting into one faith community April 7, 2011By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News, Western Vicariate Cumberland-area parishes currently have two funerals for every baptism. One third of registered parishioners are age 60 or older. The city’s population has declined from 30,000 in 1979 to 20,859 today, while the number of priests serving the five parishes has plummeted from 13 to four – the result of a clergy shortage.
‘The greatest temptation of my life’ March 31, 2011By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Blog, The Narthex Dominican Father Carleton Parker Jones calls it the “greatest temptation” of his life.
Ravens’ Matt Birk speaks up for life March 17, 2011By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News, Respect Life, Sports “It seems like our society and media want to push pro-lifers to the side and hope that we would shut our mouths and go away quietly,” said Birk, whose 6’4’’, 310-pound frame struck a distinct figure among the hundreds of marchers who filed through downtown streets. “Let’s not do that.”
Interfaith leaders pray for end to death penalty March 17, 2011By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News After her brother became Baltimore’s 21st murder victim of 2007, Erricka Bridgeford couldn’t wait for the police to find the person who did it. Bridgeford dreamed of spitting in the murderer’s face. Male relatives thought of even more violent ways of exacting vengeance, she said.
Family of fallen Marine split on Westboro ruling March 10, 2011By George P. Matysek Jr. Filed Under: Local News, News Two members of a family whose son was killed in Iraq had different reactions to a March 2 Supreme Court decision upholding the First Amendment rights of members of the Westboro Baptist Church to protest outside the 2006 funeral of Matthew Snyder at St. John Parish in Westminster.
Paralysis won’t stop priest at Fells Point St. Patrick’s Day Mass March 10, 2011By George P. Matysek Jr. Filed Under: Local News, News Growing up in New York, Redemptorist Father John Murray loved marching with his father in the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Now that he uses a wheelchair, Father Murray is about to promote the Saint of Ireland in a way that may prove more powerful than anything he could have done on foot in a parade.
Calling St. Polycarp March 10, 2011By George P. Matysek Jr. Filed Under: Blog, The Narthex When Marilyn Szewczyk was about to launch a network of pro-life pregnancy centers in Maryland, she turned to St. Polycarp for help. Reasoning that the obscure early Christian martyr didn’t have many people asking for his intercession, Szewczyk figured she’d have easy access to his ear.Lynn Anne Sukeena, one of Szewczyk’s daughters, told me that […]
