From Baghdad to Bishop: A Soldier-Priest Called to the Front Lines of Faith September 2, 2010By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Appointments, Feature, Local News, News On one of the bloodiest days of the Iraq War, Father F. Richard Spencer stood on a trash can in a concrete bomb shelter and offered absolution as mortar shells fell. Now, Pope Benedict XVI has appointed him the first auxiliary bishop for the U.S. military able to enter war zones — a role he knows all too well.
A school grows in Haiti: Deacon Mortel, 76, keeps boosting his hometown August 5, 2010By Paul McMullen Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, Missions, News Deacon Rodrigue Mortel, the director of the Missions Office for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, is an authority on defying perceived limits on one’s potential.
Legacy of charity: Hal Smith retires after 35 years October 29, 2009By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Catholic Charities, Feature, Local News, News When Smith became executive director of Baltimore’s Catholic Charities two years after his arrival, the agency employed 350 people and had a budget of about $6 million. Today, the organization annually helps 200,000 people in 80 programs and employs 2,100. Its budget is about $120 million.
Catholic actor Peter Boyle dies at age 71 December 14, 2006By Catholic News Service Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Obituaries, World News Peter Boyle, who was once a Christian Brother before he pursued a career in acting, died Dec. 12 at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Boyle, 71, had been suffering from multiple myeloma and heart disease.
St. Frances principal fulfills dream to become Oblate Sister of Providence August 14, 2006By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Consecrated Life, Feature, Local News, News, Vocations It took more than four decades, but Sister Marcia fulfilled her childhood dream, professing her final vows as an Oblate during a jubilant Aug. 14 liturgy at Our Lady of Mount Providence Convent in Baltimore.
Manchester parishioners’ generosity builds new church October 13, 2005By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News About 90 percent of the grading work has already been finished at the muddy site, with construction of the all- brick church to follow.
Funnyman with a cause May 27, 2004By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News A well-known comic who is frequently heard on WIYY 98 Rock in Baltimore, the 1988 graduate of Archbishop Curley High School, Baltimore, appears at the Comedy Factory Outlet and local pubs.
Chaplain recounts horrors of Iraqi war June 19, 2003By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Vocations “Bullets are so terrible now,” said Father Erestain, a lieutenant commander and the only Catholic priest aboard the Comfort as it cruised the Persian Gulf throughout the war. “They come in and they rip the body right through,” he explained, slowly trailing a finger along the length of his abdomen to show the power of the weapons.
Catholic astronaut from Essex to head for space station aboard shuttle January 18, 2001By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Schools “When you’re in space, and you look back at earth, it strikes you as an overwhelmingly beautiful vision,” Jones said. “It makes me think that God constructed us to appreciate this aspect of creation. He put something in our brains to appreciate the magnificence of creation.”
