Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Local News

Father Parker named to new role


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Filed Under: Local News, News

Father Adam J. Parker, pastor of Church of the Ascension, Halethorpe, has been named vice chancellor for the Archdiocese of Baltimore and will serve as secretary to Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, effective Sept. 17.

Cardinal Keeler honors Basilica’s 100,000th visitor


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Filed Under: Baltimore Basilica, Local News, News

As Rosalie Dohm of Woodbridge, Va. climbed the stairs to the nation’s first cathedral Aug. 2, she thought it was unusual that Cardinal William H. Keeler was personally greeting each of the visitors from her parish tour group. The 66-year-old parishioner of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Lakeridge, Va., then found herself in the spotlight when Cardinal Keeler handed her a package and balloons and congratulated her for being the 100,000th visitor to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary since it reopened last November. “I’m dumbfounded,” said Ms. Dohm, who attended the tour with her parish’s Silver Foxes senior citizen group. “I was excited about seeing this place, but wow. What a shock to be told you are the 100,000th visitor since it opened back up to the public.”

Father Bak, ‘pioneer’ in diaconate, dies


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Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News, Obituaries

Father Bernard S. Bak, one of the first permanent deacons ordained in the United States who later became a priest for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, died in his Dundalk home June 8. He was 85. A funeral Mass was offered June 11 at St. Casimir in Canton, the parish in which Father Bak grew up and where he served as a deacon after his 1971 ordination. Father Bak also served as a deacon at Christ the King in Dundalk. After his wife of 35 years, Antoinette Stefanowicz, died in 1984, Father Bak petitioned the archdiocese to become a priest. He studied at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park and was ordained a priest in 1988.

St. Ignatius audience enthralled by black Catholic history address


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Filed Under: Local News, News

Charles Village resident Mark Kirby found the topic of a St. Ignatius, Baltimore, presentation on the history of black Catholics in Maryland mesmerizing, mainly because he hadn’t examined the race with the religion in a historically relevant manner before. “It’s one of those hidden corners of our history,” the white St. Ignatius parishioner said. “I think it’s an interesting topic – something I’ve always wondered about.” Mr. Kirby was joined by more than 75 other congregants May 21 to hear Dr. Diane Bates Morrow – associate professor of history and African studies at the University of Georgia and an award-winning author of black Catholic history – discuss the early struggles of black Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and their triumphs today.

Cardinal Keeler ordains nine new deacons


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Filed Under: Local News, News

As nine candidates knelt before Cardinal William H. Keeler May 19, the archbishop of Baltimore placed his hands on each man’s head and ordained them a deacon. Thunderous applause reverberated throughout the packed Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland, during the 10 a.m. Ordination to the Diaconate, after each of the nine candidates completed his four-year odyssey to serve the Archdiocese of Baltimore. All nine men were deemed worthy to administer the sacred ministries in the archdiocese by Father Patrick M. Carrion, director of deacon formation.

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