An overwhelming sense of excitement and joy filled the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland June 20. Between the sniffles, baby cries, occasional cough and heels clicking on the floor, five men – Robert J. “Tre” Bart III, Stephen Kirby, Alexander Kulik, John Russell Sullivan and Connor Schmidt – were ordained to the priesthood to the cheers of the 1,439 people gathered to celebrate with them.

Deacon Sullivan said public service “runs deep” in his family. While he himself is not a first responder, he has found his own role through his ministry. As a seminarian in Bel Air, he was the chaplain for the Bel Air Police Department. In March 2025, he became a chaplain for the Baltimore City Fire Department.

Terry Nolan Jr. will be one of 12 honorees at the 2026 BCL Hall of Fame banquet, becoming the first-ever Mount Carmel alum inducted – a distinction that caps a career that took him from BCL standout to Division I scorer at three schools.

A funeral Mass for Sister of St. Joseph of Chestnut Hill (formerly Sister St. Lawrence) was offered June 5 at St. Joseph Villa in Philadelphia. Sister Joseph Patricia died May 22.

“I think I’m looking forward to the ways the Lord works through me to give hope and joy to people,” Deacon Schmidt said. “The Lord wants to give us good things. It’s inspiring that I might be able to provide some of that hope and joy through the sacraments.”

After graduating from Tulane University with a degree in chemistry, Deacon Kulik put aside medical school acceptance to serve two years as a missionary with FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan. The experience deepened his sense of purpose and pointed him toward seminary.

For the nine “perpetual pilgrims” traveling with the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage from Florida to Maine to Pennsylvania, prayer and mission are at the center of their journey.

Fervor for the sport can even penetrate religious enclaves, such as it did when six priests gathered in the rectory of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland June 11 to watch Mexico top South Africa at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City in the Group A opener.

An outreach program at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore is changing lives on city streets.

Deacon Stephen Kirby was in fifth grade when he first thought it would be “cool” to be a priest. The fourth of seven children, Deacon Kirby and his family were active members at St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park where he was an altar boy and in the youth choir.