Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore will adopt an optional mask policy effective Feb. 14 in most jurisdictions that do not mandate masks in schools. The new policy replaces a previous requirement that masks be worn in all Catholic schools.

Religious Sister of Mercy Mary Harper, who served as chaplain and counselor at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore for nearly three decades and as a counselor to homeless women in Baltimore, died Feb. 2 at Springwell Senior Living in Mount Washington. She was 80.

The Maryland Catholic Conference’s usual day for citizens to advocate at the state Legislature will again be done virtually for 2022, due to coronavirus restrictions. A new option this year is for constituents to send a brief video message to a legislator.

According to an annual tuition survey by the Catholic Review, Catholic high schools in the archdiocese that charge traditional tuition currently have an average tuition of $16,950. That represents only a 1.4 percent increase from the previous academic year’s average tuition.

A funeral Mass for Daugher of Charity Sister Mary Ellen Schwartz was offered Jan. 29 in the Villa St. Michael Chapel in Emmitsburg. Sister Mary Ellen died Jan. 25. She was 88.

In the first episode of a series of short videos launched by the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Sister Mary Catherine Conway, a Daughter of Charity, discusses her 40 years in Catholic education as a teacher and principal.

The Ascension St. Agnes COVID-19 Vaccine Team and Health Institute in southwest Baltimore has administered 30,000 COVID-19 vaccinations in 13 months from Dec. 17, 2020, to January 2022.

Dr. Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, a writer, poet and professor at Fordham University in New York and one of the world’s foremost authorities on Flannery O’Connor, shares her insights on understanding O’Connor. O’Donnell is a former longtime professor at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore and a former parishioner of St. Francis of Assisi in Baltimore.

Anticipating the fall of Roe v. Wade, many of the more than 250 people who participated in the Feb. 3 Maryland March for Life said the pro-life movement across the country must be ready to help mothers in need.

Hundreds of teachers in the Archdiocese of Baltimore feel the calling to return and pass on the values instilled in them through Catholic education.