The Franciscan Center’s most robust outreach is a meal program. In fiscal year 2018, nearly 300,000 meals were distributed through the hot, healthy lunch and dinner programs, and emergency grocery bags. Lunches are offered on weekdays, and dinners on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Paul McMullen finds boundless inspiration from young people.

Bill Ballantyne was honored Oct. 2 at Ceresville Mansion in Frederick as the 2018 John McElroy Award winner by the Friends of Catholic Education, an independent organization which provides scholarships and tuition assistance for Catholic schools in Frederick County.

Each year the U.S. Catholic Church observes October as Respect Life Month, which calls Catholics “to cherish, defend and protect those who are most vulnerable, from the beginning of life to its end, and at every point in between,” said the chairman of the bishops’ pro-life committee.

St. Joseph is among the parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore with a strong Hispanic presence that have great anticipation of the Oct. 15 canonization of Blessed Oscar Romero, who is to become the first saint from El Salvador.

A funeral Mass was offered Sept. 15 for Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul Sister DeSales Wisniewski at the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg. Sister DeSales, who spent most of her ministry in health care, died Sept. 8 at 88. She spent 70 years as a Daughter of Charity.

Outside the Catholic Center in downtown Baltimore, across the street from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jen Ayres has prayed the rosary on her lunch hour most weekdays beginning in late August.

This latest installment of Names and Numbers includes women’s religious orders that contributed greatly to the Archdiocese of Baltimore, highlights school fundraising initiatives, as well as an observance of 9/11 with particular resonance in Harford County.

Notre Dame Preparatory School’s nationally-ranked field hockey team is making the most of its defense of the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference title, as the Blazers improved to 8-0 overall Sept. 25.

In a letter sent Sept. 24 to the clergy of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Archbishop William E. Lori informed priests and deacons that the archdiocese has been in discussions with Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh about an investigation of records related to the sexual abuse of children.