The Maryland Catholic Conference saw some successes on issues it tracked during the 438th Session of the Maryland General Assembly that concluded April 9.

The Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor of Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, gave a rousing sermon at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland at an April 12 interfaith/ecumenical prayer service to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Facebook page will livestream an ecumenical and interfaith prayer service at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore April 12 beginning at 7 p.m. 

The annual Light City festival began April 6 with the lighting of Neighborhood Lights, including at St. Leo the Great in Little Italy, and a “luminous” celebration at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore.

The son of two Pentecostal pastors, Rev. Warnock responded to the call of ministry at a very early age, and at age 35, became the fifth and the youngest person ever called to the senior pastorate of Ebenezer Baptist Church, founded in 1886.

Top-performing seniors from each Catholic high school within the Archdiocese of Baltimore were honored for academic achievement at the 26th annual Distinctive Scholars Convocation April 10.

Sister Maria Voorneveld, I.H.M., died March 27 at 95. She taught at St. Bernadine Elementary School in Baltimore (1948-55) and was a member of the support staff at Mother Seton Academy in Baltimore (1995-2006).

Sister Elizabeth Doyle, former principal and teacher at Immaculate Conception School in Towson and teacher at St. Anthony in Baltimore, died April 3. She was 98.

Dwayne Coleman uses his free time to volunteer at St. Wenceslaus in Baltimore and the parish’s Lucielle Fitzgerald Outreach Center, which will be re-dedicated April 21 at 10 a.m.

“It’s just so amazing and so beautiful seeing so many people taking advantage of the graces of this day,” said Elissa Voss.