Cardinal O’Brien leaves an indelible mark on his adopted home – reconfiguring the school system, starting a parish-planning process, speaking out strongly in defense of life and new immigrants, supporting traditional marriage and naming key leaders to archdiocesan posts.

Few people know Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien as well as Monsignor Adam J. Parker.

The parishioners were the first group of Americans to be received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church through the newly established Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, an ecclesiastical structure created by Pope Benedict XVI to make it easier to welcome former Episcopalians into the Catholic Church.

WESTMINSTER – Sitting in the bleachers as the repeated booming echoes of bouncing basketballs filled St. John’s gymnasium, Larry Baker and Donald “Bo” Yingling seemed like proud fathers.

“I realize that this information may be shocking and painful for you to hear, which I sincerely regret,” Father Barr wrote in his letter to parishioners. “However, in the interest of transparency and out of an abundance of care for this parish and our community, I wanted to share this news with you directly and ask for your prayers for Father Bullock and for our parish.”

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien challenged Baltimore pilgrims at World Youth Day to be a light of information when they return from Sydney, Australia.

Expect more people in the pews in 2011, thanks to the base realignment and closure (BRAC) initiative, which will bring an estimated 28,176 new households to Maryland. Business managers from Baltimore-area parishes and schools filled an Archdiocesan workshop Oct. 18 that featured speakers from Harford, Baltimore a

BALTIMORE – With at least 42 different nations represented in the congregation of St. Matthew, Bishop Denis J. Madden, urban vicar, wants the pastor of the Baltimore parish to share how he cultivated his multicultural ministry.

As 2008 begins, the pastor of St. Vincent de Paul, Baltimore, will order all makeshift tents used by the homeless in the park adjacent to the church to come down.

Walking along the Johnston Square streets that surround St. Frances Academy in a forgotten corner of East Baltimore, Tom Nealis passed vacant lots overrun with weeds and boarded-up row houses tagged with graffiti.