Putting Ray Herrmann on stage is like uncorking a bottle of champagne.

The Howard Park Community’s collective voice has been heard, and their prayers are on the verge of being answered.

When it was first announced in February that St. Michael Parish in Fells Point was closing and joining an expanding bilingual community at Sacred Heart of Jesus a mile away in Highlandtown, longtime parishioner Pamela Perc wasn’t sure what to do.

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien issued a July 18 decree establishing Ss. Peter and Paul in Cumberland as an archdiocesan shrine. The shrine was established as a place of pilgrimage and to “foster the unique Catholic history of the Cumberland area,” the archbishop said.

Despite Deacon Richard Novak’s familiar injunction to “go in peace to love and serve the Lord,” few parishioners seemed eager to leave following the July 31 morning Mass at St. Michael in Fells Point.

Father Edward B. Hemler, longtime pastor of St. Mark in Fallston and a former leader in Catholic education, died July 24 after suffering years of declining health.

Poland, one of Europe most Catholic nations, is facing new challenge in the practice of the faith as more people turn to Western secularization.

Every year, more than 1 million pilgrims from around the globe travel to the Czech Republic, praying in front of the Infant of Prague. They carry on a practice that stretches back hundreds of years.

Father Richard B. Hilgartner’s jaw dropped the first time he read bits of a draft of the new English translation of the Roman Missal – the book of liturgical prayers that is scheduled to be introduced in parishes Nov. 27.

The Latin is, “Dominus vobiscum et cum spiritu tuo.” It contains no verb. It’s as much a statement of fact as it is a greeting, Father Hilgartner said.