local news
MCC leader says special session helped the poor
On the same day Maryland lawmakers concluded a three-week special legislative session to address the state’s budget deficit Nov. 19, the leader of the Maryland Catholic Conference praised lawmakers for making the poor a priority in their planning.
Murdered daughter’s mother says death penalty must go
When police arrested the serial rapist who brutally assaulted and murdered Shannon Schieber in 1998, the Schieber family faced unrelenting pressure to seek the death penalty.
Bishops revel in Archbishop O’Brien’s installation
Cardinal J. Francis Stafford made a stop in Emmitsburg before he attended Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien’s Oct. 1 installation ceremony at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland. There, he prayed for the new Baltimore archbishop at the tombs of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Archbishop James R. Bayley – two New York natives who served in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Speaking in Rodgers Forge, Sister Helen Prejean calls for end to death penalty
Calling the death penalty nothing more than “legalized vengeance,” Sister Helen said the gift of being a Catholic is embracing the “seamless garment of life” – respecting the dignity of life from conception until natural death.
St. Peter’s whips up 5,200 apple dumplings for fall festival
In an assembly line that would make Henry Ford proud, dozens of volunteers from St. Peter in Hancock transformed their parish hall into an apple dumpling factory Sept. 12-14 – filling the air with the delightfully dense aroma of sweet cinnamon and fresh-baked apples that attracted visitors from near and far.
2,000 pay tribute to Cardinal Keeler
In a sign of deep affection for the man who has served as the fatherly face of the Archdiocese of Baltimore for 18 years, nearly 2,000 people gathered in the Baltimore Convention Center Sept. 6 to honor the long ministry of Cardinal William H. Keeler.
Friars deliver message of love on Baltimore streets
Wearing hooded grey robes cinched at the waist with ropes, nearly a dozen Franciscan Friars of the Renewal marched through the streets of downtown Baltimore Aug. 9 carrying a large crucifix, an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a papal flag.
Father Parker named to new role
Father Adam J. Parker, pastor of Church of the Ascension, Halethorpe, has been named vice chancellor for the Archdiocese of Baltimore and will serve as secretary to Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, effective Sept. 17.
Cardinal Keeler honors Basilica’s 100,000th visitor
As Rosalie Dohm of Woodbridge, Va. climbed the stairs to the nation’s first cathedral Aug. 2, she thought it was unusual that Cardinal William H. Keeler was personally greeting each of the visitors from her parish tour group. The 66-year-old parishioner of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Lakeridge, Va., then found herself in the spotlight when Cardinal Keeler handed her a package and balloons and congratulated her for being the 100,000th visitor to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary since it reopened last November. “I’m dumbfounded,” said Ms. Dohm, who attended the tour with her parish’s Silver Foxes senior citizen group. “I was excited about seeing this place, but wow. What a shock to be told you are the 100,000th visitor since it opened back up to the public.”
Overcoming cancer teaches Westminster pastor lessons on faith
During the many months Monsignor Arthur Valenzano battled leukemia, there was one day the longtime pastor of St. John in Westminster remembers as his absolute worst.