After many years of failed attempts to repeal the death penalty in Maryland, abolitionists are closer than ever to passing a ban on capital punishment now that Gov. Martin J. O’Malley has promised to sign repeal legislation.

Mrs. Hoffman said she forgives the person or persons who vandalized her property. Her husband had planned to continue lighting the toppled figures to remind neighbors that Christianity is “under attack.”

On a recent sunny afternoon, the stained glass windows at St. Louis in Clarksville sparkled with a radiance few could have imagined when they stood in their original home at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore. Illuminated by the mid-day sun, brilliant shades of cobalt blue, deep purples and fiery reds seemed to leap from the glass and command a visitor’s gaze.

After more than four decades of waiting, parishioners of St. Bartholomew in Manchester rejoiced in the opening of their much-anticipated new church when Bishop W. Francis Malooly, western vicar, led a jubilant dedication liturgy Dec. 16.

In a fast-paced age of cell phones, digital television and rampant consumerism, seven Contemplative Sisters of the Good Shepherd live quite different lives at their Baltimore convent.

What Pat Evans calls the “most powerful weapon” American servicemen could ever carry is failing to make its way into the hands of many military men and women in Iraq.

For someone who grew up across the street from Memorial Stadium and who spent his summers trying to emulate Brooks Robinson at third base, Monsignor Michael Fisher must be stuck in a kind of baseball purgatory.

“People want their churches to lift their spirits,” Monsignor Luca said. “This church does that.”

Following the joyful celebration of Cardinal William H. Keeler’s 50th anniversary as a priest Oct. 5, many of the cardinal’s friends and family crowded into white tents erected on the parish lawn of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland to greet Cardinal Keeler personally and celebrate his decades of devoted ministry.

About 90 percent of the grading work has already been finished at the muddy site, with construction of the all- brick church to follow.