The Catholic Review sits down with with William J. McCarthy Jr., executive director of Catholic Charities of Baltimore and parishioner of Church of the Nativity in Timonium.

To be held Oct. 6-8 at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, the 7th-annual conference is open to women 18 years old and older. This year’s theme is “Fire Within.”

The latest installment of Names and Numbers includes a parish, a school, and six religious sisters celebrating decades of ministry and service, as well as a state-of-the-art performance center, a Haiti Carnavale and a back-to-school event for West Baltimore children.

Family and faith traditions have also contributed mightily to the enduring power of the only Catholic parish school in Western Maryland.

“I’m honored that we were recognized because our philosophy is that all children should have an opportunity to have a Catholic education,” said Christine Blake, principal of St. John the Evangelist School in Hydes.”

St. John the Evangelist School in Long Green Valley and St. Mary Catholic School in Hagerstown received the distinction for the first time. St. Louis School in Clarksville and St. John Regional Catholic School in Frederick were honored for a second time.

“It’s a game that’s special for me because my freshman and sophomore year (we) lost it,” said Dragisics, who scored out what turned out to be the winning goal in the 39th minute

The Knights of Columbus in the Archdiocese of Baltimore have joined a national effort to prioritize funding for the reconstruction and resettlement of Karamdes, a devastated Christian town in northern Iraq which was liberated from ISIS late last year.

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, the chairman of the Maryland Catholic Conference, announced Sept. 27 the creation of a statewide task force on racism.

“It’s a real pleasure and a real joy to be able to offer Mass in such a historic, beautiful church,” said Father Kiefer, a former Army captain who was deployed to Mogadishu in Somalia and Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.