“I think I’m looking forward to the ways the Lord works through me to give hope and joy to people,” Deacon Schmidt said. “The Lord wants to give us good things. It’s inspiring that I might be able to provide some of that hope and joy through the sacraments.”

After graduating from Tulane University with a degree in chemistry, Deacon Kulik put aside medical school acceptance to serve two years as a missionary with FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan. The experience deepened his sense of purpose and pointed him toward seminary.

For the nine “perpetual pilgrims” traveling with the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage from Florida to Maine to Pennsylvania, prayer and mission are at the center of their journey.

Fervor for the sport can even penetrate religious enclaves, such as it did when six priests gathered in the rectory of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland June 11 to watch Mexico top South Africa at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City in the Group A opener.

An outreach program at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore is changing lives on city streets.

Deacon Stephen Kirby was in fifth grade when he first thought it would be “cool” to be a priest. The fourth of seven children, Deacon Kirby and his family were active members at St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park where he was an altar boy and in the youth choir.

Deacon Robert L. “Tre” Bart says what inspired him to consider the priesthood is “a short question with a long answer.”

Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop F. Richard Spencer, a 75-year-old former priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore who served as auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese for U.S. Military Services since 2010. 

“We consecrate our nation, not because it is perfect, but because it is beloved by God. We entrust to the Heart of Christ our achievements and failures, our hopes and anxiety, our present challenges and our future aspirations.”

After an evening that saw the first-ever eucharistic procession in the state capital’s streets, Catholics recorded another first June 11 with the first eucharistic procession across the Chesapeake Bay.