Joe Flacco may be relying on the downfield “Hail Mary” pass to Torrey Smith this NFL season, but the real thing – attending Mass before or after Ravens’ games, along with devotion to the Blessed Mother and the holy Eucharist – is within easy reach of everybody at the stadium.

Retired Archbishop Philip M. Hannan of New Orleans, a World War II paratroop chaplain, counselor to President John F. Kennedy, and staunch defender of civil rights and the unborn who began his ministry in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, died Sept. 29 at age 98.

As Deacons Evans and Derouaux celebrate the 40th anniversary of ordained life, the only two surviving deacons from their historic class believe the permanent diaconate has become a vital ministry in the church. They see it as a blessing.

At its height, the Holy Name Society boasted more than 40,000 members in 135 parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. More than a half century later, there are now about 500 members in 18 parishes.

HAGERSTOWN – A 13-year-old girl with pink hair, black fingernails, a shiny silver belt and a hip-hop cap sat two pews in front of an elderly woman with a black veil over her head during a special Tridentine Mass celebrated Sept. 11 at St. Mary in Hagerstown.

When Dr. Paul Rao taught for a year at St. Thomas the Apostle School in Washington four decades ago, he struggled to understand one of his students. The girl was born with a cleft palate, and had difficulty forming her words.

On the second day of the new semester at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Father Michael DeAscanis and fellow seminarians were taking a mid-afternoon walk in the courtyard.

Father Leo Patalinghug was all set to make a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, beginning Sept. 13, 2001, when the terrorist attacks of two days earlier abruptly ended his plans. International flights were canceled as the world fixed its attention on New York and Washington.

Friends of Mercy (FOM), an all-volunteer nondenominational membership support group for those dealing with broken relationships, separation, divorce or widowhood, is dissolving.

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