A bill that would impose new requirements on pro-life pregnancy centers in the city took a step closer to becoming law when the Baltimore City Council passed the measure 12-3 in a preliminary vote Nov. 16. Bill 09-0406 now faces a final vote after Thanksgiving and, if approved, will head to Mayor Sheila Dixon.

Dr. Ronald J. Valenti is stepping down as superintendent of Catholic schools after nearly 20 years of service in the Division of Schools. He plans to pursue other opportunities in the field of education and will mark his last day as superintendent June 30, 2010.

When Smith became executive director of Baltimore’s Catholic Charities two years after his arrival, the agency employed 350 people and had a budget of about $6 million. Today, the organization annually helps 200,000 people in 80 programs and employs 2,100. Its budget is about $120 million.

Speaking on behalf of Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, Bishop Denis J. Madden urged the Baltimore City Council to defeat a bill that would fine pregnancy resource centers $500 a day if they fail to post signs saying they don’t offer abortion or contraceptives.

Baltimore City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and 10 members of the 14-member council are sponsoring a bill that Catholic leaders believe harasses pro-life pregnancy support centers.

VATICAN CITY – News that U.S. President Barack Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was met with high hopes from the Vatican spokesman.

When 87-year-old Alice Jadwigia Armstrong looked up from her hospital bed and saw the smiling face of Sister Lourdes Miranda, she was visibly buoyed by the nun’s presence. Clasping the hand of the Little Sister of the Poor, the white-haired woman seemed transported to the security of her youth.

A summer archeological dig near St. Joseph in Cockeysville unearthed brown broken bottles and tea cups, coins, a beer token, buttons and children’s toys – clues into the daily life of Irish immigrants who manned area limestone quarries and worshipped at St. Joseph beginning in the mid-19th century.

On his first day as pastor of the Shrine of St. Alphonsus in Baltimore, Monsignor Arthur Bastress walked down the historic church’s long aisles and knew immediately that his new assignment was going to be something special.

Two elementary Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore have been named Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of Education.