Forty-eight years old seems too young to die. The hole a man’s death leaves in his family never seems to shrink as they forge ahead without him.

In her 14th season with the Notre Dame Preparatory School badminton program, Head Coach Therese Maguire knew her team of 25 was going to be strong – but strong enough to capture another championship?

Green means two things at St. Vincent de Paul, Baltimore: air conditioning at virtually no cost, and heat in a way that spares the environment.

MCHENRY – Tightly holding a large waterlogged sponge in his fist, 9-year-old Isaac Fike wound up like Orioles pitcher Erik Bedard and launched the soggy missile towards its target. As other children squealed with delight, Isaac hit his mark on his first try – smack in the face of Father Donald Parson, pastor of St. Peter the Apostle in Oakland. “If you want to go to heaven you’ll stop it,” shouted a smiling Father Parson, his soaked face poking through a cutout hole in a plywood angel figure topped with a halo. Father Michael Triplett, a newly ordained priest recently assigned to the parishes of Western Maryland, quickly jumped to Isaac’s defense.

As the small jet carrying 10-year-old Xavia Pirozzi’s new heart approached Philadelphia International Airport the evening of Jan. 5, there was a 20 percent chance the aircraft would not be able to land in the dense fog. Inside the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Xavia’s parents, Nicolle Borys-Pirozzi and Ralph Pirozzi, waited anxiously, knowing the fog was just one of many challenges their daughter has weathered in her short lifetime.

As at least seven women entered a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic on Howard Street in Baltimore April 10, about 200 Catholics stood on the opposite side of the street and peacefully prayed for them and their unborn children.

BALTIMORE – With at least 42 different nations represented in the congregation of St. Matthew, Bishop Denis J. Madden, urban vicar, wants the pastor of the Baltimore parish to share how he cultivated his multicultural ministry.

A funeral Mass was offered Nov. 27 for Father Robert O’Connell, S.S.J., who at 101 was the longest-lived Josephite priest, one who had served God for 66 years.

Before they stepped into noisy M&T Bank Stadium for the AFC Divisional playoff game Jan. 15, some members of the Baltimore Ravens quietly gathered for morning prayer at their downtown hotel.

WASHINGTON – The priestly ministry of Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, named a cardinal Jan. 6 by Pope Benedict XVI, has been marked by frequent assignments, so that he rarely stays in one place very long. And even when he is ensconced somewhere for a while, he gets to moving.