Josephite Father Joseph Francis Xavier Del Vecchio, whose gruff exterior could not hide the compassion he showed several generations of children in West Baltimore, died Jan. 13

School Sister of Notre Dame Sister Caroleen Baummer, who spent most of her 43 years in education teaching music at Notre Dame Preparatory Lower School in Towson, the former St. Ann School in Baltimore and the Institute of Notre Dame in Baltimore, died Dec. 4 at 94.

A funeral Mass for Sister Mary Teresa Carmichael was offered Jan. 2 at Assisi House in Aston, Pa. A professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 71 years, Sister Mary Teresa died Dec. 28 at Assisi House, at age 93.

Atonement Father C. Donald Howard, director of the office of liturgy for the Archdiocese of Baltimore from 1985 to 1988, died Jan. 6. He was 71. A funeral Mass will be offered Jan. 17 at 11 a.m. at Christ the Redeemer in Sterling, Va., the parish he served as associate pastor and then pastor for 25 years until his 2013 retirement.

Father Donaghy’s time at St. Paul included considerable improvements to its worship space. Restoration of the interior of its church, which dates to 1838, was completed in 1992, the year he arrived. Father Donaghy then oversaw an expansion of the worship space, which was rededicated in 2001.

“He had a very deep faith, but it wasn’t a showy kind of faith,” said Capuchin Franciscan Father Gregory Chervenak, pastor of Our Lady of the Mountains. “He was very unassuming and never, ever drew attention to himself.

Brother Kevin Strong, a groundbreaking leader at Calvert Hall College High School in Towson and Cardinal Gibbons School in Baltimore who served as the first president of both all-boys institutions, died Jan. 3 in New Jersey after years of declining health.

During her 16 years of ministry in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Sister Rosa Mystica McFadden worked as a nursing supervisor at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson.

Sister Marion was 88. She served six schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

“He was so well-loved in all the parishes he served,” said Father Michael Roach, longtime friend of Monsignor James McGovern. “I’ve never known his equal.”