Just one day ahead of the grand opening ceremonies of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda hosted its own celebration — a pep rally to showcase the community’s love, support and pride for three alumnae Olympians.

Even if the spotlight is now on sports stadiums ahead of the July 26 opening of the Summer Olympic Games, a Notre Dame Cathedral guide with four decades of experience recommended it’s the majesty of the cathedral one should turn to in the midst of the Games’ craze in Paris.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, an alumna of Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains, N.J., has secured her place on Team USA for the Summer Olympics in Paris by once again shattering her own world record in the 400-meter hurdles at the Olympic trials June 30.

With world peace under serious threat, Pope Francis called on all nations to observe the Olympic truce and cease all conflicts for the traditional period before, during and after the Olympic Games in Paris.

Juliette and Isabella Whittaker, a pair of Mount de Sales alums, received a raucous send-off rally in front of about 250 people at the school July 18 as they prepared to fly to Paris on July 24.

Spanish bishops celebrated the success of the country’s soccer team July 14 as the iconic players won their record fourth European Championship title by handing England an agonizing loss.

Catholic Review Editor Christopher Gunty talked with Father Burke Masters of the Diocese of Joliet about his book, “Grand Slam for God.” Father Masters talks about his conversion to Catholicism in high school, and his journey through the College World Series and pro baseball along the way to discerning the call to the priesthood. Learn about his struggles and joys.

The testimony of two of the brightest young stars in Baltimore sports today can be inspiration for how all of us can be an MVP in our lives of living the Catholic faith. For that, I alter the acronym to stand for “Meaning, Value and Purpose”: MVP in our relationship with God and one another.

Sisters, track stars and Mount de Sales alumnae Juliette and Bella Whittaker are headed to the Paris Olympics after qualifying for Team USA late last month.

Graduates of Baltimore-area Catholic schools are at the top of their games when it comes to grabbing national attention in the professional ranks and on the pre-Olympic stage this summer.