Louis Stachowiak Jr. was running a little late for Mass one Sunday morning some 10 years ago and it changed his life forever. One of the ushers placed him in a pew next to the woman who would soon become his wife. The Stachowiak family has been chosen as the Knights of Columbus Family of...Read More

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican strongly criticized the work of Jesuit Father Jon Sobrino, a leading proponent of liberation theology, saying some of his writings relating to the divinity of Christ were “not in conformity with the doctrine of the church.” In publishing a detailed notification March 14, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the...Read More

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI and Russian President Vladimir Putin spent 25 minutes speaking privately March 13, discussing Catholic-Orthodox relations and ways to strengthen the relationship between the Vatican and the Russian government. Although two translators were present for the private meeting in Pope Benedict’s library, they told reporters that the pope and Putin...Read More

Why Catholic? Journey through the catechism Mary, Mother of the Church Mary is called “Mother of the Church” because of her complete receptivity and adherence to God’s will, Jesus’ redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit. She is the church’s model of faith and charity. But who was this woman, really? She...Read More

Father John. J. Kelmartin, a former pastor of St. Bartholomew in Manchester and Our Lady of Victory in Arbutus who taught in several seminaries across the country, died March 7 at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 83.Read More

ANNAPOLIS – Sen. Alex X. Mooney knows he’s the man of the hour in the death penalty debate. In the deadlocked Maryland Senate judiciary committee, the parishioner of St. John the Evangelist in Frederick holds the deciding vote on whether legislation to abolish the death penalty will make it to the Senate floor. While the...Read More

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Pope Benedict XVI’s top diplomat at the United Nations said the Vatican wants to normalize relations with China, which it sees as a major way of advancing religious freedom and fostering unity among Chinese Catholics. Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s U.N. nuncio, expressed hope that a papal letter to Chinese Catholics to...Read More

WASHINGTON – “School choice is becoming less and less a partisan issue,” Morgan Brown, an assistant deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, told a group of Catholic education leaders gathered in Washington for congressional advocacy days. The Bush administration “is the most pro-school-choice administration we’ve ever had at the federal level,” said Mr....Read More