Raymond A. Grosswirth of Rochester, N.Y., and Dominic Riccio of Newark are the latest married men to be illicitly ordained Catholic priests by excommunicated Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo. Like the married Zambian archbishop who ordained them, the two were automatically excommunicated for participating in an ordination ceremony not sanctioned by the church.Read More

Deacon Paul H. Dignan, a member of the first class of permanent deacons from Allegany County, died March 7 at age 80. Capuchin Franciscan Father Eric Gauchat offered a March 11 funeral Mass at St. Patrick in Cumberland – Deacon Dignan’s home parish and the faith community he served throughout his diaconate.Read More

Maria Santini of Parkville received an early Christmas present during her weekly visit to St. Michael the Archangel, Overlea. Dec. 3 – a Mass celebrated in her native Spanish language The Venezuelan-born parishioner of the church joined her two daughters and bilingual husband, along with more than 100 fellow Spanish-speaking Catholics, for the parish’s first...Read More

Eighteen years ago, Cornelia Ellis walked into Franklin Square Hospital and knew that she was about to be handed her adopted son, Chris. She looked at him and felt the weight of his future on her hands.Read More

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was born into a wealthy, Episcopalian family on Aug. 28, 1774, in New York City. At age 19, she married William Magee Seton and had five children. After her husband died, Elizabeth was a poor widow. She converted to Catholicism in 1805. She started a school for girls in Baltimore at...Read More

John Carroll boys’ basketball coach Tony Martin had one goal when he joined the Bel Air school in 2005: get his team into the prestigious Baltimore Catholic League.Read More

The Blessed Virgin Mary began appearing to a young girl named Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, Feb. 11, 1858. The authenticity of the apparitions was confirmed by the church in 1862, and the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes has been observed worldwide since 1907. Many people make pilgrimages to Lourdes, which they find to...Read More

WASHINGTON – Prices for basic foods such as sugar, cereals and edible oils were at or near record highs worldwide in February, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.Read More