My first Baltimore Christmas has been delightful, days of prayer and celebrations – overflowing congregations at the Basilica of the Assumption for the Christmas Vigil Mass and the Midnight Mass at our Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. Monsignors Hobbs and Armstrong and their staffs offered us all glowing examples of what solemn liturgies can do...Read More

SAN ANTONIO – Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago urged President Barack Obama and Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform before the end of 2009.Read More

An hour before he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, 38-year-old Hector Mateus-Ariza walked quietly to the spot in the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen where Pope John Paul II had prayed nearly 14 years earlier. There, he knelt and prayed to God to help him as he began his priestly journey.Read More

Gently sponging bright shades of green and blue onto a timeline display folder for an art project at Mercy High School in Baltimore, 15-year-old Lindsay Scheve admitted art wasn’t exactly her forte. But taking the required introduction to art class at Mercy has opened up a whole new world for the sophomore student.Read More

COTABATO, Philippines – An Oblate priest was shot to death when he resisted armed men trying to take him from his southern Philippine mission, said the congregation’s Philippine superior.Read More

WASHINGTON – With an estimated 184 million adults using the Internet and 75 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds having a Facebook or MySpace account, the Sisters of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus are going high-tech to spread information about their order and the call to a religious vocation.Read More

About 200 concerned Hamilton-area residents breathed a collective sigh of relief as developers abandoned a plan to convert the vacant St. Dominic School into a low-income apartment building – instead constructing a mostly senior housing project. Residents of the Hamilton, Arcadia, Lauraville and Beverly Hills neighborhoods were prepared for a slugfest with developers, representatives of...Read More

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Sick Zimbabwean refugees in Johannesburg are being turned away from South African hospitals, despite an official policy that outlaws discrimination against noncitizens, a priest said.Read More