VATICAN CITY - Permitting girls to serve at the altar marked the end of a form of inequality in the church and allowed girls to experience the formative power of directly assisting with the mystery of the Eucharist - the core of the Christian faith, said the Vatican newspaper.Read More

Strong pitching, timely hits and confident play down the line were part of the May 12 Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland softball championships at Harford Community College, which helped The Seton Keough High School, Baltimore; Maryvale Preparatory School, Brooklandville; and Towson Catholic rise to the top to secure their 2007 conference championship titles. In A...Read More

CUMBERLAND – Nearly five years after Casper R. Taylor Jr. lost his seat in the House of Delegates and stepped down as Maryland’s longest-serving Speaker of the House of Delegates, the well-known Western Maryland native hasn’t backed away from public policy. While he no longer casts a vote or wields a gavel, Mr. Taylor serves...Read More

LONDON – A group of traditionalist Anglican bishops has admitted that Anglo-Catholic clergy are sharply divided over how to respond to the ordination of women as bishops.Read More

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – An 80-year-old priest was murdered July 28 in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, where church officials say attacks on prelates have become distressingly common.Read More

ROME – As a Peace Corps volunteer, Tom Bissell was hiking through a village in Kyrgyzstan one day, and an old Russian woman offered to take him to see the tomb of St. Matthew. “I remember thinking: ‘The tomb of Matthew? I thought he was buried in Jerusalem or Italy or somewhere like that,’“ Bissell...Read More

By his own admission, Father Robert F. Leavitt, S.S., was an unusual choice to lead St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park. When the Connecticut native was named the 14th president and first president-rector in 1980, he was only 37. He didn’t have any administrative experience and had only recently become a member of...Read More

Finally, at last the flow of oil – estimated at between 94 and 184 million gallons over three months – seems to be under some control in the Gulf of Mexico.Read More