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Joy Black used to shop so frequently at Talbot’s Outlet that she knew the sales staff by name. For her, the thrill of shopping was in the sheer delight of finding a great bargain. “I liked getting 75 percent off,” said Mrs. Black, 47. “Even if I didn’t need it, I’d have to buy it.” When the St. Francis Xavier parishioner’s third child entered school, she found freedom. “I’d go shopping for no reason at all. I kind of went wild. It lasted a few years.” Yet when the shelves and rods in her closet were crammed and the volume of clothing overwhelmed her, she questioned her shopping habit.

The recent article, “Death penalty ban gains momentum” (CR, Feb. 1), states that Sen. Lisa Gladden and Del. Sandy Rosenberg, Democrats, introduced legislation which would change the death penalty to life without parole. As a pro-lifer, that is certainly something I support.

VATICAN CITY – From the earliest days of Christianity, the faith was nourished and the church grew thanks to the commitment of believing married couples, Pope Benedict XVI said. Continuing what he described as a verbal “portrait gallery” of important figures in the early church, the pope focused his Feb. 7 general audience remarks on Priscilla and Aquila, a married couple who assisted St. Paul in his ministry in Corinth, Ephesus and Rome.

IMMACULATA, Pa. – The Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore and three Immaculate Heart of Mary congregations have publicly pledged to fight racism, acknowledging “that the dynamics of racism influenced our beginnings and impacted the unfolding of our four histories.” “Racism led to barriers of separation among us for over a century,” they said in a joint statement prepared for formal release on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 21.

Although Dr. Robert J. Wicks thinks his book “Riding the Dragon” is the most helpful, his latest title, “Crossing the Desert,” is his best written. “Crossing the Desert: Learning to Let Go, See Clearly, and Live Simply” is a spiritual growth book that addresses an emotion many humans experience at some point in their life, feeling lost in the desert of life, under great stress or in spiritual desolation, according to Dr. Wicks, a professor at Loyola College in Maryland, Baltimore.

Three deputies from the Sheriff’s Department of Frederick County spoke to eighth graders at Mother Seton School, Emmitsburg, about careers in law enforcement. Demonstrations included a tactical vest, an 82-pound K-9 dog named Bayco, and a taser device (stun gun). Discussions included S.W.A.T. officers, handling hostage situations and escorting President George W. Bush to Camp David.

VILNIUS, Lithuania – Lithuania’s Catholic bishops said they would try to do everything within their authority to help keep open Lithuanian-American churches in the United States. “Lithuanian bishops cannot directly deal with the issues of the parishes that are in the territory of another bishops’ conference, but will seek in their own turn that those parishes are not closed,” said the statement, released after the bishops’ meeting in mid-January.

WASHINGTON – One of the Vatican’s top education officials Feb. 4 urged U.S. Catholic college and university presidents to examine how they can provide “creative and effective support” to Catholic academic institutions in the developing world that are struggling with inadequate resources.