Page 1784 – Archdiocese of Baltimore

They included a former teacher, a lawyer and an editor. They ranged in age from 19-43 and they were natives of familiar places like Lansdowne and Libertytown and not-so-familiar hometowns in Africa and Latin America. But what united these diverse men was a desire to become priests for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. All but one of the 28 seminarians preparing for the priesthood in the Baltimore archdiocese gathered for a week of prayer and reflection July 30-Aug. 3 during the annual seminarian convocation retreat, held at the Monsignor O’Dwyer Retreat House in Sparks. (One seminarian was ill and could not attend).

Airport chaplains minister to a flock on the move

WASHINGTON – Can you find holiness at an airport? Father Michael Zaniolo thinks so.

Vatican publishing house: New page, new director, new ideas

VATICAN CITY – With a new director at the helm, the Vatican publishing house is turning a new page.

Candidates to the priesthood reaches 19-year high

Thirteen is no unlucky number for Father Gerard Francik, vocations director for the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

MCC, superintendents urge Congress not to cut benefits

Three superintendents serving Catholic school systems in Maryland are calling on U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski to keep nonpublic school teachers in proposed legislation benefiting educators.

El Salvador trip changes teens’ perspectives

The change in fortune for one family in the small village of Agua Caliente, El Salvador, is as concrete as the freshly poured cement floor and new roof of their home. For the Baltimore teens who worked on the decaying house, the personal transformations, though perhaps less tangible, were just as profound. Six Baltimore teens, ages 16-18, took part in a summer service trip July 21-28 to a rural town in El Salvador, where they worked alongside Salvadorian teens in restoring the home to a more livable condition. Organized by Deacon Rodrigue Mortel, M.D., director of the Office of the Propagation of the Faith and the Baltimore-Haiti Solidarity Project, the trip was designed to immerse participants in the culture of a developing country.

Sister Melvina L. Bennett, S.S.N.D.

A funeral Mass for Sister Melvina L. Bennett, S.S.N.D., who served as an assistant director of Marian House, a residence and training program for women in transition, was held July 28 at Villa Assumpta in Baltimore. Sister Melvina died suddenly of complications from cancer at Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore, July 23. She was 64.

Baltimore conference focuses on evangelization

The Archdiocese of Baltimore will sponsor a conference on Catholic evangelization Aug. 25 at Church of the Resurrection in Ellicott City from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The cost is $25 per person.

Bishops concerned by government proposal for med students

VILNIUS, Lithuania – Lithuania’s bishops said they are “gravely concerned” over a Ministry of Health draft document that would oblige would-be obstetricians and gynecologists to learn how to perform abortions up to 22 weeks of pregnancy, sterilization and in vitro fertilization procedures.

Catholic leaders cheer U.N. decision on peacekeeping force

WASHINGTON – The United Nations’ decision July 31 to send a peacekeeping force to the Darfur region of Sudan drew cheers from Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican-based confederation of Catholic relief, development and social service organizations.

Huge crowds not expected for celebrations

The mid-August heat traditionally drives Marylanders to the beach and other vacation destinations, and the pews at Catholic churches throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore are not expected to be filled during the Aug. 15 feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Baltimore native celebrates diamond jubilee