A funeral Mass for Dr. Frank J. Ayd Jr., a distinguished psychiatrist and world leader in medicine who was dedicated to the Catholic Church, was offered March 24 at St. John the Evangelist, Hydes.
A funeral Mass for Dr. Frank J. Ayd Jr., a distinguished psychiatrist and world leader in medicine who was dedicated to the Catholic Church, was offered March 24 at St. John the Evangelist, Hydes.

WASHINGTON – Pope Benedict XVI will find a spiritual nation when he visits the United States in April, according to a new national survey commissioned by the Knights of Columbus.

NEW YORK – U.S. Cardinal John P. Foley, pro-grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, has been named the recipient of the Christopher Leadership Award by the Christophers.
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Deb Brunsberg, 52, of Coon Rapids still feels a bit woozy from the wild roller-coaster ride her life has been lately. Two years after a devastating divorce set her spiraling into the depths of despair, an 11-day trip to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina shot her at breakneck speed to the height of happiness.

One of the few lights on inside the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen before the Good Friday Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion began March 21 was the light over the crucifix. It seemed to set a solemn tone as Catholics of all ages quietly knelt in prayer at the Homeland cathedral.
Cradle Catholics preparing for Easter might not be familiar with one Holy Week celebration: the Preparation Rites on Saturday morning for those who will be received into the church that evening.

ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. – A funeral Mass was scheduled for March 27 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis for Jon Hassler, an award-winning novelist and a professor emeritus of fiction at St. John’s University in Collegeville.
CHICAGO – Six young people – all between the ages of 18 and 25 -were charged with felony criminal defacement of property and simple battery after spattering fake blood on themselves and nearby worshippers during the 11 a.m. Easter Mass in the auditorium at Holy Name Cathedral’s parish center in Chicago March 23.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Barack Obama’s speech on race March 18 at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center may or may not significantly affect his prospects for being elected president in November, but either way it charted a new course for how race can be discussed in the United States.
In the early 1990s, I was given lunch at the Roman headquarters of the Society of Jesus by two very – no, make that extremely – high-ranking Jesuits. The table-talk turned to a fascinating question: Are there permanent religious charisms in the church? Most religious congregations die within a century of their founding; our Lord might delay his return for tens of thousands of years, so that we are the “early Church.” Given that fact and that possibility, could we, today, judge that there are permanent religious charisms in the church, gifts of the Holy Spirit that will endure institutionally in religious orders?
The following is the homily Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien gave at the Chrism Mass March 17 at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland. The celebration of the Mass of Chrism marks a privileged moment for the People of God throughout the Church Universal this week and what a privileged moment this is for me to stand in your midst, the People of God of Baltimore.
A group of young ladies at Our Lady of Victory, Arubtus, have played together since the third grade for the traveling basketball team. The team is coached by two mothers.
