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WILMINGTON, Del. – Here’s how Rocco Palmo announced his appearance at the March 22 Theology on Tap session in Wilmington in his blog, Whispers in the Loggia: “Two nights later … it’s a short trip down I-95 to Wilmington and another ToT, this time for Bishop Mickey and Co., offering some reflections and” – whoa! Did he say Bishop Mickey? He did. If Bishop Michael Saltarelli is startled by the chummy reference, it could be worse. Mr. Palmo’s nickname for his hometown’s archbishop, Cardinal Justin Rigali, is “Pharaoh.” Mr. Palmo’s blog also features occasional references to “Fluffiness” and “The Fluff” – that would be Pope Benedict XVI, so-dubbed, Mr. Palmo says, because of his wispy white hair. Mr. Palmo, 24 and single, has created buzz in certain church circles for Whispers, which he writes from his home in South Philadelphia.

Although the entire room calls Dorothy Dixon “Grandma,” she has no grandchildren. The 91-year-old soup kitchen coordinator answers to the pet name from some 100 community members who visit St. Cecilia, Baltimore, on Thursdays to eat a hot supper. The lively Ms. Dixon walks three blocks daily from her home that she shares with her 86-year-old sister, Lucille Talley, to serve her parish of 53 years. Her first self-appointed duty is to feed the birds.

VATICAN CITY – Many people today seem to have a difficult time recognizing sin, but at the same time the number of people suffering from “guilt complexes” seems to be growing, Pope Benedict XVI said. “We see a humanity that wants to be self-sufficient, where not a few maintain they can do without God and still live well, and yet so many seem sadly condemned to face dramatic situations” of emptiness, violence and solitude, the pope said March 16.

BOSTON – After federal immigration officials spirited away to Texas nearly half of the 327 people arrested in a March 6 raid on a New Bedford handbag and backpack factory, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston called for “some kind of comprehensive immigration reform.” “While immigration reform is urgent, the needs of the women and children in New Bedford are desperate,” Cardinal O’Malley said in the March 15 Boston Globe in an opinion piece titled “A more humane immigration policy.”

VATICAN CITY – As Pope John Paul II’s sainthood cause rolled forward, two people close to him have offered quite different insider accounts of his life and times. Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, the late pope’s personal secretary for 39 years, has produced a conversational memoir called “A Life with Karol.” In anecdotal fashion, it sketches many of their major and minor experiences together. Pope Benedict XVI has meanwhile released “John Paul II: My Beloved Predecessor,” a more analytical look at the philosophical and theological impact of his pontificate. Although the books focus on the same subject, they don’t make for redundant reading. That says something about the breadth of Pope John Paul’s 26-year pontificate.

LORETTO, Pa. – The sainthood cause for the second priest ordained in the United States, a Russian prince who became known as the “apostle of the Alleghenies,” has been initiated by the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Bishop Joseph V. Adamec of Altoona-Johnstown held the opening session of the diocesan inquiry for the canonization cause of Servant of God Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin March 11 at the Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel in Loretto.

NEW ORLEANS – More than 500 students from Jesuit colleges, universities and high schools gathered in New Orleans March 9-11 to discuss racism and poverty and engage in spring-break service work. They were among the approximately 2,000 Jesuit-affiliated students who were to descend on New Orleans in a 10-day period to aid in the city’s ongoing recovery efforts. The teach-in, “Rebuilding Our Communities: Facing Racism and Poverty,” featured discussions on institutional racism, economic development and poverty, environmental racism, fair housing and employment.

SAN ANTONIO – The biggest city in the world to be named for St. Anthony of Padua welcomed a relic of the saint to its San Fernando Cathedral for the first time March 3-4. The event marked the close of the jubilee year proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI to mark the 275th anniversary of the cathedral in San Antonio. With a population of 1.2 million, it is the eighth largest U.S. city. Following each Mass during the weekend the faithful were able to venerate the relic, touch the reliquary and receive a holy card.

One may wonder why the sacrament of baptism welcomes an individual into the church as an infant when the other sacraments of initiation, first Communion and confirmation, occur when the person is aware of what is happening. “The Catholic Church believes that the child receives grace at baptism,” said Father Leo E. Patalinghug, associate pastor of St. John, Westminster, “the grace to be initiated into the life of Christ. Why wait for the child to receive this special grace?”

SAN FRANCISCO – “It is a mistake to judge Islam on the basis of terrorists, just as it is (unfair) to judge Christianity from the Crusades,” an Islamic scholar told a San Francisco audience. Mona Siddiqui, founder and director of the Center for the Study of Islam at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, made the comment in response to a question following a highly annotated lecture on divine love and divine law as they relate to human dignity in Islam.