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WASHINGTON – Slavery is something most Americans read about only in history books, but British actress and U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Julia Ormond has met the victims of modern slavery – vulnerable men, women and children sold by traffickers for sex or labor.

LONDON – In ancient mythology, the chimera was a fire-breathing creature made up of the parts of various animals. Typically, it was portrayed with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a serpent.

The first time Jane Cohill played the organ for Mass at St. Michael in Clear Spring, the 11-year-old girl spent countless hours practicing the one hymn she planned for her big debut – “Oh Come All Ye Faithful.”

Florence Stallo, 90, and her niece were spending time together in her apartment at The Maples of Towson on April 20 when the fire alarm went off. Ms. Stallo said the assisted living community runs fire drills every month or so and she didn’t think much of it, until she opened the door to her apartment and smelled smoke.

HONG KONG – Catholic bishops who have registered with the Chinese government were called to a two-day meeting in Beijing in late June.

Standing in front of a panel of judges to present her PowerPoint entry on the Titanic for a National History Day contest, Mara Franciscovich held her composure. Although judges tried to stump her with questions about the 46,000-ton ocean liner, the 13-year-old returned steady responses.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Archdiocese of Los Angeles ordained 60 men to the permanent diaconate June 16. It was the largest group of deacons ordained at one time in the history of the archdiocese and possibly in the country.

DETROIT – U.S. troops should withdraw and let Iraqi factions fight it out, the bishop for most Iraqi Catholics in the United States said June 19.

Now that St. Katharine Drexel in Frederick has been elevated from an independent mission to full-fledged parish status, Cardinal William H. Keeler has named Father Keith Boisvert the faith community’s first pastor effective July 1.

After three years of serving the parishioners of Church of the Crucifixion, Glen Burnie, first as associate pastor and then as pastor, Father Erik Arnold has been reassigned as pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Ellicott City, effective Aug. 1.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI urged university professors to create solutions for “the crisis of modernity” as well as investigate Christianity’s contribution to the study of human nature.

UPDATED WILMINGTON, Del. (CNS) — A bill that eliminates Delaware’s statute of limitations for civil suits in child sexual abuse cases and opens a two-year window for courts to hear old claims previously barred by the time limit is headed to the governor’s desk after unanimous approval in the state House and Senate.