Home Page

St. Gabriel, Woodlawn, was alive with the music and languages of different cultures June 3, as some 700 people celebrated their diverse gifts as a Catholic community. St. Gabriel parishioners are ethnically diverse, representing cultures including Filipino, African, Indian and many more. About six years ago the parish council developed the idea of uniting parishioners one Sunday a year to celebrate their cultural differences and similarities in Christ, explained Monsignor Thomas Phillips, pastor. He said Diversity Day is an opportunity for parishioners to experience a different culture’s dress, food, music and dance.

More than 30 years ago when Sacred Heart, Glyndon, was a tiny country school, an annual old-fashioned country fair was a common occurrence. The cheerful event returned to school grounds June 2 – equipped with peppermint sticks and lemons – to culminate what principal Anne H. Price said has been a terrific year and to celebrate the school’s 50th birthday. “We wanted to bring back that tradition … recreate that ambience,” said Mrs. Price, Sacred Heart’s principal for a decade. “It was a huge success; an unbelievable experience for our school and the entire local community. I’ve never seen our students having so much fun!”

DETROIT – An official of the Detroit Archdiocese denounced the media “hype” surrounding the parole of Jack Kevorkian, saying the assisted suicide proponent was being “treated as a celebrity parolee instead of the convicted murder he is.” Kevorkian, a former pathologist whose medical license was suspended in 1991, left the Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater June 1, accompanied his attorney, Mayer Morganroth, and “60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI canonized four new saints from Malta, Poland, the Netherlands and France and said they exemplified the many and varied forms of holiness in the church. “God’s wisdom is manifested in the cosmos, in the variety and beauty of its elements, but his masterpieces are the saints,” the pope said during a rain-soaked liturgy June 3. Some 40,000 pilgrims who huddled under umbrellas applauded as the pope read decrees proclaiming sainthood. Tapestry portraits of the newly canonized hung from the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica, and relics of the saints were carried to the altar, where the pope celebrated Mass beneath a white canopy. The new saints were:

Not too shabby, going 75-0 in one season. That’s the cumulative record of the Calvert Hall College, Towson, baseball program that recently wrapped up their seasons.

St. Augustine School, Elkridge, Principal Patricia Schratz was challenged the morning of May 30 as she delivered opening remarks outside for the 150th birthday bash. Behind her, the hovering Baltimore Oriole bird wisecracked, kissed her head, and caused the yellow and blue-clad student body to snicker.