Page 1783 – Archdiocese of Baltimore

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

Baltimore native Sister Mary Zephyrine Ustaszewski, C.S.S.F., 93, was among five Felician Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in Lodi, N.J., to recently celebrate her diamond jubilee of religious life.

As economy grows, income disparity widens

LIMA, Peru – A team of U.S. and Peruvian researchers was investigating glaciers in the remote Andes Mountains of central Peru when a two-day general strike in the region was called to protest government economic policies.

Excess TV bad for Americans individually and collectively

WASHINGTON – Every so often, you may have an opinion about some issue. You know in your heart that it’s so, but you rarely have the material to back up your belief – or suspicion, as the case may be.

St. Paul-Minneapolis Catholics responds to bridge collapse

WASHINGTON – Upon hearing of the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, priests from the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis traveled to the scene, as well as to nearby hospitals and medical centers, to see how they could help victims of the tragedy and their families. Although Dennis McGrath, archdiocesan spokesman, said that travel between the two cities has been “virtually impossible” since the disaster, the archdiocese held two noon prayer services Aug. 2 – one in St. Paul at the Cathedral of St. Paul and the other at St. Olaf Catholic Church in Minneapolis.

Parish checkups measure ‘how Holy Spirit is guiding us’

WEST BABYLON, N.Y. – Seven Long Island parishes are giving themselves a spiritual checkup – conducting surveys to find out how actively engaged their parishioners are.

Northern Irish Catholics relieved British military have left

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – A Belfast-based Passionist priest said Northern Irish Catholics feel “joy and relief” that British military operations in the region have come to an end. Father Aidan Troy, known for his mediation role in the 2001 Holy Cross Girls’ Primary School dispute when Protestant protesters blocked access to the school, told Catholic News Service he hopes that “children in the North will never again have to witness the spectacle of armed troops patrolling the streets.” In the Catholic community, “there (have been) obviously mixed feelings. But we’re overwhelmingly relieved that operations have come to an end,” said the priest at Holy Cross Parish in the working-class Ardoyne suburb of Belfast. Father Troy said he hoped that the end of Operation Banner would mark the end of “a very sad chapter in the history of Ireland.”

New service ministry aims to continue where St. Joseph left off