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A funeral Mass for Deacon John Simpson, who served his entire ministry at St. Mary, Pylesville, was offered July 2 at St. Mary. Deacon Simpson died June 25. He was 78. Deacon Simpson was ordained to the diaconate in 1986 and was assigned to St. Mary until he retired in 2005. He continued to serve the parish even after his retirement.

A funeral Mass for Sister Mary Germana Strassberger, R.S.M., was offered June 22 at The Villa, Baltimore. Sister Mary Germana died June 20. She was 96.

CHICAGO – The Catholic Health Association honored two longtime leaders, a hospital safety and quality expert, and an educational program in Birmingham, Ala., during its annual convention in Chicago. Bon Secours Sister Patrick Eck, who chairs the board of the Bon Secours Health System in Marriottsville, Md., received the Sister Concilia Moran Award, which recognizes ministry leaders who demonstrate creativity and visionary leadership.

The Carmelite sisters will once again celebrate a triduum of events for the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The weekend of July 13-15, will be a time to focus on our “place” in the cosmos, said Sister Frances Horner, O.C.D.

The perspective by George Weigel on June 21 contains a very important point about pre-emptive attacks when waging a just war: “… a crucial moral point: faced with certain aggression, responsible public authorities need not wait for the aggressor’s first blow to fall.” Weigel is entirely correct about this; no teaching of the Catholic Church about just wars ever said that you must wait until attacked.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has stipulated that a two-thirds majority always is required to elect a new pope, undoing a more flexible procedure introduced by Pope John Paul II.

Those attending the 17th-Annual Catholic Family Expo at the Baltimore Convention Center June 28 to July 1 will have an opportunity to obtain a plenary indulgence.

On Monday, June 18, a Howard County police officer succumbed to injuries he received in a traffic stop from last week.

Monsignor Maurice Shields, a 1943 graduate of St. Brigid School, Canton, and a 1947 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School, then located in Baltimore, recently celebrated his Golden Anniversary as a priest in Mobile, Ala.

The annual Catholic Community of St. Michael and St. Patrick, Fells Point, carnival will continue with its second and last weekend June 29-July 1 at the corner of E. Lombard and S. Wolfe streets.