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Posting a phenomenal 15-1 record on the regular season, the Notre Dame Preparatory School, Towson, badminton team continues to shine. Back-to-back regular season champs, the Blazers, coached by Therese Maguire, are both aggressive on the court and focused on excellence as the program continues to grow at NDP. With 25 girls on the varsity and junior varsity roster, the team is led by seniors who have seen much success over their four years.

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. – Called in prayer a “dark act done under the cover of night,” the execution of convicted murderer David Leon Woods was carried out in the early hours of May 4. Woods, 42, had been sentenced to death 22 years earlier for the stabbing death of a family friend, Juan Placencia, during an attempted robbery in April 1984 in Garrett, Ind. Woods was 19 at the time. With appeals exhausted and clemency denied by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a group of death penalty opponents began to assemble at the Indiana State Prison parking lot shortly before sunset on the eve of the execution to keep vigil in support of Woods, who reportedly had undergone a conversion of heart and a transformation of faith while behind bars.

Some 50 Latino immigrants kicked off Cinco de Mayo at Our Lady of Pompei, Highlandtown, May 5, concentrating on their Catholic faith, which they pray will bring them a better life in the United States and merge their traditions with American culture. The mostly 20-something crowd who gathered for a ‘Convivencia,’ discussed the hardships they face as immigrants and how their parishes help them build a future in their adopted land. “There are vices all around us and some people are using them to cope with how alone they feel,” said Layaro Romero, a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist, Columbia, and an El Salvador native who has been in this country about two years. “Instead of trying to help those people, we often just point fingers at them.”

Mosaics depicting the luminous mysteries of the rosary are the newest addition to the outdoor rosary lane at the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes in Emmitsburg. Bishop W. Francis Malooly, western vicar, blessed and dedicated the mosaics April 29. “The grotto is always such a peaceful and spiritual place to be, and the addition of these mysteries adds another dimension to this already-beautiful place,” he said. The mosaics feature multi-colored images of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River; Christ’s self-revelation at the marriage of Cana; Christ’s announcement of the kingdom of God; the Transfiguration and the institution of the Eucharist.

VATICAN CITY – They are not pushy or pesky; rather, the pope’s own paparazzi are the epitome of discretion and class. Vatican photographers stand out from other media shutterbugs, not just because they’re always dressed in ironed dark suits and ties, but because, coolly clicking away, they are the ones standing right next to the pope. The papal photographers are also the only ones allowed to shadow the pontiff almost everywhere he goes, even during more private moments – be they special audiences inside the Vatican with heads of state or an intimate luncheon with cardinals or bishops.