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WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court ruled Nov. 24 that a lawsuit can move forward against the Vatican involving three men who claimed to have been sexually abused when they were children by priests in the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky.

I recently returned to teaching high school in the Archdiocese of Baltimore after an absence of more than 30 years. The things that I have learned (and in some cases relearned) are as numerous as the challenges a teacher faces today.

It happened several years ago, but the thought continues to bother me. John had made the comment at one of our group get-togethers. “Don’t mention those words ‘last time’ to me,” he said.

I had a rather rotund friend in college who loved life, loved God and definitely loved food. He would often say as we ate in our cafeteria, “Food is God’s love made edible.” In fact, he even wrote his senior thesis on the relationship between food and theology (Banquet Feast of the Lamb, for example). One might say he was a little in love with food, but I think he was on to something there.

The weeks leading up to Christmas are among the busiest of the year for parish priests. There are Masses to celebrate, reconciliation services to hold, missions to give, decorations to coordinate, homilies to prepare and countless other duties to attend.

The 1843 death of Sulpician Father James Joubert, co-founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, was painfully felt in the black community. Archbishop Samuel Eccleston had no use for religious women of color and suggested that the Oblates return to the world and find employment in the better households of Maryland. The women opted to remain women religious. Archbishop Eccleston offered no religious assistance to the sisters. Again, black Catholics were required to sit in the balcony or the rear of the churches. The sisters walked from Richmond and Park Avenue to the Redemptorist church, St. James on Aisquith and Eager, for services. When St. John’s German Church was renovated and renamed St. Alphonsus, the sisters walked to Park Avenue and Saratoga. St. John Neumann noticed the sisters walking to church and decided to send some Redemptorists to say Mass and give retreats when possible. When Thaddeus Anwander was ordained, Neumann asked him to become the director of the Oblates. Archbishop Eccleston said, “What’s the use?” Father Anwander got down on his knees and begged to assume direction of the sisters. In the end, the archbishop granted the request.