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Just a few weeks ago, a disturbing open-air drug market was forming right in front of St. Frances Academy and Community Center on Chase Street. Drug dealers were passing out free samples right next to the St. Frances Convent, and dealers were stashing drugs on the high school’s campus right beneath the statue of the Blessed Mother. Things were bad.

In late April and early May, the blogosphere was in an uproar over two documents circulated by the National Counterterrorism Center, which is charged with strategic coordination among federal agencies of the war against terrorism. “The Words That Work” and “Terminology to Define the Terrorists” urged government officials and U.S. diplomats to avoid “Islamism” and “Islamist,” “jihadism” and “jihadist,” and “mujahadeen” to describe groups like al-Qaeda and their program. Doing so, the documents suggested, could “unintentionally legitimize terrorism.” “Never use the terms ‘jihadist’ or ‘mujahadeen’… to describe the terrorists,” the argument went. “A mujahad, a holy warrior, is a positive characterization in the context of a just war.”

George Weigel reminds us in his latest column (CR, June 19) that there was indeed a time, not so long ago, when the bishops of America were willing to seriously discuss important issues of peace and justice. I agree with him that “Today, it is virtually impossible to imagine the bishops’ conference taking on a project of the magnitude of ‘The Challenge of Peace.’”

WASHINGTON – Less than a third of U.S. Catholics participate regularly in selected pastoral or community activities at their churches, though nearly 80 percent say they pray at least weekly, according to the latest report from the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

The Little Sisters of the Poor at St. Martin’s Home for the Aged, Catonsville, have welcomed new leadership both at the home and the provincial level. The home’s new mother superior, Sister Alice Marie Monica, L.S.P., arrived in Baltimore from the Little Sisters of the Poor Our Lady of Hope residence in Latham, N.Y. Her arrival was celebrated with a Mass and reception where residents and staff entertained guests with a ceremony and a play.

You are probably reading this on or about Sunday, June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. On that day, I will be privileged to be receiving the pallium at the hands of Pope Benedict XVI during a Mass in the Basilica of St. Peter.

WASHINGTON – Although Catholic Democrats outnumber Catholic Republicans in the United States, both are outnumbered by the 41 percent of U.S. Catholic voters who are not affiliated with either party, according to new data from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.