Page 1831 – Archdiocese of Baltimore

LOS ANGELES – Buoyed by the resounding defeat of an assisted suicide bill in Vermont March 21, opponents of AB 374 – the California Compassionate Choices Act – are stepping up statewide campaign efforts against the measure proposing the legalization of physician-assisted suicide. Members of Californians Against Assisted Suicide, a diverse coalition that includes medical professionals, disability rights groups, pro-life advocates and religious leaders, are actively lobbying legislators to reject AB 374.

Parishioner serves up special meals

Every third Tuesday of every month Arthur Jasmin and a few of his fellow parishioners from St. Gabriel, Woodlawn, feed the hungry in Baltimore City. For the last 15 years, Mr. Jasmin, 63, has been coordinator of the Our Daily Bread volunteers from the parish. To his surprise, he was asked to head the group of volunteers after the original coordinator stepped down. He had never worked with Our Daily Bread, and he didn’t have a lot of experience volunteering outside of the parish.

Community spirit at St. Benedict inspires couple

After six years of retirement in Florida, Dave and Phyllis Gemmell returned to Catonsville in 2002 to be closer to their children and grandchildren, and wound up as devoted volunteers for their adopted parish, St. Benedict in Baltimore. The couple says the community spirit in their parish is so strong, it inspires them to help out in any way they can.

Superintendent sees benefit of hosting NCEA convention

Serving as host of the National Catholic Educational Association’s 104th convention and exposition brings a lot of benefits to Baltimore, according to Dr. Ronald J. Valenti, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Not only will the archdiocese get to showcase its rich educational history and experience April 10-13, Baltimore teachers will be able to learn from some of the top Catholic educators in the country.

Pope looks for bridge to tradition

VATICAN CITY – Sometime soon, Pope Benedict XVI is expected to broaden permission to use the Tridentine Mass, a long-standing request of traditionalists who favor the rite used before the Second Vatican Council. The move is aimed at ending a liturgical dispute which has simmered for more than 20 years. In the process, it could clarify how the pope intends to implement what he once described as a “liturgical reconciliation” in the modern church.

‘Grandma’ Dixon keeps on moving

Although the entire room calls Dorothy Dixon “Grandma,” she has no grandchildren. The 91-year-old soup kitchen coordinator answers to the pet name from some 100 community members who visit St. Cecilia, Baltimore, on Thursdays to eat a hot supper. The lively Ms. Dixon, dressed from neck to foot in red including blazer, sweater, skirt and slouch boots, walks three blocks daily from her home that she shares with her 86-year-old sister, Lucille Talley, to serve her parish of 53 years. Her first self-appointed duty is to feed the birds. “They’re Father Sy’s birds,” she said about St. Cecilia’s pastor, Father Sylvester Peterka, C.M. “He’s a country boy. I’ve been feeding birds since I was 5 years old.”

Many sessions available to convention participants

Attendees sometimes find themselves standing in the hallway outside Sister Carol Cimino’s, S.S.J., meeting room as she delivers engaging sessions to packed audiences during the annual National Catholic Educational Association convention. The Clifton Park, N.Y., educational consultant “always draws a huge crowd,” said Brian Gray, editor of NCEA’s Momentum Magazine and part of the communication department at NCEA headquarters in Washington, D.C. “She’s on target and very entertaining.”

French nun says life has changed since healing

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France – The French nun who believes she was healed of Parkinson’s disease thanks to Pope John Paul II said her life had “totally changed” since that night two months after the pope’s death. Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, 46, is working again, now in Paris at a maternity hospital run by her order, the Little Sisters of Catholic Motherhood. She met reporters March 30 in Aix-en-Provence during a press conference with Archbishop Claude Feidt of Aix, the archdiocese where the cure took place. “I was sick and now I am cured,” she told reporters. “I am cured, but it is up to the church to say whether it was a miracle or not.”

Ranger rosary coordinator flooded with help

Not a day goes by when Pat Evans doesn’t receive phone calls and e-mails about ranger rosaries. Ever since the parishioner of St. Mary in Annapolis made a public plea for help crafting the military-style prayer beads, Ms. Evans has been flooded with inquiries from just about every state and several countries including Italy and England. The Catholic Review published a Nov. 28 story about the shortage of ranger rosaries for American servicemen. The story was picked up by Catholic Online, a news Web site, where it spent many weeks as one of the site’s most viewed and e-mailed articles.

Baltimore is cradle of U.S. Catholic education

Though Catholic groups formed educational instruction in Baltimore in the 1790s, most educators consider a city school on Paca Street founded by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in 1806 as the cradle of U.S. Catholic education. In founding St. Frances Academy in Baltimore in 1828, Mother Mary Lange officially offered Catholic education to children of color and that tradition continues on as the co-educational high school on Chase and Eager streets strives for a superior learning experience.

Convention aims to keep Catholic education vibrant

For more than 100 years the National Catholic Educational Association has dedicated itself to handing Catholic educators the tools to provide stellar learning environments and moral enrichment for the thousands of students enrolled in member schools. As the NCEA prepares for its national convention and exposition April 10-13 in Baltimore – its third gathering in the city since 1916 – organizers are eager to offer ideas and materials to the thousands of participating educators that will allow them to get their students ready for future challenges.

Sister promotes wellness among School Sisters