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LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (CNS) — The question made Duane Olberding laugh: Are you as jolly as Old St. Nick? “I don’t know about being as jolly as Old St. Nick, but I do enjoy helping people get a nice Christmas tree,” said Olberding, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Leavenworth. Olberding, who recently retired as a guidance counselor at Immaculata High School in Leavenworth, has played a key role in making Christmas merry for Leavenworth families since 1984.

PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) — The Archdiocese of Portland will not need to sell off parish or school property under terms of a $75 million settlement between the archdiocese and almost 150 sex abuse claimants. The more than 100-page settlement plan was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland Dec. 18, a week after U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan stood with church officials and victims’ lawyers in a federal courthouse in Eugene to say the claims had been settled after more than three months of arduous private negotiations.

Imagine living away from family and friends for months, facing isolation, depression, and loneliness while working backbreaking, sometimes 24-hour shifts on a container ship in foreign ports; sometimes with insufficient food, nothing to foster spirituality, delayed paychecks, meager entertainment and limited recreational time. Such is the reality for some merchant marines who labor intensively on the bleak-looking ships docked at Dundalk Marine Terminal and other Baltimore ports.

When approaching the front of Rita Martin’s Randallstown home, one can’t help but notice the attention the New All Saints, Liberty Heights, parishioner has given to the colorful Christmas decorations illuminating the house. But it’s the aroma of baking rum cakes that really lets new arrivers know the spirit of the holidays is alive and well in the 50-year-old Baltimore City school teacher’s home. In fact, Ms. Martin’s affinity for baking has earned her the nickname “the cake lady,” among parishioners.

A Baltimore-based Jewish foundation is pledging $3.5 million to Baltimore City Catholic schools in an effort to boost enrollment and attract even more financial support for urban-based Catholic education. In a Dec. 14 event at the Catholic Center in Baltimore, Cardinal William H. Keeler and Donn Weinberg of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation announced the Weinberg Foundation will donate $500,000 this year and $1 million for the next three years to benefit at-risk students who attend K-12 in one of 17 Catholic elementary/middle schools and three high schools. The grant is contingent on the Archdiocese of Baltimore finding matching grants from other donors.

After completing the ultimate season in 2005, with a 21-1 overall record, a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference title, and a B Conference Prep State title, St. Mary’s, Annapolis, wrestling program has their work cut out for them. Attempting to fill 14 weight classes with a 22-man roster often has head coach Wayne Hicks and his Saints scrambling, but through team dedication, the Saints are getting the job done with a 5-2 overall record, 1-1 in the league.

When Peter O’Malley walked into Donna’s Café & Coffee Bar in Mount Vernon on a recent afternoon, the staff was immediately thunderstruck by the 36-year-old’s startling resemblance to his brother, Gov.-elect Martin O’Malley. The Mount Washington resident and Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland, parishioner and the 43-year-old future governor share the same megawatt smile. The brothers are also both law-school graduates married to attorneys who have immersed themselves in political campaigns and local government. But, insists Peter O’Malley, who will become Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith’s chief of staff Jan. 2, that is where the similarities cease.