Page 1767 – Archdiocese of Baltimore

Before the Baltimore Ravens faced the New York Jets Sept. 16, a Baltimore City priest celebrated Mass for the visiting team.

Second year of Why Catholic? begins

As the Archdiocese of Baltimore prepares to kick off its second year of Why Catholic? Sept. 30, coordinators for the evangelization and adult faith formation program held five regional training sessions last week and the nearly 50 participating parishes will hold Prayer Commitment Sunday Masses Sept. 23.

‘White Mass’ to be celebrated Oct. 21

The Baltimore Guild-Catholic Medical Association (BG-CMA) will celebrate its annual White Mass honoring St. Luke, patron of physicians, at 1 p.m. on Oct. 21 at the at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore.

Congress keeps teachers in loan program

Catholic school teachers will be able to take advantage of a college loan forgiveness program after the U.S. Congress passed HR 2669 Sept. 7 – including nonpublic schoolteachers in the program. An earlier Senate version of the bill alarmed many Catholic educators by limiting the benefit to public school teachers.

Food, water must be provided to vegetative patients

VATICAN CITY – In a brief document approved by Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican said it was generally a moral obligation to provide food and water to patients in a vegetative state. Nutrition and hydration, even by artificial means, cannot simply be terminated because doctors have determined that a person will never recover consciousness, the Vatican said Sept. 14. Exceptions may occur when patients are unable to assimilate food and water or in the “rare” cases when nutrition and hydration become excessively burdensome for the patient, it said.

Pope prepares for busy fall and winter

VATICAN CITY – After a three-day trip to Austria in early September, Pope Benedict XVI is putting away his traveling shoes and settling in for a long fall and winter at the Vatican. The next foreign trip fixed firmly on the pope’s calendar is mid-July of 2008, when he plans to fly to Australia for World Youth Day celebrations.

USCCB urges greater U.S. resettlement assistance

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government should provide resettlement aid for 25,000 Iraqi refugees in the next fiscal year, 10 times the number expected to arrive by the end of the year, said one recommendation of a new report by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on the Iraqi refugee crisis in the Middle East.

Vatican excommunicates some of Canadian sect

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican has announced the excommunication of certain members of the Army of Mary, a sect in Canada whose teachings have been deemed dangerous and erroneous by church authorities. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, acting with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI, declared the excommunication after the Army of Mary performed ordinations without church permission, the Canadian bishops’ conference said in a statement Sept. 12. The Army of Mary was founded in Quebec in 1971 by Marie-Paul Giguere, who said she was receiving visions from God. The organization’s publications suggested that Giguere was the reincarnation of Mary, a claim that led church leaders in 1987 to warn the faithful that the group could not be considered Catholic.

Owls’ Lanahan scores the winning goal

The Lady Owls of Towson Catholic High School, Towson, launched their first fall soccer tournament Sept. 7-8 on their home field, and captured the consolation round in this four-team tourney. Towson Catholic’s head coach Chuck Teal, an 18-year veteran, was pleased with his team’s 1-0 sudden victory win over Owings Mills High School saying, “Our freshman stopper, Brittany Lanahan has a strong left foot and buried a direct kick from five or six yards out. It was a great shot.” The Owls improved their record to 1-1 after a first round 4-0 loss to their IAAM league opponent, St. Timothy’s.

Watson named Coach of the Year

Earlier this summer, Keith “Watty” Watson, head wrestling coach for The John Carroll School, Bel Air, was named “Coach of the Year” by the Maryland State Wrestling Association. “In all of my years in sports and as an alumnus of John Carroll,” said John Von Paris, “I have never seen any coach with more dedication and passion.

Strong spiritual life helps keep priests from burnout

ROME – A strong spiritual life supported by reading and reflecting on sacred Scripture can help protect priests from the emotional exhaustion of burnout, said an influential Jesuit journal. In a Sept. 15 article released to journalists Sept. 13, La Civilta Cattolica summarized the results of a recent survey on the presence and causes of burnout among diocesan priests in Padua, in northern Italy.

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