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Father Thomas R. Hurst, S.S., a 60-year-old Albany native and alumnus of St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park, has been named the new president-rector of his alma mater. The Provincial Council of the U.S. Province of the Society of St. Sulpice (Sulpicians) announced the new seminary leadership May 25, noting that the appointment was made by the Sulpicians with the approval of Cardinal William H. Keeler, chancellor of St. Mary’s. St. Mary’s was founded by Sulpician priests from France in 1791 as the first Catholic seminary in the United States. Father Hurst has been the rector of Theological College, the national seminary of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., since 2001. He begins his new role at St. Mary’s on July 1, succeeding Father Robert F. Leavitt, S.S.

Nearly 70 years after he was ordained to the priesthood, Monsignor Myles McGowan is still completely devoted to his vocation. The oldest priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore continues to celebrate Mass, hear confessions and help out whenever needed in local parishes. The 94-year–old Irish priest will celebrate his 70th anniversary in the priesthood on June 17. His actual anniversary is June 20. In 1937, he was ordained in Dublin, Ireland, by Archbishop Michael J. Curley, who was a friend of the family, for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. “I had a feeling I had a vocation and I wanted to pursue it,” said Monsignor McGowan who entered a missionary seminary after graduating high school at the age of 18. After serving two years in Limerick, Ireland, the 26-year-old priest arrived at St. Gregory the Great, Baltimore, ready to serve and soak in American culture. Monsignor McGowan said one of the biggest challenges in his priesthood was the culture shock and slight language barrier.

Growing up on the Eastern Shore, Monsignor James P. Farmer, pastor of St. Ursula in Parkville, learned how to fish at age 2 under the watchful eye of family members. Since then fishing and crabbing have been hobbies he thoroughly enjoys, especially when in the company of others. “Fishing forms great friendships and great memories,” said Monsignor Farmer. “Jesus chose fishermen to be his disciples.” Maryland is a great place for fishing because of the ocean, the bay, lakes and rivers, said Monsignor Farmer, who added that Marylanders are blessed to have both fresh and salt water to fish in. “When we fish we connect with nature and see the beauty of creation. The splendor of creation reflects the splendor of the Creator,” said the seasoned fisherman. “Fishing teaches us patience and a lot about faith.”

WEST RUTLAND, Vt. – When Father Adam Krempa sits down for a light meal, he enjoys a bowl of cottage cheese drizzled with honey, seeded rye bread lightly toasted with butter not margarine and a cup of coffee with a heaping teaspoon of honey. “It’s like dying and having lunch with the Lord,” said the pastor of St. Raphael Church in Poultney. It’s not the toast or even the butter that makes the meal special; it’s the honey. For 40 years Father Krempa has been keeping bees at his family homestead on Valley View Lane in West Rutland, and the honey they produce and he processes and sells is pure. He also likes honey drizzled on his cornflakes, oatmeal or Cream of Wheat cereal. “You know you’re living” when you taste the honey, he told The Vermont Catholic Tribune, newspaper of the Burlington Diocese. Father Krempa has five hives on the south side of his two-car garage, protected from the strong winter winds that sweep across the hillside property. “This is where I find my relaxation,” he said, noting that he often sits in the yard and watches the bees busily flying to and from the hives. “It’s God’s creation.”

NEW YORK – A New York philanthropist has donated $22.5 million to the Archdiocese of New York for its inner-city scholarship program, the archdiocese announced May 23. The donation, from former Wall Street investor Robert Wilson, will enable 3,000 children to attend Catholic schools in New York City through the scholarship program launched two years ago to provide needy students with partial- or full-tuition grants. Wilson, an 80-year-old atheist, told reporters after the donation was announced that he had no problem supporting a fund for Catholic school students. “Shunning religious organizations would be abhorrent,” he told Bloomberg News. “Keep in mind, I’m helping to pay tuition. The money isn’t going directly to the schools.”

As a bagpiper played “Amazing Grace” in the halls of the new Our Daily Bread Employment Center May 24, hundreds of citizens followed the musician like the Pied Piper to tour Baltimore’s first full-service resource center for the poor. The symbolic jaunt through the $15 million, 52,000-square-foot facility followed a lavish dedication ceremony of the Catholic Charities project which was nine years in the making. In attendance were state and city politicians, leaders of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, volunteers and recipients of the philanthropic programs that will now be housed in the new building. While dedicating the facility that is expected to feed 700 of the city’s homeless and poor daily, Catholic Charities Executive Director Harold A. Smith said the new building would allow the most vulnerable citizens to “find dignity, peace and opportunity.”

With four children and another one on the way, Sacred Heart, Glyndon, parishioner Denise Blair-Nellies is no stranger to creativity during the months of summer. The Reisterstown resident said she loves summer and noted one of her children’s favorite pastimes is reading. “We love to read books and share what we’re reading with each other in the morning or evenings,” she said. She and the children, who range in age from 2 to 10, also enjoy outdoor picnics, visiting the local playground, going to the pool and taking inexpensive day trips to places such as the zoo. No matter how many children one has, coming up with creative ways to pass the hazy days of summer can be sticky. Therese Borchard, a 36-year-old Catholic News Service columnist and Annapolis mother of two, said that when the camp brochures arrive in March, she is often tempted to sign the kids up for weeks one through eight, “starting with a week of arts and crafts based on the theme of the solar system, ending with a tea party with Miss Spider.”

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Call it a “Catholic Extreme Makeover.” When parishioners at Christ the King Church in Little Rock heard about Father Udochukwu “Udo” Vincent Ogbuji’s paralysis following a car wreck, they prayed for the priest’s recovery. And when their pastor, Monsignor Francis I. Malone, challenged them to renovate a house in less than two weeks for the former Searcy pastor, they immediately jumped to work. “They really stepped up with incredible donations,” said Sandy DeCoursey, the parish life/outreach director who oversaw the renovation of the vacant, parish-owned, two-story home. “The Holy Spirit is guiding this,” she said. “The Holy Spirit is the project manager.” Before Father Ogbuji, 38, was released from Baptist Rehabilitation Institute, Monsignor J. Gaston Hebert, administrator of the Little Rock Diocese, and Monsignor Malone agreed that the priest needed a home close to his therapists and doctors while at the same time being able to put his priestly vocation to work. The parish house, however, needed major renovations to accommodate a person in a motorized wheelchair as well as a fresh coat of paint and furnishings.