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ROME — Being able to concelebrate Mass inside Rome’s magnificent Basilica of St. John Lateran was one of the most special moments of Father Paschal Morlino’s priesthood. The Benedictine pastor of St. Benedict in Baltimore was one of about 25 priests from the Archdiocese of Baltimore who concelebrated Mass with Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, Cardinal William H. Keeler and Baltimore’s auxiliary bishops in Rome’s oldest patriarchal basilica June 28.

ROME — At the start of a weeklong pilgrimage to Rome June 26, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien encouraged more than 100 Catholics from the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond to use the occasion as a time to draw closer to God.

Former Towson Catholic High School standout Donte Greene was selected by the Memphis Grizzlies with the 28th pick in the first round of the June 26 National Basketball Association draft.

Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, will replace Tim Russert, his recently deceased colleague, as presenter of the Philip J. Murnion Lecture for the Catholic Common Ground Initiative June 27 at 8 p.m. at the Pryzbyla Center of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Several parishes in the archdiocese have joined an interfaith prayer service project that will be held on the 22nd of each month at Maryland churches, synagogues, and mosques in Maryland.

The Judith Sudilovsky interview of Jon Voight (CR, June 5) was surprising. Mr. Voight has demonstrated his commitment to helping people yet seems unaware of what has been happening to the Palestinians. That he visited Sderot and met with Israeli “terrorism victims and their families” mirrors the kind of guided tours given to our congressional representatives. Describing the death of a Palestinian mother killed by Israelis, there have actually been hundreds of Palestinian civilians killed, as the fault of the Palestinians is a worn and tawdry narrative used by Israeli hawks. He goes on to describe the Israelis, with the most powerful army in the Middle East, as besieged on all sides, and in candor, you must ask the question, did he think Ms. Sudilovsky was from the Catholic News Service or the Jerusalem Post? Does he understand that, yes, there is violence on both sides and the killing of innocents, but does he understand that the Israelis are far better at it than the Palestinians? Does Mr. Voight, who has had a bird’s-eye view of the world have any idea what it is like in Gaza? Is he even a little bit curious of why former President Carter, a Nobel Prize winner for peace, refers to the Palestinian condition as apartheid? Surely he must. Given his views expressed in the interview, one hopes he hasn’t.