Father John. J. Kelmartin, a former pastor of St. Bartholomew in Manchester and Our Lady of Victory in Arbutus who taught in several seminaries across the country, died March 7 at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 83.Read More

ANNAPOLIS – Sen. Alex X. Mooney knows he’s the man of the hour in the death penalty debate. In the deadlocked Maryland Senate judiciary committee, the parishioner of St. John the Evangelist in Frederick holds the deciding vote on whether legislation to abolish the death penalty will make it to the Senate floor. While the...Read More

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Pope Benedict XVI’s top diplomat at the United Nations said the Vatican wants to normalize relations with China, which it sees as a major way of advancing religious freedom and fostering unity among Chinese Catholics. Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s U.N. nuncio, expressed hope that a papal letter to Chinese Catholics to...Read More

WASHINGTON – “School choice is becoming less and less a partisan issue,” Morgan Brown, an assistant deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, told a group of Catholic education leaders gathered in Washington for congressional advocacy days. The Bush administration “is the most pro-school-choice administration we’ve ever had at the federal level,” said Mr....Read More

The recent article, “Christian leaders call for change in Iraq war policies,” (CR, March 1) urging Maryland Christians to “travel to Washington March 16 and surround the White House” to protest Bush’s “immoral Iraq war policies” is amazingly ill-informed and politically charged.Read More

PHILADELPHIA – Who’s that you’re seeing on YouTube? Yes, it is really Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia. The cardinal is providing video reflections for each Sunday of Lent, as well as for Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter on the free, video-sharing Web site, which allows users to upload, view and share video clips. Once...Read More

ANNAPOLIS – Dr. Mary Ellen Hrutka prides herself on being one of the best bargain hunters in town. Beginning in the spring, the parishioner of St. John the Baptist in Silver Spring weekly makes her rounds at area thrift stores and yard sales – scouting out and negotiating the best deals possible. Seldom does she...Read More

ANNAPOLIS – When Dr. Mary Ellen Hrutka attended a Catholic elementary school in Yonkers, N.Y., there were 86 students in her class and the faculty was made up almost entirely of Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore. Some five decades later, Catholic education has changed dramatically. Religious sisters, priests and brothers now make up a small minority...Read More