Stopping short of a merger, St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore and St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson are joining forces in a new strategic alliance hospital leaders say will improve quality and increase access to medical care in the Baltimore area and beyond. The partnership, called “Mission Health Partners,” will initially be made up of...Read More

Tristan Deppe acknowledges that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s “Introduction to Christianity” was not exactly at the top of his reading list. But the text by the future Pope Benedict XVI was just one of several weighty theological works the 16-year-old parishioner of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Baynesville, read for the first time last semester as one...Read More

VATICAN CITY – A recent sermon by the papal preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, took aim at John Lennon’s famous line, “Imagine there’s no heaven,” saying it represented an empty, secularized vision of human destiny. But an Italian biblicist, Father Carlo Buzzetti, has approached the question from a different angle: The modern church, he said,...Read More

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Father Jerome Fehn, 54, a Minnesota National Guard chaplain currently based in Iraq, said U.S. soldiers urgently need support and prayers from people at home. “We get a lot of care packages and that’s very good,” he said. But when soldiers receive letters of support, it makes a big impact. “Having...Read More

When Chelsea Tolley first started visiting women with developmental disabilities a few years ago at a group home operated by Catholic Charities’ Gallagher Services, the outgoing teen had a hard time making a connection with Joan. An elderly woman with bad knees, Joan refused to get in on the games, discussions and other activities led...Read More

As Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland, parishioner Kelly Bradford was approaching her mid 30s, her mother wondered if her “bohemian” daughter was ever going to settle down and marry a “good Catholic boy.” The Mount Washington social worker had already tried meeting “the one” in a variety of venues, including Catholic organizations, church and...Read More

Most couples preparing themselves for marriage begin to have doubts as the wedding date nears and it’s a state of mind St. Matthew, Northwood Pastor Father Joseph L. Muth believes is a good sign. “I would be worried if they didn’t get cold feet,” said Father Muth, who officiates at about 15 weddings a year....Read More

ST. LOUIS – Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty is calling for the state’s General Assembly to enact a three-year moratorium on executions in the state and to create a commission to examine the death penalty system. Nearly 300 groups in the state, including the four Catholic dioceses and numerous parishes, have endorsed a moratorium....Read More