Though a new roof for Shrine of St. Alphonsus, Baltimore, can’t be constructed with discarded aluminum cans, cell phones, printer cartridges and copy machine toner units, it can be helped along by recycling those items. With the help of several parishioners, church officials have been selling the items to local recycling centers and earned cash...Read More

The Loyola Blakefield, Towson, swim team proved they knew the ‘reason for the season’ when they began their Christmas break by diving into charity work. Thirty-six swimmers participat­ed in a 100-mile swim at the school Dec. 20-21, raising more than $5,000 for the new Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Baltimore. Proceeds will be presented...Read More

In the Hispanic culture, the Epiphany is almost as important as Christmas. It is the day when the three kings traveled far from home to visit a newborn baby, in the City of Bethlehem. For the past four years, Woodmont Academy, Cooksville, Spanish teacher Patricia Stack has been helping to educate students from pre-kindergarten to...Read More

IRVING, Texas (CNS) -- Participating in Boy Scouts is a great way for youths to meet people in all walks of life and help them discern their own vocations, says Monsignor John B. Brady, a 65-year veteran of Scouting. In an interview with Scouting, a family magazine published by the Boy Scouts of America, Monsingor...Read More

As David Tolar sat in the sun-filled lobby of St. Mary’s Seminary and University, Roland Park, the son of a Baptist father and Lutheran-baptized mother reflected on how far he has come in his journey to Catholicism and possibly the priesthood. Mr. Tolar joined three other men chosen by their pastors and pastoral life directors...Read More

OXFORD, England (CNS) -- Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus has become the new head of the Warsaw Archdiocese, despite findings by a church commission that he collaborated with Poland’s former communist secret police. “From the material presented, it seems various bad intentions and attitudes about the church are being attributed to me,” Archbishop Wielgus said in a...Read More

Aaron Wiggins may be homeless, but it doesn’t mean he isn’t interested in discussing current events. Mr. Wiggins is among the six to 10 individuals who come weekly to St. Vincent de Paul’s Beans & Bread Outreach Center in Fells Point, ready to discuss the issues of the day. “A lot of the missions and...Read More

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At first glance, the ambassadors accredited to the Vatican seem to be a group of elegant, older men gracefully ending their diplomatic careers in a posting filled with pomp and circumstance. The suits with tails, the swords, the plumed hats, sashes and medals highlight the formality of public occasions and the...Read More