SAO PAULO, Brazil – Representatives of four Brazilian indigenous organizations wrote Pope Benedict XVI, graphically describing the problems and threats facing the country’s native peoples. The indigenous organizations used the word “genocide” to describe the “persecution, land takeovers, murders, epidemics, sterilization of indigenous women and contraceptive measures imposed by governments, neglect and breakup of our...Read More

William Joseph Kelly Jr. didn’t decide to sign up for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) at age 21 – Uncle Sam decided for him. During the World War II era, enlistment in the military was mandatory. “If you were physically fit, you went,” said Mr. Kelly, inducted July 15, 1941, at Fort Meade...Read More

BRUSSELS, Belgium – An archbishop from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a longtime social justice activist from the United States have been elected co-presidents of Pax Christi International, the Catholic peace movement. Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kisangani, Congo, and Marie Dennis, director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, will assume their new...Read More

The Knott Scholarship Funds recently announced the winners of its 2007 scholarship competition. These elementary and secondary scholarships have an estimated four-year tuition value of more than $1,186,000 and are funded by the Marion Burk Knott Scholarships and the Marion I. and Henry J. Knott Scholarships.Read More

A funeral Mass was offered May 3 for Sister Margaret R. Timmerman, M.H.S.H. at The Villa in Baltimore. Sister Margaret died April 30. She was 92. Father Thomas Francis, O.C.S.O., Sister Margaret’s brother, offered the funeral liturgy.Read More

On May 5, Cardinal William H. Keeler will dedicate a Ten Commandments monument at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Baltimore. The 5-foot-tall, 850-pound-marble monument was placed at the east Baltimore church as a reminder to respect and appreciate what the Ten Commandments stand for and the values each person should strive to embody.Read More

Catholic Charities’ Sarah’s House in Fort Meade will benefit from a fundraising event at Remomo’s restaurant in Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover May 16, simply by enjoying a meal between 5 and 9 p.m.Read More

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI and Italy’s president and prime minister condemned threats made against Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, president of the Italian bishops’ conference.Read More