Baltimore Archdiocese

ROME -- Baltimore Archbishop William H. Keeler, elated by the presence of more than 400 well-wishers from Maryland and Pennsylvania, flew here this morning to begin nearly a week of celebrations of his elevation to the College of Cardinals.The eight-hour trip turned into a celebration over the Atlantic. The ,10l chartered Alitalia 747 brought two archbishops and 409 other pilgrims to Rome from Baltimore-Washington International Airport. About 30 more well-wishers came on other planes.John Bellin of Reisterstown, a parishioner of Sacred Heart Church in Glyndon, said he knew it would be only a matter of time before Pope John Paul II recognized Archbishop Keeler.

In a sign of the worsening shortage of Catholic priests in the United States, Cardinal William H. Keeler has chosen a former health-care executive as the first layperson to lead a Baltimore-area parish. The appointment of Anne Buening to lead St. Clement I in Lansdowne marks the first time a married lay woman will lead a parish in the Baltimore Archdiocese. "I'm humbled by the honor and responsibility to be the servant leader of this community," said Buening, 50, who has worked full time on the ministerial staff of St. Louis Catholic Church in Clarksville since 1998.

Monsignor Damien George Nalepa, the pastor of a West Baltimore Roman Catholic parish who led campaigns to take guns out of his neighborhood, died of an apparent heart attack Saturday. He was 70. Sean Caine, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, said that when Monsignor Nalepa failed to appear for his regular Saturday evening Mass at St. Gregory the Great, church workers called the police. He said they found him slumped over in a chair in his bedroom. "Though the cause of death is unknown at this time, there was no evidence of foul play," Mr. Caine said.

A West Baltimore priest has been accused of sexual abuse, forcing the Baltimore Archdiocese for the third time in a month to confront questions about sexual misconduct by its clergy.The Rev. Maurice Blackwell, pastor of St. Edward Church in Rosemont since 1979, was indefinitely relieved of duties late last week after Baltimore police informed the archdiocese that it was investigating a complaint that he had "inappropriately touched" a male teen-age parishioner.Rob Rehg, spokesman for the archdiocese, said yesterday that Father Blackwell, 47, has denied the allegation but had consented to a psychological evaluation at a residential treatment center, which Mr. Rehg declined to identify.

A priest ousted from his Roman Catholic church in Connecticut because he was found to have sexually abused boys while working as a pastor in Baltimore was never charged here with a crime, even though he confessed, a police report shows. The report from 1987 says that the Rev. Robert Victor Newman, who was expelled from his New Haven church over the weekend, was granted "exceptional clearance" by the Baltimore state's attorney's office despite having admitted to police and prosecutors that he fondled a 14-year-old boy. As a condition of the "exceptional" arrangement, Newman was to continue treatment in a psychiatric hospital rather than face prosecution, the report said.

In the early 1960s, when Rabbi Joel Zaiman attended the Jewish Theological Seminary, its students were counseled to stay out of Christian churches. Last year, when Bishop William H. Keeler was installed as archbishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore, Rabbi Zaiman attended the service at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.What a difference a generation makes."Twenty-five years ago, we had no social intercourse," said Rabbi Zaiman of Congregation Chizuk Amuno in Baltimore. "Today, there is a sense we can meet and greet each other as religious communities that respect and value one another."

A 28-year-old guy living in his parents' basement in South Philadelphia just might be one of the foremost experts on the Archdiocese of Baltimore, if not the whole American Catholic Church. Rocco Palmo facetiously calls himself "The Church Whisperer," and over the past six years, his blog has become a must-read for ecclesiastical insiders. After starting with just three readers a few days before Christmas in 2004, Palmo has built up a audience of roughly 500,000 unique visitors each month.

Sharonne Jackson-Little, a 37-year-old wife and mother of two, spends most of her time taking care of other people. After working a midnight-to-8 a.m. shift at Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, she rushes home to Baltimore to take her children to school and tend her bedridden mother-in-law.For Easter, however, she's doing something for herself. She's becoming a Catholic. At a candlelight Easter Vigil ceremony last night, she was baptized. Today, she will receive her first Communion.While Easter is among the most sacred of holidays for Christians, marking the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, it is especially significant for the Roman Catholic Church because the church initiates hundreds of thousands of new followers around the world.

William T. Smyth, 74, owner of Towson accounting firmWilliam T. Smyth, a tax preparation specialist who had owned an accounting firm in Towson, died Saturday of a heart attack at his residence at Oak Crest Village retirement community in Parkville. He was 74.Mr. Smyth, who had been a longtime Lutherville resident, retired in 1986. He began his business career working with his father, Albert S. Smyth, who in 1914 founded Albert S. Smyth Co. Inc. jewelers in Baltimore. The firm now is in Timonium.

The Rev. Earl Joseph John Cote, the retired pastor of a Pikesville Roman Catholic church, died of cardiac arrest Jan. 27 at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was stricken while driving on Putty Hill Road as he headed to say daily Mass for the School Sisters of Notre Dame. He was 68. Born in Baltimore and raised on Robb Street, he attended St. Bernard School and was a 1961 Loyola High School graduate. He decided to enter the priesthood and studied at the old St. Charles College in Catonsville and at St. Mary's Minor Seminary on Paca Street.