Church

THE ROLAND PARK Second Presbyterian Church looked absolutely stunning last Saturday for the wedding of Natalia Pia Melanie Sommer and Richard Matthew Dohler. Thousands of wildflowers, miles of lace ribbons and tulle, and window sills decorated with Singapore orchids set the stage for the nuptials of the daughter of pop music star Donna Summer and her first husband, Helmut Sommer,and the son of Dick and Bonna Dohler, he's an Ellicott City builder.The church was filled with the music of German trumpeteer Langston Fitzgerald and selections of Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi, played by the church's music director Margaret Budd on the organ.

In response to a recent parishioner survey taken by the Rev. John Kennealy, pastor or St. Nicholas Catholic Church, 8603 Contee Road, the Mass schedule will change the weekend of June 2 and 3. The Masses on Sunday will now be at 8, 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. The Saturday Mass at 5 p.m. will remain the same. The Rev. John Kennealy will continue to have Friday evening Mass in the Chapel at 6:30 p.m. Call 301-490-5116.

After a seven-year delay, Randallstown residents cheered Monday over an announcement that a Walmart will open on Liberty Road next year. Officials and residents have long hoped that the store — a planned $9 million, 160,000-square-foot supercenter with groceries and a pharmacy — would revitalize the aging commercial corridor, encouraging other national retailers and restaurants to set up shop in the affluent, largely black community....

The Heavenly Handbells of Trinity Lutheran Church, North Bethesda, will join the JoyBells of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church for a combined handbell concert on Sunday, June 3 at 6 p.m. at 7607 Sandy Spring Road. Many of the concert selections were performed at the Area III Festival of the Handbell Ringers of America in Ocean City in March. A freewill offering will be taken and a reception follows the concert. Call 301-725-1666.

The Rev. Marion C. Bascom, a leading Baltimore civil rights activist remembered for his lifetime quest for social justice, died of a heart attack Thursday at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 87 and lived in Reservoir Hill. "A giant has fallen," said former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, a close friend and a member of Douglas Memorial Community Church, where Mr. Bascom was pastor for 46 years. "He affected thousands of lives in our community and was a positive life force.

They remembered Mary-Marguerite Kohn's enthusiasm and service, even her style - one mourner recalled "a large, bright yellow brimmed hat, terrific dangling earrings. " There was hardly an empty seat Tuesday inside the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Baltimore, as family, friends, colleagues and congregants packed a memorial service for Kohn, who died from gunshot wounds sustained from a Thursday shooting at her church in Ellicott City. Kohn, 62, the church's co-rector, and Brenda Brewington, 59, the church's administrative assistant, were shot inside St. Peter's Episcopal Church offices.

Thank you, Susan Reimer , so much for saying what most of us Catholic folk think but won't say ("What would Jesus do? Not stuff like this," April 30). Your column was right on point. When is enough, enough? Jesus put all of us down on this great earth for a purpose. You are right. He has no bad ideas. And He blessed us with common sense to live this life He gave us to the best of our ability. The Catholic Church needs to stop making us feel that we are just never good enough or that we cannot make good decisions concerning our own lives.

Catholics have it backward: Every god is made in the likeness of man. My mom created me (there is evidence for this). I have to object to "God's beautiful design," as we are a beautiful product of non-random selection. Sure, the church is making progress. It used to burn women and now it only suppresses them. Our self-made design is to attempt intercourse wherever and whenever we can, and our kids should be doing this vaccinated and with readily-available contraception. In this secular society, no one wears a scarlet letter for reproducing before marriage or being attracted to the same sex. Same-sex couples have a right to their sexuality in a free society.

A fire that took 75 firefighters nearly 45 minutes to bring under control destroyed the parish center of a Harford County church Wednesday, causing an estimated $3.5 million in damage. About 20 senior citizens were inside the Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church parish center on Joppa Farm Road in Joppatowne when the fire began about 11:05 a.m. They escaped uninjured. According to Deputy State Fire Marshal Joseph G. Zurolo, firefighters were on the scene of what became a multi-alarm blaze within five minutes, and firefighters from Harford and Baltimore counties were dispatched.

Church of the Ascension, 23 N. Court St., Westminster, will host a Blessing of the Animals liturgy on Sept. 18, at 5 p.m. Residents are invited to bring your four-legged members of the family to church. As part of the event, the church will collect donations of pet supplies, such as treats, food and cat litter, for the Carroll County Humane Society. For details, call 410-848-3251 or go to http://www.ascension-westminster.com.

United Methodist Church of Savage, 9050 Baltimore St., will hold its annual Strawberry Festival Saturday, June 2 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Menu includes open pit roast beef sandwiches, pulled beef barbecue sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, hot dogs, chips, cole slaw, baked beans, potato salad, ice cream, strawberries, shortcake and beverages. There will also be a bake sale. Call 301-725-7630.

The Rev. Marion C. Bascom, a leading Baltimore civil rights activist remembered for his lifetime quest for social justice, died of a heart attack Thursday at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 87 and lived in Reservoir Hill. "A giant has fallen," said former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, a close friend and a member of Douglas Memorial Community Church, where Mr. Bascom was pastor for 46 years. "He affected thousands of lives in our community and was a positive life force.

Pastors are charged with the heavy responsibility of leading His people to experience God's saving grace. We must fervently defend God's word with strength and humility. Our burden is light because we are powerless. All the power in this world derives from God's love. I am moved to pray to truly know God's law. In Leviticus 20:22 God teaches us to obey his law. Every pastor has read the Bible's 12 passages with terms commonly identified with homosexuality. I pray we learn to love to learn the contextual truths of the Bible.

The mother of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin will speak Sunday at a Baltimore mega-church about how she's coping with her son's death, according to the church's pastor. Sybrina Fulton's appearance at Empowerment Temple Church in Northwest Baltimore will be her first in the city, and an opportunity for local parishioners to hear from "a mother who has grieved but still has strength," according to the Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, who founded the 8,000-member church in 2000. Martin, an African American 17-year-old, was shot in February in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., by Hispanic neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.

Alvin Turner "Al" Church, a retired Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. surveyor, died Monday of complications from skin cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The longtime Cockeysville resident was 64. The son of Glenn L. Martin Co. workers, Mr. Church was born in Wilkesboro, N.C., and moved with his family to Baltimore in the early 1950s; they settled in 1955 in Catonsville. He was a 1966 graduate of Catonsville High School and attended what was then Catonsville Community College.

William E. Lori became the 16th archbishop of Baltimore in a solemn ceremony Wednesday that included a nod to the nation's oldest Roman Catholic diocese and a look forward to the challenges of the 21st century. Lori, 60, set the tone for his tenure with strong words, calling marriage between a man and a woman "a bedrock institution for the common good of society. " His statement drew thunderous applause from a crowd of about 2,000 attending his installation at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.

A tiny church tucked inside Patapsco Valley State Park dedicates a pew Sunday to one of its most famous former congregants, the late William Donald Schaefer. Gary Memorial United Methodist Church has just 80 worshipers most Sundays, but for many years, one of them was the former mayor, governor and comptroller. Schaefer found his way to the stone church in the woods when the pastor was Luther Starnes, his former secretary of human resources. He left Gary Memorial $10,000 in his will.

It was last Easter when the note, a particularly high one, got stuck on the organ at Baltimore's St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church. Tim Murphy, the organist for the past 27 years, climbed inside the giant case and tinkered with it for several minutes to get it to stop. Hundreds of families could do little but stare at Murphy and each other. That's when it became clear that Murphy's applications of duct tape and skill could no longer cover up the fact that the 150-year-old organ needed a major overhaul.

The Harford County Department of Public Works, Division of Highways and Water Resources, will conduct a public meeting Wednesday, May 16, to discuss a petition to modify the western portion of Church Lane in White Hall from an earth to a tar and chip surface. The meeting will start at 6 p.m. in the offices of the Department of Public Works, 212 S. Bond Street, Third Floor, in Bel Air. Interested persons who cannot attend may send written comments to H. Hudson Myers III, Deputy Director, 212 S. Bond Street, Bel Air, MD 21014, or by e-mail to hhmyers@harfordcountymd.gov .