Church

An article in the April 12, 1913, edition of The Argus reported on the surprising culprit after a church's interior was found damaged. What was at first supposed to be the work of vandals, bent on spite-work, at the Catonsville Presbyterian Church last week, when some of the carpet was ripped up and torn, the wires of a stereopticon machine cut and the doors badly mutilated, proved to be the work of a stray dog which was imprisoned in...

Rebecca Rigger, a League of Women Voters activist who monitored the Baltimore County Planning Board, died of a heart attack March 25 at her Monkton home. She was 85. Born Rebecca Rogers in Big Island, Va., she was raised at an apple orchard in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She earned a bachelor's degree from what is now James Madison University, where she was editor of the college newspaper. As a young woman, she moved to eastern Baltimore County and taught at Middle River Junior High School.

A former leader of a youth group of a church in Severn is facing charges that he brought marijuana on a group trip and smoked it with two teenage boys while on an overnight camping trip, Anne Arundel County police said Monday. Benjamin James Siggers, 31, a former substitute teacher in Anne Arundel County Public Schools, was charged with two counts each of possession of marijuana and contributing to the condition of a child, according to court records. He was issued a summons. Police said they and the Department of Social Services began investigating Siggers Feb. 19 in connection with the Severn United Methodist Church group activities.

Inside Arnolia United Methodist Church, located at Joppa and Oakleigh roads, is an exact replica of the building complete with the steeple and cross which rises high over the church, dozens of windows, six porches with steps and even the corrals for the trash cans in the rear. The church building was built in stages with the sanctuary, the final section completed in1968 but the replica was constructed this year. It all started when church member Mike Pfeifer helped to build a train garden at the Jacksonville Senior Center in Baltimore County.

A few weeks ago, I spent a few quiet minutes in Green Mount Cemetery, where its higher ground offers unexpected views of Baltimore. As I looked to the southeast, something curious caught my eye. What was going on in the nearby Oliver neighborhood? What was that thing attached to the mighty bell tower of St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church? This parish — the oldest African-American Roman Catholic congregation in the United States officially founded for people of color — has just begun to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

Worshipers at a West Baltimore church donated more than 1,000 pieces of clothing to a prison re-entry program as part of their Easter Sunday services. Members of the Empowerment Temple Church were asked to forgo buying new outfits for Easter in favor of donating new and gently used clothing to be distributed among men and women released from prison and looking to re-enter the workplace. "We want to help our brothers and sisters who have been newly released make a fresh start and put their best foot forward," said the Rev. Jamal H. Bryant, founder and senior pastor of Empowerment Temple.

An early-morning fire on Saturday destroyed a maintenance building on the property of St. Joseph Church in Fullerton, according to church and county fire officials. But church officials said the parish's celebration of Easter services on Sunday would not be affected by the incident. Church officials, in a statement on the church website, said the blaze was the result of arson, though county fire officials have not given an official cause. Emergency units were dispatched at 3:25 a.m. and arrived at the church in the 8400 block of Bel Air Road about 3:30 a.m. to find the building in flames, said Lt. Julia Dillard, a county fire spokeswoman.

By coincidence, last Easter I was in St. Peter's Square in Rome as Pope Benedict XVI delivered what turned out to be his final Easter Mass as head of the Catholic Church. A week from Sunday, the new pope will deliver his first. Expectations for Pope Francis are high. The Argentine, formerly Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, is the first Jesuit pope, and the first from the Americas. Here's hoping he will lead the church into a more transparent and progressive era. But hoping is not the same as hopeful.

The election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy is great news ("The election of Pope Francis," March 14). Cardinal Bergoglio is a genuinely spiritual soul, and a man of deep prayer who tends to accent growth in personal holiness over efforts for structural reform. An accomplished theologian, he is especially well known for his great personal humility. Despite his status as a prince of the church, he chose to live in a simple apartment rather than in the archbishop's palace.

For the first time in history, the Roman Catholic Church has a pope from the New World, but liberal American Catholics should not expect Pope Francis to stray far from the old theology. Some things are excitingly different about this new pontiff. On matters of birth control, abortion, homosexuality, celibate priests and the role of women in the church, however, he is no revolutionary. When Argentina's Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio stepped out on the Vatican balcony as the new pope on Wednesday evening, all he was required to do was wave and give a blessing.