Diocese

Bishop A. Theodore Eastman, in his last address to a diocesan convention as its chairman, asked Maryland Episcopalians last night to end their fighting over contradictory moral teachings and redirect their energy toward "the service of Christ in the world."Bishop Eastman, 64, has announced he will retire at the end of January. His appeal to lay and clergy delegates came at the beginning of a three-day annual convention already faced with opposing resolutions on sexual morality introduced by traditionalist Episcopalians and by a group of homosexual activists within the church.

Arthur W. Machen Jr., a retired attorney who was also the chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and a legal advocate for the poor, died of congestive heart failure Wednesday at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The former Ruxton resident was 92. A well-respected corporate lawyer, he helped 1950s Baltimore Colts players Gino Marchetti and Alan Ameche incorporate their food businesses, and he often espoused liberal causes. "His range was enormous," said a legal colleague, Alan Yarbro of Ruxton.

The Vatican announced yesterday that Cardinal William H. Keeler will oversee the day-to-day operation of the Diocese of Richmond, Va., after the retirement of its bishop, the Most Rev. Walter F. Sullivan, who served for nearly three decades. The temporary job as apostolic administrator adds to Keeler's considerable duties governing the church's Baltimore Province, which includes the dioceses of Richmond and Arlington, Va., Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia, Wilmington, N.C., and the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

As a Jewish person, I have been participating in activities and services at St. Timothy's Church of Baltimore County for the past six years.  I was considering conversion to the Christian faith and joining the Episcopal Church, but with what has happened, forget it! ("St Timothy's congregants vote to become Catholic," Feb. 27.) It is shameful that the bishop has told St. Timothy's parishioners, who voted in good faith to join the Catholic church as part of the Ordinariate, that they would have to find a new place to worship by Easter.

Facing hundreds of millions of dollars in potential liability for sex abuse claims, the diocese that ministers to Eastern Shore Catholics filed for federal bankruptcy-law protection hours before the civil trial of a former priest was to have started Monday. Bishop W. Francis Malooly described the Chapter 11 petition filed late Sunday as a difficult but necessary step that would enable the Diocese of Wilmington, Del., to "fairly compensate all victims through a single process established by the bankruptcy court."

COVINGTON, Ky. - Marking the largest settlement yet in the Roman Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis, the Covington Diocese said yesterday that it had agreed to pay up to $120 million to alleged victims of child molestation. The amount, which must be approved by the Boone County Circuit Court, would eclipse a $100 million settlement reached by the Orange County, Calif., diocese last year involving 90 victims, and an $85 million settlement reached two years ago with 552 victims by the Boston Archdiocese, where the scandal erupted in 2002.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening's planned legislation to prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians is provoking a constitutional argument pitting the state attorney general's office against a Catholic diocese. Assistant Attorney General Kathryn M. Rowe said in a legal opinion this week that the not-yet-drafted measure would likely not violate the First Amendment guarantee of free exercise of religion. Rowe's four-page "letter of advice" was sent to Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat expected to use the document to try to counter religious-based arguments against the bill.

Keeler's life and times March 4, 1931: Keeler is born in San Antonio. 1952: He graduates with a bachelor's degree from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, Pa. July 17, 1955: Then-Archbishop Luigi Traglia ordains him a priest at the Church of the Holy Apostles, Rome. 1956: Keeler graduates from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome with his licentiate in sacred theology. 1961: Keeler earns his doctorate in canon law at the Gregorian University. 1962-1965: He serves as special adviser during the Second Vatican Council.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Few of the several hundred parishioners who packed St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral yesterday to listen to the Rev. Donald F. Dunn speak about equating moral and civil obligations could have missed the focus of his sermon. For the last several days throughout the Diocese of Colorado Springs, the issue that has dominated conversations is a pastoral letter issued last week by Bishop Michael J. Sheridan. In the letter, Sheridan said that Catholics should not receive communion if they vote for politicians who support abortion rights, stem-cell research, euthanasia or same-sex marriage.

Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., quietly paid more than $225,000 last year to a man who said he was a sexual abuse victim and who was pressing further allegations that priests from the diocese had molested him when he was a boy. The man and the diocese disagree on whether the money was intended to end his claims and keep him quiet, or was the charitable work of a church assisting a member in need. The payments, made when the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church was at its height and when many were calling for greater openness in church finances, were not part of a formal legal settlement, and they began weeks after Hubbard announced an end to confidential settlements.

Sister Mary Annita Link, a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame who had been a primary educator, died July 10 of heart disease at her order's Maria Health Care Center in the Woodbrook section of Baltimore County. She was 89. Catherine Elaine Link was born in Baltimore and raised in Canton. She was a graduate of the Institute of Notre Dame and entered the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1941. She took the religious name of Mary Annita and professed her vows in 1944.

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.

For local artisan Sebastian Martorana, more than 80 hours of intricate carving came to the final test Tuesday morning, as final preparations were being made for the installation of the new archbishop of Baltimore. Martorana, who had chiseled the coat of arms for new prelate William E. Lori into a century-old piece of pear wood, approached the altar at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen with trepidation. The towering chair, seat of authority, or cathedra, was to his left. He removed the insignia of Cardinal Edwin F. O'Brien, Lori's immediate predecessor, and installed the new one, an elaborate hexagon with a gold sword, blue shield and Lori's motto "Charity in Truth" carved in Latin.

As he stood at the altar of the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation, Bishop John L. Rabb choked up, then dabbed at tears with his handkerchief. A hymn-filled service Saturday at the North Baltimore cathedral marked Rabb's retirement after more than a decade as bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. In that role, Rabb has been one of the top leaders in the diocese, overseeing ordination of clergy and education. As visiting and retired bishops, clergy and parishioners from all over Maryland jammed the church on University Parkway, Rabb gave up the responsibilities of his office in a ceremonial handing over of his diocesan crozier, or staff, to Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton, Episcopal bishop of Maryland.

Scores of people reflected on the life of Archbishop William D. Borders at his funeral Friday afternoon, but young and old, clergy and laity, leaders and civilians, all used the same words to describe him. "You could always see he was happy," said Diana Liz, 14, of Baltimore, a student at the school that bears his name. A thousand mourners, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, about a dozen bishops and 200 priests, filled the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen for a Mass of Christian burial.

Joanne and Charles Thomas of Reisterstown remembered Archbishop William Donald Borders as a priest for all people, a dear, humble friend — and an avid golfer. "We're pretty sure he's playing golf with Payne Stewart right now," Joanne Thomas said moments after she and her husband passed by Border's coffin at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. The Thomases joined scores of students, clergy and other Catholics who came to pay their respects Thursday as the Archdiocese of Baltimore began two days of events to remember Borders.

NEW YORK - A Newark native who grew up near that city's largest cathedral and always yearned to be a priest was plucked yesterday from relative anonymity to become the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, replacing the embattled Bishop Thomas Daily. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, 59, the bishop of Camden, N.J., is a trained social worker with a doctorate from Rutgers. His credentials seem tailored for leading one of the country's most ethnically diverse dioceses. The Vatican announced DiMarzio's appointment yesterday, nearly 11 months after Daily, the Brooklyn bishop since 1990, submitted his letter of retirement to Pope John Paul II. Such letters are required of bishops when they reach age 75. At a joint news conference yesterday, Daily again expressed regret that his career had been tarnished by the priest sexual abuse scandal in Boston.

Bishop John H. Ricard, who served 13 years in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, is alert and resting comfortably after suffering a stroke Tuesday, according to the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. The 69-year-old bishop was upgraded from critical to serious condition at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, where he was admitted with symptoms of a stroke, according to the diocese. A CT scan confirmed the stroke. Ricard was a popular auxilliary bishop in Baltimore from 1984 until 1997, when he was named by Pope John Paul II to head the Pensacola-Tallahassee diocese.

Facing hundreds of millions of dollars in potential liability for sex abuse claims, the diocese that ministers to Eastern Shore Catholics filed for federal bankruptcy-law protection hours before the civil trial of a former priest was to have started Monday. Bishop W. Francis Malooly described the Chapter 11 petition filed late Sunday as a difficult but necessary step that would enable the Diocese of Wilmington, Del., to "fairly compensate all victims through a single process established by the bankruptcy court."