Monsignor

When Msgr. John J. Duggan walked up the pulpit's marble steps on Mother's Day, the pews of his church would be packed. His tribute to mothers was sentimental, emotional and heartfelt.His sermons the second Sunday in May were perfumed with phrases like "Her eyes were the windows of heaven." Of a pharaoh's mother whose mummified remains had been recently discovered, he said: "Her heart was a sphere of the purest gold."Lines such as these were classic John Duggan. He died March 28 at age 88. He was a born speaker who could direct words to do just what he intended.

As the saying goes, "two is better than one. " Though I'm not sure the adage was meant for weapon-wielding psychopaths. Kit was the original alleged Bloody Face and for a moment, the opening scene on this week's American Horror Story had viewers believing he would live up to that accusation. But do we really need another Bloody Face running rampant? Ryan Murphy decided no. Kit was only serving as a disguise for the real murderer: Alma. With one thrust of the axe Alma managed to kill Grace in the same way Grace murdered her own family.

Monsignor Francis J. Childress, retired pastor of St. Elizabeth's Roman Catholic Church in East Baltimore, died Monday of heart failure at St. Joseph Hospital. He was 87 and lived at Stella Maris Hospice.A mass of Christian burial for Monsignor Childress will be offered at 11 a.m. tomorrow in the chapel at Stella Maris, 2300 Dulaney Valley Road.He retired in 1975 after serving as pastor of St. Elizabeth's Church since 1968. He had also been an assistant pastor there from his ordination in 1935 until 1955.

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.

Monsignor Aloysius Schwartz, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee for his ministry to thousands of poor children around the world, died Monday at an orphanage he established in Manila. He was 61.Philippine Cardinal Jaime Sin will celebrate a special Mass for Monsignor Schwartz next Wednesday at the orphanage in Silang, outside Manila, where the deceased will be buried.A memorial Mass will be scheduled later at St. Bernard's Church in Riverdale, said William J. Vita, the priest's brother-in-law and executive director of Asian Relief Inc., of Hyattsville, the fund-raising arm of Monsignor Schwartz's missions.

Monsignor Albert T. Stallings, founding pastor of St. Clare's Roman Catholic Church in Essex, died Sunday at the Francis Scott Key Medical Center after a long illness.Monsignor Stallings, 82, had lived at the rectory of St. Anthony of Padua Church on Frankford Avenue since his retirement from St. Clare's in 1983.Named pastor of the Essex parish in 1956, he oversaw construction of its present buildings and brought members of the Sisters of Mercy from Athlumney, Ireland, to staff the new school.

Monsignor Albert T. Stallings, founder of St. Clare's Catholic Church in Essex, died Sunday at Francis Scott Key Medical Center after a long illness. He was 82.A funeral mass for Monsignor Stallings was being offered today at St. Clare's, at 714 Myrth Ave.Monsignor Stallings was ordained in 1936 and 20 years later he founded St. Clare's, where he remained until his retirement in 1983. He was chaplain of Maryland Law Enforcement Officers Inc.In 1982, Monsignor Stallings received the Prelate of Honor from Pope John Paul II.He is survived by two brothers, Daniel J. and Donald G. Stallings, and several nieces and nephews.

Monsignor Anthony P. Dziwulski, who served at four Baltimore area parishes and was active in several community and church organizations, died Friday of heart failure at Stella Maris Hospice. He was 79.He was pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in Northeast Baltimore from 1969 until his retirement in 1987. He continued to live at St. Anthony's until illness forced him to move to the hospice.Monsignor Dziwulski, who was named an honorary prelate with the title monsignor in 1970, received his first pastorate at St. Lawrence Church in Woodlawn in 1962.

Monsignor Austin L. Healy, a Catholic priest who gave long service to residents of Baltimore's inner city, died Friday at St. Joseph Hospital of congestive heart failure and complications from cancer. He was 82.The Baltimore native had been a patient at the hospital for three days. He had lived at Stella Maris Hospice since 1966, when, after two cancer operations, his doctor told him to retire.Monsignor Healy was a leader in the Catholic church's work to minister to blacks in the inner city.

Monsignor Aloysius Schwartz, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee for his ministry to thousands of poor children around the world, died Monday at an orphanage he established in Manila. He was 61.A member of a Baltimore family, Monsignor Schwartz was diagnosed in October 1989 with Lou Gehrig's disease, a degenerative illness of the nervous system. Undeterred, he continued his work even as his short, slender and once-athletic body weakened. He delivered his final sermon last week, in a voice barely audible beyond the altar.

Monsignor James Vincent Hobbs, former rector of the Basilica of the Assumption who during his tenure oversaw a two-year, $32 million restoration of the 200-year-old structure, died Monday of cardiac arrest at his Thurmont home. He was 81. James Vincent Hobbs was born and raised in Thurmont, where his father owned a grocery store and his mother was proprietor of a hardware store. He attended Frederick County public schools as an elementary school student before entering St. Anthony's parochial school in Emmitsburg.

Monsignor Myles J. McGowan, the oldest priest in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and pastor of St. Ursula's Roman Catholic Church in Parkville for more than two decades, died Saturday of a stroke at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 96. "He was thoroughly a priest and was the patriarch of the archdiocese. He was well-regarded and loved by priests both young and old," said Bishop William C. Newman, a friend of 55 years. "He had a practical common sense that he was noted for. He was willing to move forward with the church, and it must have been difficult for him after Vatican II, but he did it," Bishop Newman said.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has removed the pastor of a Cumberland church as it investigates allegations that he sexually abused a minor in the 1970s, the archdiocese announced Sunday. Monsignor Thomas Bevan, pastor of St. Patrick Church since 1997, has denied the allegations, according to the archdiocese. Representatives of the archdiocese met with parishioners and staff at St. Patrick on Sunday to inform them of the allegations and to answer questions, according to the archdiocese.

Towson Catholic has long served non-parishioners Monsignor F. Dennis Tinder is all wrong about Towson Catholic High School evolving in recent decades from serving students from the church to drawing students from beyond the parish ("Pastor says he fought to keep school open," July 16). I began [at] Immaculate Conception school in the '40s and graduated from Towson Catholic in 1949, and there were more students there at that time from way beyond the parish than along Belair Road, York Road and Harford Road.

In the eyes of at least two families, the closure of Towson Catholic High School is a broken promise. The mothers of 16-year-old students Elisa Marie Windsor and Hannah Messina have filed a lawsuit and a request for a temporary restraining order that, if granted, would prevent the school's closing for the coming academic year and the dismissal of any of its faculty and staff. In the suit, filed Tuesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, the girls' mothers - Lois Windsor, president of the school's parents association, and Judy Messina, the group's vice president - claim that closing the school would deprive the students of the education they had been promised.

Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Sweeney, whose career as administrative assistant to Cardinal Lawrence Shehan, Archbishop William Borders and Cardinal William H. Keeler spanned more than 40 years, died in her sleep Tuesday at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. She was 86. Miss Sweeney was born in Baltimore, the oldest of seven children, and grew up in Govans. She was a 1940 graduate of Towson Catholic High School and entered the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1942. During World War II, she was a stenographer at Fort Holabird and taught at parochial schools in Annapolis and Saratoga Springs, N.Y. After leaving her order in 1951, she began her long career with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, working at the Catholic Center on Cathedral Street.

Monsignor John E. Albert, retired pastor of St. William of York Roman Catholic Church who as an Army chaplain served with the famed Flying Tigers in China during World War II, died Saturday of cancer at his home in Woodlawn. He was 84.Monsignor Albert was a chaplain with the 175th Regiment of the Maryland National Guard during the early years of the war, then assigned to Gen. Claire L. Chennault's 408th Bomb Group, which came to be known as the Flying Tigers. He later served at a tanker aircraft base in India.

Monsignor Francis W. Fortenbaugh, a retired Roman Catholic pastor, died Sunday of complications from diabetes at St. Elizabeth's Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on Caton Avenue. He was 80. Associated with St. Agnes Church in the Catonsville-Woodlawn area for nearly 40 years -- much of that time as pastor -- he also headed Corpus Christi Church in Bolton Hill in 1967 and St. Clement I in Lansdowne from 1968 to 1973. "He was a hard worker, a dynamo of energy -- a man of strong convictions and traditional values," said the Rev. Michael J. Ruane, a friend and the pastor of St. Michael's Church near Mount Airy.

James "Manning The family will receive friends in St. John's Catholic Church, 43927 St. John's Road, Hollywood, MD on Thursday, December 11, 2008 from 5 - 8 P.M. with prayers being said at 7:00 P.M. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. John's Catholic Church on Friday, December 12, 2008 at 10:00 A.M. with Fr. Ray officiating and Msgr. Harris co-officiating. Interment will follow in the Church Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Justin McKay, Chris Ryan, Steven Hammett, Eric McKay, Ricky Hammett, Michael Murr and Joe Johnson.

Monsignor Francis Xavier Zorbach, a popular parish priest who served at St. Philip Neri Roman Catholic Church for more than three decades, died Saturday of heart failure at Franklin Square Hospital Center. He was 81. Monsignor Zorbach was born in Baltimore, the sixth of eight children of George W. and Anna J. Zorbach. He was raised on Jefferson Street, near Patterson Park, and attended St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parochial School in East Baltimore. Monsignor Zorbach was a 1946 graduate of St.