Baltimore-area Catholics reacted with a mix of disappointment, relief and resignation after the archdiocese announced the final plan for the Seek the City to Come initiative May 22.

Just minutes before St. Cecilia Catholic School’s eighth-grade graduation Mass and ceremony began, the power to the west Houston parochial school cut out, plunging the large sanctuary into disturbing darkness.

The U.S. bishops will soon hold a consultation on a petition to open the cause for canonization of Adele Brise, to whom the Blessed Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared in northeast Wisconsin in 1859.

Father Michael J. McGivney was just one more of that band of hardworking Irish-American priests who spent themselves building up the church in America in the latter years of the 19th century. But in one truly extraordinary respect, he was unique:

The Archdiocese of Baltimore revealed the final plan May 22 for parish planning in Baltimore City, with 23 parishes at 30 worship sites, about half the current number of churches available for Sunday Mass.