Redemptorist Father John Murray, a visionary former pastor of St. Wenceslaus in Baltimore and St. Mary in Annapolis whose courage in the face of long-term paralysis inspired many, died Dec. 30. He was 77.

For Brandon Jacobs, a 20-year-old college student, practicing his faith at his home parish can sometimes feel like a solitary experience. He certainly didn’t get that feeling when he was part of a group of about 120 from the Archdiocese of Baltimore attending the annual SEEK conference in Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 1-5.

Our Catholic faith fundamentally rejects the possessive individualism of both major parties as contrary to the doctrine of solidarity. We do not have a home on the continuum of liberalism.

The desire to “live to see your children’s children,” as Psalm 128 puts it, is wired deep inside the human heart. We want to see the children we worked so hard to parent in turn bring the next generation into being.

A former teacher at Trinity School in Ilchester, she also served in the Archdiocese of Washington and Kenya, where she worked with children with disabilities and helped people start small businesses.