Monsignor Thomas Lee Phillips has gone from being a student challenged when learning Latin, a high school teacher and associate pastor to a highly regarded pastor of two area churches for nearly 40 years.

The Latin language in the Catholic Church faces two major hurdles: the increasingly exclusive access to Latin instruction worldwide and the difficulty of transmitting the ancient language’s modern value to seminarians from non-European backgrounds, said the new president of the Vatican’s Latin academy.

Celebrating a special Mass June 18 at Mount Calvary Parish in Forestville to commemorate the next day’s Juneteenth federal holiday, Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington said that historic event offers an important reminder to work for freedom and justice.

Monsignor James Farmer, a close friend of Bishop Galeone who gave the homily at his funeral, remembers the life and legacy of Bishop Galeone. Monsignor Farmer is the administrator of Immaculate Conception in Towson.

Catholics need to recover a sense of awe and adoration before the Eucharist, knowing that it is “the real and loving presence of the Lord,” Pope Francis told members of the committees organizing the National Eucharistic Revival and the National Eucharistic Congress in the United States.