It all started Saturday morning as Daniel and I were driving to his First Communion Workshop.

It’s not St. Patrick’s Day until I’ve filled the house with the smell of freshly baked Irish soda bread, full of that distinctive caraway seed flavor and the soft raisins. Yum.

Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore will have a special opportunity to go to confession on a Day of Reconcilation, scheduled for March 19.

“(The future priest) must have the ability to see where mercy is needed and the healthy zeal to make himself readily available to apply the healing balm of God’s mercy with the love of a genuine father and pastor,” Archbishop Pierre said.

A funeral Mass was offered March 10 for Sister of Mercy Mary Madonna Gies at the Villa in Timonium. A Baltimore native who spent most of her ministry teaching in area schools, she died March 7 at age 89 after 72 years as a Sister of Mercy.