Nonprofit Finds a New Home at Irvington Parish,Music Teacher

Nonprofit finds a new home at Irvington parish

A Baltimore nonprofit that provides shelter for the homeless is one step closer to securing its new home, making use of a vacant Catholic school.

The Baltimore City Planning Commission voted unanimously at an April 5 zoning hearing for conditional use of the former parish school at St. Joseph Passionist Monastery Church in Irvington as a convalescent home, said Mary Slicher, executive director of Project PLASE (People Lacking Ample Shelter and Employment), a nonprofit that provides housing and supportive services to the homeless.

Project PLASE works with people ages 18 and older who have depression, HIV, alcohol and drug addiction and other mental health issues, Slicher said. The nonprofit also offers education and job counseling programs.

The building would house people with “some sort of disability,” Slicher said.

“The need is great,” said Slicher, who said Project PLASE has a waiting list with 500 people.

The nonprofit is working to transform the former school building on the grounds of the Irvington parish into 60 convalescent units and 30 permanent apartments and offices for the nonprofit, Slicher said.

“The buildings we are in (five throughout the city) are inadequate,” said Slicher, a parishioner of St. Joseph’s Passionist Monastery. “We want a better space to expand.”

The parish school, established in the 19th century, became St. Bernardine Catholic School in 1997 and was one of 13 schools closed in 2010 as part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s school consolidation. The building has been vacant since 2010, said Passionist Father William Murphy, pastor of St. Joseph’s Passionist Monastery.

Project PLASE offered the parish $1.42 million for the former school building and signed a contract with the parish and the archdiocese in November 2011, Slicher said.

Once Project PLASE obtains the special use variance within the current zoning, the sale can go through. The next hearing will be before a committee of the city council, Slicher said. A date has not yet been set.

“If you have the community support and you fit what’s allowable in different regions you should be able to get the zoning,” Slicher said.

Initially, in January 2011, Slicher said the project faced resistance from the community, which stalled the project. The nonprofit has since received support from residents in the Irvington and St. Joseph communities after going door-to-door, to neighborhood meetings and community forums, Slicher said.

“There’s a lot of people who have changed their opinion,” Slicher said.

Resistance, Slicher said, was the result of misinformation as to the type of facility and people who would be moving into the neighborhood.

Tim McCarthy, a parishioner of St. Joseph Passionist Monastery, estimates that parish volunteers knocked on about 500 doors in the community and more than 300 residents signed a petition in favor of the project.

“We did everything we could to win the neighbors over during a several-month period,” said McCarthy, 69, of Catonsville. “I always felt that if we could just get the truth out there to the people that opposed us, that they would come across.”

The project is “about rehabilitation, getting their lives back on track,” McCarthy said.

Karen Taylor, president of the St. Joseph’s Community Association, said she initially had “mixed feelings” about the proposed project but has changed her mind.

Project PLASE is “a great asset to the community,” said Taylor, 43. “It is a need. If people want to realize it or not, it is a need.”

Taylor said some community residents still have “mixed feelings” about the project, which Taylor suspects will change once Project PLASE moves into the community.

Father Murphy said the vacant building costs about $100,000 a year to maintain.

“We can’t maintain this building,” Father Murphy said. “We’d like it to advance the agenda of doing good.”

Slicher said she expects renovations to cost about $6 million.

“I just need money,” Slicher said, of that cost. “I know homeless people, I know poor people.”

“This is Mary’s vocation – social work,” Father Murphy said. “You can just see God’s grace working in that way.”

Music teacher keeps others singing

By Maria Wiering [email protected]

“Feet on the floor. I see some legs crossed.”

Helen Brown turns to the upright piano and plays the opening chords. The choristers diligently follow their parts in “Singing in the Rain,” one of five pieces they were preparing to perform at an upcoming luncheon. Halfway through the song, Brown waves her hands and sends her choir back to page five, where they resume the chorus: “What a glorious feeling ….”

Brown retired from the music classroom in Baltimore City’s public schools more than 30 years ago, but she never really stopped teaching. Now 90, she gives music courses, takes classes and directs the choir at Notre Dame of Maryland University’s Renaissance Institute, which offers peer-taught courses and social activities for seniors.

She joined the institute the year it was founded, in 1989. An alumnus of what was then the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, she was eager to teach others about music, her lifelong passion.

She earned her degree in music and taught at four of Baltimore’s public schools while raising five children. Even when she retired after 35 years, she worked with Baltimore County Library’s music collection.

Since beginning with the Renaissance Institute, Brown estimates that she has taught 35 courses on topics ranging from American wartime music to opera. It was in that opera class that she asked her class to sing from George and Ira Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.” After hearing the result, she decided to form a choir three years ago.

The choir now performs for the institute twice a year – at a spring luncheon marking the end of the semester, and at a Christmas-Hanukkah-Holiday celebration. Brown carefully selects the music for each show according to the choir’s ability, and tries to add a more challenging piece each time.

A person has to share his or her talents, Brown said, a belief she applies to her students as much as to herself. When Brown wished aloud for a flute to accompany a piece, a student who had once played it volunteered to pick it up again. That student now takes lessons and plays with the choir, but she doesn’t think she would have played again if Brown hadn’t urged her to, she said.

At 61, Vickie Lapicki is the youngest in the choir, which has about 25 members. Before joining two years ago she had never read music, but she has learned a lot, thanks to Brown’s kindness and patience, she said.

“Its fun,” Lapicki said of the choir. “It’s like we’re learning an art; it’s not like we’re learning a subject.”

“Life is beautiful if people would just wake up and smell the roses. There’s so much to do,” Brown said.

And Brown does plenty. She attends the symphony, the opera and the theater, and plays for most Masses at Mercy Ridge, the retirement center where she lives. She also organizes social events for Renaissance Institute participants and serves on three of its committees. “I just love it,” she says. “This is my life and I love it.”

Stage Fright

When Leo’s preschool had their Spring Concert last week, our son performed on stage for the first time. Leo is not a shy child, but we were not sure how he would handle this entirely new situation. It turned out to be very difficult for him, and he was clearly miserable the entire time. So were his parents. I wanted so badly to rush to the front and pull Leo off the stage, but I realized that would call even more attention to his misery—and he would fear it even more the next time. And so John and I sat and prayed for the end to come—which it did, at long last. Minutes later he was confidently escorting us downstairs to show us his classroom. It was merely being on stage, and with all those people watching him, that made him anxious. Seeing Leo’s unhappiness during his performance was especially painful for me because I was terribly shy as a child. At age 4, I might have sung songs in front of my brothers and sisters, but more likely I would have entertained my doll and stuffed cow. I didn’t speak to adults besides my parents and grandmother. During my first two-and-a-half years of school I didn’t talk to any of the teachers. I still remember my first grade teacher losing her temper and yelling at me for not answering a question. She later apologized, but the incident didn’t make me any more inclined to speak to her—and I never did. For me, it was a blend of shyness and stubbornness. It took me years before I would volunteer in class. I always resented that “class participation” meant raising your hand and saying something even if you had nothing to contribute. Can’t a student participate without taking the floor? Over time I have become much less shy, though I am still very stubborn. But that happened naturally as I gained confidence along the way, not because I was forced to appear on stage. Watching Leo last week made me wonder why we insist that every child has to be a performer. Why do children need to be able to sing in public? Will our sons be better people if they are able to sing or speak on stage? Don’t they have at least a decade to develop a comfort with public speaking? Am I doing my son a disservice by forcing him to perform? Or am I doing him a greater disservice by letting him wait to perform when he is ready?

Older residents can travel the globe

By Matt Palmer [email protected] Adventure has a name, but it’s not Indiana Jones. It’s Barbara Walker, who was a world traveler before she moved into Catonsville’s Charlestown Retirement Living Community with her husband 18 years ago. Now 93 and widowed, she’s still touring mountains, traveling down ancient rivers and visiting Native American reservations. She’s showing that anyone of any age, given good health and the necessary resources, can visit locations that they’ve only seen on television or read about in books or newspapers. “My life has been one happening after another,” she said. “I’m not sure any of it was planned. “ She’s even been on all seven continents and traveled to Antarctica for the first time five years ago. Naturally curious, Walker moved frequently with her husband, Bill since he a career Army officer. The couple was married for 61 years and had one daughter. At Charlestown, Walker shares the joy of traveling with her fellow residents with films broadcast on the community’s in-house station. She also answers questions during presentations in the complex’s auditorium. “Our world is becoming so small since television has come to the fore, and, particularly now with the computers and all the social media age,” said Walker. During her travels, Walker takes a Charlestown camera with her and films many locations and people. When she returns, she edits using an Apple computer and its iMovie program. Despite requests from Charlestown staffers, Walker was hesitant to take video equipment on her personal trips. “Now I look back on it and think that was really selfish of me to have those kinds of opinions,” Walker said. “A lot of people have been to these places and they love to revisit it. A lot of people would like to travel and, for a variety of reasons, cannot. They travel vicariously through it. When I found what pleasure it was giving people, I stopped dragging my feet about it.” Her films, which have featured China and Cambodia among other countries, have become must-see programming for Charlestown residents. For all her globetrotting, Walker has not taken many photos during her lifetime of traveling. The images now reside in her mind and on a large library of DVDs in the television studio. Charlestown also has a traveling coordinator, who organizes many regional trips and cruises. Walker went on one of the trips to Point Lookout in St. Mary’s County. Walker, though not frequently, has traveled with fellow Charlestown residents to countries such as Israel. Walker’s energy often means she travels alone as part of a group, but that’s her choice. “I have really crazy sleeping habits,” she admitted, laughing hard as she talked. “I’m up early in the morning and up late at night. If you’re traveling with somebody who needs eight hours of sleep, I could be a hazard to their health. I’d hate to lose a friend, and I think I might, if I travel with them for any length of time. I seem to be more adventurous than others. If I want to go some place, I’m going.” Many of the countries she’s visited were ones she saw just after World War II. “You got outside the United States in those days and it was pretty primitive living,” she said. “People were desperately poor. The United States was not affluent itself at that time. We’ve certainly come a long way and I wanted to reassure myself that good things were happening elsewhere, too.” Walker took an early spring trip to a Native American reservation (“I saw my only snow of the winter in Arizona!”) and is ramping up for a June trip to Peru and Bolivia. She gleefully talks about her “bucket list,” and relishes her opportunities. “Health is a big issue with people as you get older,” Walker said. “I’ve been blessed with really good health. That’s the primary reason I’m able to do this.” Despite all the extraordinary things she has seen, the reason she travels is for the people. “It’s the human connection,” she said, “that makes all the difference,”

Special needs, special gifts

When John and I started our adoption journey, we talked about being open to adopting children who had some special needs. Especially if you find yourself talking about adopting children from China, you will be considering special needs – whether very minor or more significant.

Early on, our agency asked us to identify which needs we would be open to, so they could match us with a child. Initially, John and I didn’t like the idea. After all, had we given birth to a child with any need, we would have happily thanked God for blessing us with a child, and we would have raised that child with joy, finding the strength to be his or her parents.

When faced with a list, however, and with input from our doctor friend who offered invaluable guidance, we realized there were needs we didn’t feel we could handle – especially with both parents working outside the home.

Ultimately, we came up with a list of special needs we felt we could handle as a family. It was a list with a number of yeses, but sadly also some nos. And, I have to admit, there was nothing more humbling than realizing that we had limitations and didn’t feel capable of parenting a child with greater needs.

As I look back, that list of medical conditions we said “yes” to seems to have nothing to do with our sons. We are blessed with two healthy, energetic boys whose main need was to be part of our family. And, to be truthful, we probably needed them more than they ever needed us. Only God knew how much I needed to feel little arms reaching around my neck in a sudden hug or to hear a spontaneous “I love you, Mama!”

This was on my mind today when I saw a story that warmed my heart. This child, whose parents adopted her and some of her siblings from China, may have a special need, but she also has special talents and a dream to become an author. I hope this piece makes you smile.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47118899/ns/today-good_news/#.T5G5ZIHhKSo

Catholic at college

As a junior in high school I am in the process of looking at colleges. With so many options available, there are some specific things I am looking for. One thing I am looking for is somewhere I can go to be with other Catholics. Most of the colleges I’ve looked at have a Catholic church near campus and a Catholic center on campus … perfect. I would also like to be involved with the campus ministry program wherever I decide to go.

I have become very involved with my current school’s campus ministry program and it’s something I want to keep doing during my time at college.

Letter from Archbishop Lori

Dear friends in Christ,

Allow me to extend to you a personal invitation to join me on a journey of faith to the Eternal City – Rome – and the heart of our Church for a pilgrimage during which, as the new Archbishop of Baltimore, I will receive the pallium from the hand of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.

The pallium, a circular band of wool worn around the neck, is given by the Holy Father to all the newly named archbishops from around the world at a special Mass at the Vatican each year on June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.

The pallium symbolizes the care of the Good Shepherd for his people and is a symbol of our unity with the Holy Father. Pope Benedict himself explains that the pallium “recalls Christ’s lambs and sheep, which the Lord has entrusted to Peter with the task of tending to them, and also recalls Christ himself who, as the Good Shepherd, takes upon his shoulders the lost sheep – humanity – to bring them home.”

During this pilgrimage, we will pray and worship in the places of the early Christian saints and martyrs, touching the very foundations of our faith, and discovering the hidden treasures of these beautiful cities. The celebration of the Eucharist will nourish us spiritually every day. Our local Church will be linked to the Church universal through our prayer and in the person of our Holy Father, in the City made holy by the preaching and the martyrdom of the Apostles Peter and Paul.

As all of these graces approach, it is my hope and prayer that you will be able to join me on this very special pilgrimage of faith.

Faithfully in Christ,

Most Reverend William E. Lori

Archbishop-designate of Baltimore

Calvert Hall lacrosse downs Loyola Blakefield

By Catholic Review Staff

The nationally ranked boys’ lacrosse teams from Towson’s Calvert Hall College High School and Loyola Blakefield took on each other – and a higher cause – April 20.

In a game that served as a fundraiser for cancer awareness, coach Bryan Kelly’s Cardinals posted a decisive 11-6 victory over the Dons at the victors’ Paul Russo Stadium. The outcome tightened a crowded race in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference.

Calvert Hall raced out to an 8-0 lead in the second quarter. Patrick Kelly led the defending A Conference champions, with four goals and two assists. Faceoff specialist Stephen Kelly, one of several of Kelly cousins on the Cardinals’ team, won 14 of 20 draws. Calvert Hall improved to 11-2, 3-1 in the A Conference, while Loyola Blakefield dropped to 9-2, 3-1.

St. Mary’s, Annapolis, is among the other contenders in the A Conference. The conference championship game will be held May 18, at 8 p.m., at Towson University’s Johnny Unitas Stadium.

Gaels look sharp in big-league park

By Catholic Review Staff

Members of the Mount St. Joseph baseball team are accustomed to seeing their alumni thrive in major-league settings.

The current Gaels did the same April 21, when they stormed back from a six-run deficit to defeat Gilman, 12-11, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in the championship game of the second annual President’s Cup. The tournament brings together teams from parochial, private and public schools in Baltimore City.

Down 8-2, the Gaels responded with seven runs in the fifth inning. Mount St. Joseph first baseman Stephen Hostutler was named the game’s MVP, as he had three singles, reached base on a walk and scored two runs.

Coach Dave Norton’s program currently has three graduates playing in the major leagues.

New York Yankees’ first baseman Mark Teixeira has hit 30-plus home runs in each of the last eight seasons. Gavin Floyd, a right-handed starting pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, has recorded double-digit wins in each of the last four seasons. Steve Clevenger, from the Class of 2004, was hitting .556 through games of April 22 as a catcher for the Chicago Cubs.

To see a slideshow, click the arrows below.

The Lorax, environmentalism and the pope

How’s that for a convoluted blog title?

Last week I saw the movie “Dr. Suess’ The Lorax,” which had all sorts of ridiculous buzz in the run-up to its March release. Of course, in this day and age, you can’t have a big movie without people debating about its agenda. There is no hidden agenda with this movie, which is based on Dr. Suess’ classic children’s book.

It’s right up front with what it’s trying to accomplish.

Trees are good. Protect them and nature. Sing some catchy tunes along the way. The end.

We see a would-be businessman named the Once-ler possessed by greed and what happens when he puts greed above nature. He cuts down all the trees to make his latest invention. When the last tree is cut down, he’s left alone in a tower for decades until a boy comes knocking and looking for a tree.

Ted wants to bring about change and restore environmental care. The movie adds of a layer of corporate greed in a subplot about air control to show how hard it can be to be an environmentalist.

Blessed Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have been outspoken advocates for environmental protection in various ways.

Our Sunday Visitor has released a book compiling Pope Benedict’s comments on the environment over the years called, well, “The Environment.”

Back in 2009, he said: “I willingly join in spirit all who are grateful to the Lord for the fruits of the earth and the work of human hands, renewing the pressing invitation to respect the natural environment, a precious resource entrusted to our stewardship”

Pope John Paul II said the humanity’s future is tied with its current actions back in 1999.

“The world’s present and future depend on the safeguarding of creation, because of the endless interdependence between human beings and their environment.”

As Earth Day is marked April 22, people will undoubtedly debate about things such as the cause of global warming. But, let’s remember that as stewards of the earth, it is our calling to protect God’s gifts today and not be the Once-lers. Let’s be Ted.

As Seuss writes: “Unless someone like you cares an awful lot, nothing is going to get better.”

70-year-old runner still pushing for marathon best

By Maria Wiering [email protected]

ANNAPOLIS – Molly Sherwood decided to train for her first marathon at age 64. She had always wanted to try one, she said, so she signed up with a training group that organized long runs on Saturdays.

“I, of course, was the oldest one in it,” she said.

A 26.2-mile race was a big reach, and she wasn’t sure she would actually make it to race day, she said. She surprised herself by running longer distances every week.

She not only completed her first marathon – the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. – she signed up for more, and now, at age 70, is training for her fifth marathon, which she expects to run in the fall. She has also completed about 15 triathlons and numerous shorter races, and has a swath of participation medals to prove it.

Sherwood has always been active, she said, but her boost in athleticism corresponded with her retirement from a 45-year nursing career. In addition to running, she cycles, kayaks and attends weekly senior fitness classes. Her health care background helps her care for body, including in nutrition and injury recovery, she said.

“I feel very good physically, and I feel fit. It’s really a good thing to feel fit,” she said. “Emotionally, I’m a happier person. . . . It gives me a greater sense of well-being.”

Sherwood her husband, Bob, live within walking distance of their parish, St. Mary in Annapolis. Every other day, she runs six to seven miles on a route that often takes her over the Maryland Route 450 bridge, around the capital city’s historic neighborhoods and through the grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy.

In races, younger runners see her age marked on the back of her leg, and tell her they hope to be doing the same thing when they’re 70. The compliment makes her run a little faster, she said with a smile.

There may be fewer people competing in her age group, but she expects a coming influx of baby boomers to change that.

“There are more people in their late 50s or 60s who are fit; certainly more than there were 10 or 15 years ago, and certainly more than 20 years ago. It’s kind of a growing market,” she said.

Sherwood’s best marathon time is four hours, 48 minutes, but she is aiming for 4:40 this year, she said. She thinks she could complete a marathon in 4:30. Her goal is qualify for the Boston Marathon, which is held every year on the third Monday in April. The qualifying time for her age group is five hours, but faster times are eligible for earlier registration and a better chance at a spot.

“There have been great, fun things to pursue in retirement, and great fun things to learn and do, both physically and mentally. It’s really fun,” Sherwood said.

Sherwood applies the same level of commitment to language studies as she does to running. After she retired, she took Spanish classes at Anne Arundel Community College and participated in two short-term immersion classes, one in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in 2010, and the other in Quito, Ecuador, in 2011.

Now she teaches English as a Second Language in Annapolis, and is planning to teach a weeklong English class to Spanish-speaking professionals in Spain this summer – a trip she may pair with a jaunt on El Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route.

Sherwood is also a painter, and continues to work as a nurse volunteer at the Annapolis Outreach Stanton Center for uninsured patients.

Even after years of working as a hospice nurse, Sherwood said never thought about how many years she has left until turning 70. “I thought, ‘Gosh, life doesn’t go on indefinitely,’ ” she said. “Thinking about that, I thought, I feel pretty satisfied with the way I’m living my life. When my time comes, my time comes, and I’ll be happy to look back at all the things I’ve done, all the enrichment for myself, and hopefully I’ve enriched the lives of some of the other people I’ve been around.”

Retirement won’t slow legendary South Baltimore parish worker

By Elizabeth Skalski [email protected]

Carol McCain has been a mainstay at Holy Cross, Federal Hill, for more than three decades. Now, the longtime office manager is retiring – a decision influenced in part by her good health.

“I want to enjoy being able to go out with my friends,” said McCain, 65, whose last day on the job was March 29.

McCain, a parishioner of Holy Trinity, Glen Burnie, plans to spend her newfound free time with her friends and family.

“I have been working for so long,” McCain said. “I have nine grandchildren, I have an elderly mother – I would like to devote more time to them.” In celebration of the retirement, the Holy Cross office held a party March 27.

“I kinda feel like dancin’,” McCain said. “Someone said to me, ‘I’ve never seen you smile so much.’ But, I’m going to miss everyone so much – even parts of my job. I liked my relationship with the people, my interaction with parishioners.”

During her tenure, Holy Cross joined Our Lady of Good Counsel and St. Mary, Star of the Sea in Federal Hill, forming the Catholic Community of South Baltimore. She also managed Holy Cross Cemetery in Glen Burnie.

“You have to juggle,” McCain said. “You have to be able to multitask.”

In 34 years, McCain worked with six pastors and numerous associates.

One of those pastors was Auxiliary Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, a seminarian at Holy Cross from 1978 to 1979 and pastor from 1993 to 1999.

Bishop Rozanski said McCain kept a pulse on parishioners.

“She knew the community and whose family members were ill,” Bishop Rozanski said. “Carol has become one of the family here.”

Liz Linski, the church’s housekeeper and cook from 1978 to 2008 and a friend of McCain’s, said every spring McCain helped her make crab cakes for the church’s crab cake dinner.

“After working all day we’d go to the church hall until 11 or 11:30 at night to make the crab cakes,” Linski said. “She loved her job.”

Father Patrick M. Carrion, pastor of the Catholic Community of South Baltimore, said McCain’s institutional memory will be “sorely missed.”

“When someone has that many years of ministry at one parish – and now one community – the anecdotal, oral history is missed,” Father Carrion said.

LaVerne Alt, finance manager for the parish cluster, said McCain was so dedicated to her job she would sometimes “stay all hours of the night.” “She wants things completed a certain way because they are a reflection of her,” said Alt, 62. “You can’t teach someone what she knows. I don’t think she can fully be replaced.”