Blog (Page 13)

For Zack Fox, being in the right place at the right time usually means God has something in mind for you.  One night, he stopped off at a local supermarket to buy groceries when he noticed an elderly woman who appeared to be a victim of a gift card scam. Zack stopped the woman from spending her money.  Then he followed her home and spent two hours removing the scammer’s virus from her computer.  “I guess she trusted me,” he…

For Carmelo Cayetano, the greatest spiritual questions have to do with the mystery of the Cross.  “Why did Jesus save us?  Do we really know?” he asks.  “How can we understand Christ’s suffering for us?” Carmelo has sought answers to these questions in many ways.  Carmelo joined St. Damien Parish eight years ago.  At first, he was satisfied to attend Mass along with everyone else.  Then, he was asked to be a Eucharistic minister.  “I did not feel ready for…

Every night, Bob and Barbara Lautenschlager say the Prayer of Spouses for Each Other. “We have our discussions like everybody else,” Barbara explained, but when they conclude the prayer by asking God to Let our love grow to perfection, it is clear that their 60-year-marriage is the fulcrum of their faith. The Lautenschlagers have attended Our Lady of Good Counsel Church since 1970, the year that they moved to Ocean City from Northern Virginia.  Their service to the parish has…

Every Sunday morning, sacristan Chris Devaney enters a dark and quiet St. Augustine Church.  He prays, then starts down the east side of the church, visiting the Stations of the Cross before opening the doors.  “St. Thérèse is back there, so I spend some time with her,” he said.  He is sometimes joined by an early arriver, who shares in what Chris calls the “blessed time” before the first Mass. The peace that Chris experiences now as a Catholic adult…

The next time you pass through the parking lot of St. Frances Cabrini Church, imagine it as a schoolyard.  It was the schoolyard for Carmela Rosch, a native of Ocean City who was born in 1929 and attended the original St. Augustine Catholic School in a building that once stood at Second St. and Atlantic Ave.   “The school had four classrooms,” she explained.  “Two grades to a classroom; one nun taught both grades.”  Because the school doubled as a summertime…