catholic relief services

Conflict in Iraq and Syria has driven millions from their homes, and Baltimore's international aid community is doing what it can to help.

The brutal civil war that has embroiled Syria entered its fifth year last week. Once a vibrant hub of Middle Eastern culture and history, and one of the most stable countries in the region, it is now instead a scene of death and destruction. With a shattered economy, Syria now mainly produces refugees.

The west side, Market Center, UniverCity Center, the Bromo Arts District — officials aren't quite sure what to call the blocks just west of downtown, where hundreds of publicly-owned properties lie vacant and deteriorating in depressing testimony to one of the city's biggest failed urban renewal efforts. But they're trying out different tag lines, as the city and other major landlords ease their grip on the neighborhood and turn it back to private hands, in hopes one will soon fit.

It's one thing to view Cuba in geopolitical terms. It's quite another to watch barefoot children playing baseball on a dirt field with homemade bats and balls.

This Thanksgiving put an extra chair at your table and make room for a "silent guest." That guest can be one of the world's 805 million hungry people. The "silent guest" tradition goes back to the autumn of 1947, when families across America rallied to feed the hungry in Europe. People across the country pitched in, collecting enough food to feed a silent guest at their tables. They filled carloads of the Friendship Train with food to send overseas. Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Johns Hopkins researchers say Ebola may not have spread so widely across West Africa if better trust had been in place between communities and public health officials.

Goodwill, Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, Catholic Relief Services, The Associated received millions in private donations in 2013

You won't find what you expect at the third annual Charm City Fringe Fest, and that's the idea.

Maryland is home to one of the nation's largest populations of West Africans, and the community is closely watching the Ebola outbreak in their home countries and looking for ways to help.

Baltimore-based book bank is collecting textbooks for children in Ebola-stricken country.

As people of different faiths gathered Sunday at the Baltimore Basilica for a prayer service for peace in Iraq, Archbishop William E. Lori implored the crowd to keep praying after news of the crisis no longer dominates headlines.

Archbishop William E. Lori invites religious leaders throughout our city and state to join him, parishioners of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and all people of good will for an inter-religious and ecumenical prayer service on Sunday, August 24, at 2 p.m. at the Basilica in downtown Baltimore. Though we may differ in our beliefs, we are united by a common desire for peace and by our belief in the power of prayer.

Slowing the growth of overpopulated, impoverished countries could help curb hunger, too

In times of emergency, the U.S. government and the American people respond vigorously and generously. But food aid is not only about such short-term responses. Long term development work can help prevent or lessen the impact of these emergencies.

We are marking a solemn anniversary: three years since the beginning of the war in Syria. To many in the United States, this conflict can seem overwhelming or even hopeless, yet there are signs of hope among the despair.

On a recent Thursday evening, my husband and I went to The Ivy Bookshop to hear Patty Dann read from her latest novel, Starfish" (Greenpoint Press, 2013). It's the sequel to Dann's novel "Mermaids," known to many through its popular movie adaptation starring Winona Ryder, Bob Hoskins, Christina Ricci and Cher.

Monsignor Roland Pierre Bordelon, a retired career Catholic Relief Services director, died of dementia Dec. 18 at the Charlestown Retirement Community. The former Mount Vernon resident was 87.

Chances are, unless you have a particular interest in the continent of Africa, you may have never heard of the Central African Republic. But you should be paying attention because there is a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions occurring there.

Local nonprofits have commenced operations on Haiyan relief efforts in the Philippines.

The U.S. must render whatever assistance it can to the victims of Friday's typhoon in the Philippines as the death toll continues to rise

President Barack Obama has nominated Ken Hackett, the humanitarian who served as president of Catholic Relief Services between 1993 and 2011, as the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.

Head of Catholic Relief Services says we must be vigilant against a leading killer of children

Nelson Carey, the genial publican at Belvedere Square's Grand Cru wine bar, is filled with off-beat and interesting wine trivia.

Surprise turned into joy as Baltimore Catholics celebrated the election of the first Hispanic and first Jesuit ever elected pope, saying it offered an often hidebound church a chance of rejuvenation.

Peace Corps Week is coming up Feb. 24 to March 2. We profile three past Peace Corp volunteers from Roland Park.

As we celebrate the Ravens in the Super Bowl, let's also celebrate our work in disease fighting and economic development around the world

Roman Catholic bishops convening in Baltimore joined students and volunteers to transform a Harbor East hotel corridor into a food packing operation to benefit West African orphans and battered women.