Atlanta's progressive Catholic community has been celebrating the life of Msgr. Henry Gracz, who died Feb. 5. Gracz championed the inclusion of Catholics of all stripes at downtown Atlanta's Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Mary Jo Tully, the first laywoman chancellor of a U.S. diocese, also contributed to the creation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Colleagues remembered her candor, talents, and fierce love of the church.
Colleagues from Catholic reform group Call to Action are remembering Robert Heineman, a staff veteran who died Dec. 13. "He believed in the possibility of the people of God, the church, to make change," said his partner Eileen.
Catholic peace and environmental activist Helen Dery Woodson, whose bold actions befuddled both the judicial system and often her fellow peace activists, died Dec. 2 at age 80.
Benedictine Sr. Patricia Crowley came from a famous Catholic family, and made her own mark as a Benedictine sister, social justice advocate, and leader in the church and community. Crowley died Oct. 14. She was 84.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, an influential figure in Democratic politics who also was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and energy secretary in the Clinton administration, died Sept. 1, according to a statement from the Richardson Center for Global Engagement.
Franciscan Fr. Brendan Forde, an Irish missionary who lived through some of the most turbulent conflicts of 20th century Latin America, including a military dictatorship in Chile and the war in El Salvador, died July 8 in his native Ireland.
El padre franciscano Brendan Forde, un misionero irlandés que vivió algunos de los conflictos más turbulentos de América Latina del siglo XX, incluso la dictadura militar en Chile y la guerra en El Salvador, murió el 8 de julio en Irlanda.
