April 24, 2005 VOL. 43, NO. 8Oakland, CA

Celebrating the Year of the Eucharist Kmhmu Catholics gather around the altar at St. Paul Church in San Pablo before Mass celebrated by Redemptorist Father Don MacKinnon, director of the diocesan Kmhmu/Laotian Pastoral Center (center) and Redemptorist Fathers Apicit and Wirath who were visiting from Thailand. All are holding colored candles to signify that Mass is always a celebration. The Kmhmu community has undertaken a catechetical study of the Eucharist.

New SPRED Center Bob Lyon, lecturer of Knights of Columbus Council #1615, presents a check to Mary Huston, associate director of SPRED (Special Religious Education) for its new center at St. Bede Parish in Hayward. The center focuses on the religious needs of young adults with developmental disabilities, ages 17-21. With them are, from left, Grand Knight Jerry Higgins, Bob Burnside, Columbian Foundation coordinator, and Ed Mendoza, treasurer.

Summer art camp

The Hearst Art Gallery at St. Mary’s College in Moraga is offering its second annual summer art program for elementary, intermediate and high school students. Experienced and credentialed art teachers will conduct the sessions which will include both individual artistic and team building experiences, development of drawing skills, and art history. Sessions for students ages 7-10 and 11-14 will be offered June 20 – 24 and June 27 – July 1. An art studio for high school students will be offered, July 11 – 15. For more information or to request an application, call (925) 631-4069.

Walk for Charities

Catholic Charities of the East Bay is looking for 1,000 energetic walkers to take part in its upcoming “Walk To End Poverty” around Lake Merritt on May 14 at 9 a.m.
Proceeds from the walk will be used to assist the organization’s 1,000 clients in Alameda and Contra Costa with rent payments, utility bills, food and clothing. Adam See, director of development, marketing and public policy, called the walk “a visible sign of the Church’s solidarity with the poor.”

Parishes and schools wanting to organize teams of walkers can contact Doren Martin, events coordinator, at (510) 768-3196 for pledge sheets and other sponsor materials.

Cathedral on display

Craig W. Hartman, FAIA, will present his award-winning design for the Cathedral of Christ the Light at the James Moore Theater, Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. in Oakland on May 12 at 7:30 p.m.

The work, commissioned by the Oakland Diocese, has been cited for its highly innovative use of modest materials and sustainable design strategies. The presentation is sponsored by the Council on Architecture of the Oakland Museum of California and the East Bay Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The cost is $10 at the door. The parking garage will be open.

Around the Parishes

Father Jayson Landeza, pastor at St. Columba Parish in Oakland, has appointed Rawn Harbor as the parish’s new pastoral associate. Harbor, who had been the liturgy director at St. Columba, is one of the preeminent African American Catholic liturgists and musicians in the U.S. and is a co-editor and contributor to the noted GIA African American hymnal, “Lead Me, Guide Me.” He is also the liturgy director at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley.

Congratulations to Jessica Tong, a member at St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Berkeley, who recently performed classical keyboard concertos with another young artist at the San Francisco State School of Music. Tong is a freshman at Berkeley High.

Concord’s St. Bonaventure Parish has taken part in prison ministry at the Marsh Creek Detention Facility near Clayton for close to 20 years. Each Sunday a group of lay women and men leave the church to provide the Liturgy of the Word and a Communion service at the minimum security facility.

Members at St. Michael Parish in Livermore have been gathering on the last Saturday of the month at St. Michael Cemetery to pray the Rosary, invoking Our Lady’s help in saving the lives of the unborn at risk of being aborted. The next gathering is April 30 at 10 a.m.

back to top

Around the Schools

The Dominican Kindergarten in Fremont will be hosting Kinderjog 2005, their only fundraiser for the year, on Friday, May 6. Thirty-six kindergarten students and some Dominican Sisters will jog around the kindergarten complex for pledges. Proceeds will benefit improvements to Dominican Kindergarten School, St. Joseph’s Build-a-Church Campaign, tuition assistance for Dominican Kindergarten, Vision of Hope, Circles of Caring, and the needy in the community. To make a donation, call (510) 657-4917.

Congratulations go to David Bray, 15, a sophomore at De La Salle High School in Concord, who came in fourth at the northwestern regional Science Fair in Berkeley last month. The honors biology student, who tested eight creeks in Walnut Creek for toxicity, earned a spot as a delegate and alternate at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium this week in San Diego.

A standing ovation for Mary Lou Ramirez, 8th grade teacher at St. Felicitas School in San Leandro, who recently produced another of her famous dramatic productions, a musical “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, before enthusiastic audiences in an overflowing gym. The dedicated teacher has been on the faculty for 37 years.

Did you graduate from St. Cyril Grammar School in 1955? If so, your classmates are hoping you’ll join them for a class reunion. Contact Cathy Bacina (aka Kata Bacina Patton)for details: (559) 685-1152; email:dearkata@sbcglobal.net.

back to top

Among the Religious

Msgr. Theodore Kraus, pastor at Santa Maria Parish in Orinda, has been appointed dean of deanery four of Region One (parishes in Lafayette, Orinda and Moraga). He succeeds Father John Kasper, parochial administrator at St. Perpetua Parish in Lafayette.

Father Michael Russo, a professor in the department of communications at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, used his knowledge about the papal transition and possible papal candidates to provide analysis for CBS News during last week’s conclave in Rome.

back to top

Names, News, Notes

Clement Finney, former director of facilities, planning and services for the Oakland Diocese, died April 3 at age 77. Finney, who joined the Oakland Diocese in 1963, had been responsible for the construction, maintenance, and safety of more than 500 diocesan buildings. He and his late wife, Regina, who were actively engaged in numerous community service projects, established the Christian Family Movement in the diocese.

Congratulations to Margarita and Leo Ledezma, members at St. Michael Parish in Livermore, on their 50th wedding anniversary.

Members at Berkeley’s St. Mary Magdalen Parish gathered at the 5:30 p.m. Mass on April 23 to join Traudel and John Piercy as they celebrated the 50th anniversary of their marriage.

You can support Oakland’s Elizabeth House, a Catholic Worker house of hospitality for homeless and low-income women and children in transition, by taking your appetite to the California Pizza Kitchen at 5614 Bay St. in Emeryville on April 26, 27 and 28. Twenty percent of your order will benefit the works of this community organization. For more information: (510) 654-0750.

Or if walking is more your style, you can support FESCO (Family Emergency Shelter Coalition) and help assist homeless families by signing up for the Shelter Shuffle on May 7. Participants can walk from one to three miles at the San Leandro Marina and collect pledges from sponsors. FESCO hopes to raise up to $100,000. Contact FESCO at 22245 Main St., Suite 104, Hayward, CA 94541 or phone: (510) 886-5473.

VOLUNTEER ALERT!: Birthright of Concord, a non-profit pregnancy support agency, needs volunteers in the counseling center 3-4 hours per week. Volunteers will also be needed during the summer when the center expands its office hours. A training session will be offered Saturdays, May 14 and 21 from 1 – 5 p.m. at the Birthright office at 2924 Clayton Road #3 in Concord. For more information or an application contact the office at (925) 798-7227.

VOLUNTEER ALERT!: St. Martin de Porres School in Oakland needs tutors for middle school language arts and math, particularly on Friday afternoons. Homework helpers are also needed for the after school program. Office help is welcome anytime. For more information, contact Sister Barbara Dawson, (510) 832-1757 or barbarad@cceb.org.

back to top

home