Boxing champ
Danilo Garcia, a 2006 graduate of St. Mary’s
High School in Berkeley, is part of the West Point boxing team that
won its first National Collegiate Boxing Association club boxing championship
during April 10-12 competition in Reno, Nev. Freshman Garcia also
won an individual title, the first plebe in Army history to do so. |
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Holy Spirit
Parish
continues a tradition
Kimberly Dutrow, this year’s Holy Spirit
festival queen, stands with Father Mathew Vellankal, pastor, to promote
the Fremont parish’s annual Holy Spirit festival, May 17 and
18. The festival will include an 11 a.m. procession on May 18 down
Fremont Blvd. to the church, followed by a solemn High Mass. The festival
was first celebrated on Pentecost, May 29, 1887, in thanksgiving of
the parish’s first year and to honor the Holy Spirit, for which
the parish is named.
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Reaching the Big 1-4-0
Oakland’s Holy Names High School will celebrate
its 140th year in Oakland with a Fun Walk on May 10. Participants will
gather at 9 a.m. at the high school on 4660 Harbord Drive for a three-and-a-half
mile trek to Snow Park at Harrison and 20th streets, across from Lake
Merritt, the original site of the all-girls school.
May 10 has long been designated as “Strawberry Day” or Founders
Day at the school, marking the date in 1868 when six Holy Names Sisters
arrived in San Francisco after a long month’s journey by sea and
land from Canada. They were served strawberries and cream at their first
meal and this year’s celebration will also feature strawberries.
The Sisters were invited to the East Bay by Father Michael King, pastor
at Oakland’s St. Mary Parish, to begin a mission of education and
service that has endured for the past 140 years. At their convent near
the shores of Lake Merritt, they opened a school that included a high
school program. Holy Names High School shared the Lake Merritt campus
with Holy Names College until 1931 when the school moved to Harbord Drive.
Speakers at the Snow Park festivities will include Holy Names Sister Sally
Slyngstad, principal and 1965 graduate; Deborah Edgerly, Oakland City
Manager and 1970 graduate; Jane Brunner, an Oakland City Councilmember;
Seenean Wilson ’77, outgoing alumnae board president; and Monica
Andrade, ’92, new alumnae board president.
CYO volleyball playoffs
Twenty-four teams, representing four leagues, competed
in the recent diocesan CYO girls’ volleyball playoffs. In the eighth-grade
championship match, St. Elizabeth in Oakland defeated St. Theresa
in Oakland, 25-19 and 25-17. The team also won previous sixth-grade
and seventh-grade championships.
In the seventh-grade championship, the School of the Madeleine in Berkeley
defeated Corpus Christi in Piedmont in a final match that was played
to three games, 26-24, 23-25, and 15-13.
In the sixth-grade championship match, that also went to three games,
Corpus Christi in Piedmont defeated St. Lawrence O’Toole
in Oakland, 23-25, 25-12, 15-7.
The annual championship games were played at St. Elizabeth and St. John
the Baptist in San Lorenzo. During the CYO volleyball season, more than
1000 girls played on 125 teams.
A papal visit album
Last month Greg Tarczynski, an Oakland photographer
whose work is often seen in The Catholic Voice, was one of several hundred
photographers who helped to chronicle Pope Benedict XVI’s visit
to the U.S. Now Tarczynski, a graduate of the Dominican School of Philosophy
and Theology (DSPT) in Berkeley, is sharing his online photo gallery with
everyone who would like to take another look at the Washington, D.C. leg
of the pontiff’s trip.
You can visit the photographer’s online galleries at http://www.t-stock.org
which highlight the Holy Father’s visit to the Catholic University
of America and his popemobile appearances on Pennsylvania Avenue and near
the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Prints
may be purchased of any of the photos as well as custom souvenirs such
as coffee mugs and greeting cards with photos of Pope Benedict XVI.
Around
the Parishes
Our Lady of Grace Parish in Castro Valley will
offer a Triduum of Masses on May 12, 13 and 14 to celebrate and remember
mothers, both living and deceased, of parish members.
Speaking of mothers . . . members at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in
Livermore honored Mary with a crowning at the 9:30 a.m. Mass on May
4. The faith formation children of the parish will also celebrate a crowning/rosary
liturgy tomorrow (May 6) at 7 p.m., May 7 at 3:30 p.m., and May 8 at 3:45
p.m. Anyone in the diocese interested in joining the parish for these
celebrations is welcome to attend.
The social justice committee at Christ the King Parish in Pleasant
Hill is requesting donations of diapers for its annual Mother’s
Day Collection. Contributions will go to the Monument Crisis Center in
Concord.
Parishioners at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Brentwood, which
recently started celebrating a Latin Mass, are seeking additional candles
and a crucifix for use on the altar. If you can help, contact David Nahm
at (925) 516-5880.
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Around
the Schools
A big round of applause for the 1st and 2nd grade students
at Queen of All Saints School in Concord who raised money for Get
On The Bus, a program that takes children to visit their incarcerated
parents for Mother’s and Father’s Day. The Concord students
brought in their pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters and raised $300.
Congratulations to Shaye Brennan, Christina Gaumer, and
Claudia Tang, sixth graders at All Saints School in Hayward,
who qualified for the West Coast Nationals of the Sally Ride TOYchallenge
in San Diego, May 31. The Hayward students have developed a geography
game that they will have to demonstrate is both fun and educational.
Hats off to Girl Scout Troop #34 and Brownie Troop #157 at St.
Michael School in Livermore who delivered over 250 coats, jackets
and sweaters to the One Warm Coat collection center in Tracy. The troops
made posters, planned how long the drive would last, where the donations
would be collected and stored, and coordinated delivery. Together they
learned a great deal about community service, planning and team work.
English and art students at St. Elizabeth High School in Oakland
are looking forward to the latest issue of “Clatter,” a magazine
of student writing and art that won a 2007 American Scholastic Press Award.
The May issue of the literary magazine has inspired a mixed-media production
called “The Delivery Room.” This production, which will take
place on campus on May 13, will be part art show, part poetry reading
and part light show.
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Among the Religious
Father Robert Rien, parochial administrator at
St. Ignatius Parish in Antioch and a chaplain for the Antioch Police
Department, recently attended a regional seminar sponsored by the International
Conference of Police Chaplains in Las Vegas.
The Blessed Junipero Serra Region of the Secular Franciscan Order
recently elected a new regional executive council: Cindy Wesley of Gualala,
regional minister; Mikaela Shin of San Jose, vice minister; and Kathleen
Molaro of Grass Valley, secretary. The Secular Franciscan Order is a Catholic
order of single and married members who strive to follow the Gospel in
the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi.
The Holy Trinity Trappist Monastery in Huntsville, Utah, will host
two “Live-in Experience” vocational retreats, June 11 –
15 and Aug. 6 – 10. Participants will work and pray with the monks
on their 2000-acre farm. There is no cost, but space is limited. For more
information, call 1-800-221-1807.
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Names, News, Notes
Edna Wade, a longtime teacher at Queen of
All Saints School in Concord, died April 17 at age 90. The Boston
native, who taught first grade for decades before retiring in 1982, is
also fondly remembered for her annual school musicals such as “The
King and I” and “The Sound of Music.” Survivors include
two daughters, five sons, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
VOLUNTEER ALERT #1!: Birthright of San Lorenzo, a crisis pregnancy
center, needs volunteers and donations. Contact the center at (510) 481-9677.
VOLUNTEER ALERT #2! Volunteers are needed to help seniors with companionship,
transportation to and from medical appointments, errands and grocery shopping,
respite care, and minor home repairs and yard work. The volunteer effort
is coordinated through the Caring Hands Volunteer Caregivers Program
at John Muir Medical Center in Concord. A volunteer training will
be held May 30 from 8:45 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. An orientation interview
and pre-registration by May 16 is required. For more information contact
Caring Hands at (925) 952-2999 or visit the website at www.johnmuirhealth.com/caring_hands.
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