Student volunteers
Students at St. John the Baptist School in El
Cerrito model the limited-edition T shirt designed by one of their
schoolmates which they sold at the parish festival to raise funds
for community building activities on campus. They are from left, Andrew
Beasley, grade 7; Kailey Walker, grade 8; Madison Schram, grade 4;
Thomas Arouge, grade 7; Tatiana Luevano, grade 4; Veronica Molinar,
grade 7; and Jonae Gonzales, grade 8. They also sold raffle tickets
to benefit the school’s computer program. |
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Honoring
Our Lady
of Fatima
Members of St. Edward Parish in Newark walk
in procession with a statue of Our Lady of Fatima during the annual
Nossa Senora de Fatima celebration, Sept. 23-25, organized by the
Portuguese Cultural Center. The event included a Saturday evening
rosary and a Sunday Mass celebrated by Father Hugo Franca, parochial
administrator of St. John the Baptist Parish in San Lorenzo.
BEATRIZ BULCAO PHOTO |
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Ignatian Exercises
Since 1998, Alameda’s St. Joseph Basilica Parish
Community has offered an experience of Ignatian spirituality to parishioners
of the Oakland Diocese and beyond. St. Ignatius of Loyola created the
Spiritual Exercises over 400 years ago as a 30-day retreat to enable people
to deepen their prayer lives, but wisely offered a “Nineteenth Annotation”
to permit adaptations for those unable to spend a month away from family
and work.
At St. Joseph’s, a team led by Holy Names Sister Barbara Williams
has provided various adaptations designed to be accessible to Christians
living in a busy world. Intensive weekend experiences are offered, from
Friday night until Sunday afternoon, over a period of several months. Each
weekend is free-standing (people can attend one or more) and focuses on
a different aspect of the Spiritual Exercises. The weekend includes input,
guided meditation, journaling, sharing, and tools for discernment.
The next retreat is Nov. 13-15 (“A Call to Deeper Conversion: Experiencing
the Merciful Love of God.”) Advance registration is required by
Nov. 10. Suggested donation is $75.
Additional weekends will be offered Jan. 22-24, (“A Call to Discipleship:
Experiencing Intimacy with Jesus”), and April 16-18, (“A Call
to Compassion and Conversion: Experiencing Death and Resurrection with
Jesus”).
Bishop joins Sheen cause
Oakland Bishop Salvatore Cordileone recently
joined the Episcopal Advisory Board of The Archbishop Fulton John Sheen
Foundation that is working for beatification of the late author, evangelist,
missionary, and radio/TV personality. Archbishop Sheen is best known for
his “The Catholic Hour” radio program and “Life Is Worth
Living” TV series that aired from the 1930s well into the 1950s.
The cause for his beatification and canonization was opened in 2002. Dec.
9 will mark the 30th anniversary of his death. For more information, visit
the Foundation’s website at www.archbishopsheencause.org.
Around
the Parishes
Some 1500 parishioners at Christ the King Parish
in Pleasant Hill signed a statement, Oct. 25, in support of U.S. women
religious as their communities face “investigations” by the
Vatican. The statement recognized the Sisters’ decades of devoted
service in education, health care and ministry to the poor and marginalized.
“We sign in gratitude for their decades of untiring work to bring
about peace and justice, both locally and globally. . . . It is our hope
that the two investigations of our Sisters by the Vatican will ultimately
conclude with a celebration of these remarkable, heroic women, and official
recognition of the abundance of gifts and graces they contribute to our
lives as well as to the vitality of the Roman Catholic Church throughout
the world,” the statement read.
The Church of the Good Shepherd in Pittsburg has been serving the
community as a distribution site for the Brown Bag Program, an outreach
effort of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, since January.
Through this program, the parish gets bags of food and groceries into
the hands of low-income seniors. Currently the site serves approximately
108 individuals/households. Most of the 33 volunteers are from the parish.
A new multi-parish group for young adults ages 18 though 20s sponsored
by five parishes in Fremont and Livermore officially begins this month.
Called “Launch,” the group will offer monthly “Mass
and Movie,” weekly “Catechism and Conversation” meetings,
social activities, retreats and travel opportunities. Inaugural activities
are “C&C” gatherings Nov. 15 and 22 at Holy Spirit Church
in Fremont at 3 p.m. Father Jim Sullivan, parochial vicar at Our
Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Fremont, will lead the gatherings, which
are open to all young adults in the diocese. For more information, contact
Father Sullivan at launchoakland@hotmail.com
or (510) 657-4043.
During Thanksgiving Week (Nov. 23-30) St. Ignatius Parish in Antioch
will partner with Community Presbyterian Church in Pittsburg to
offer a safe haven and meals to homeless families through the Winter Nights
Rotating Family Shelter. Shelter guests will stay at Community Presbyterian
and St. Ignatius will assist with food, supplies and volunteers. On Thanksgiving
Day shelter guests will be invited to the Antioch parish’s second
annual Thanksgiving dinner in the parish hall.
Members of the pastoral and finance committees at the Church of the
Transfiguration in Castro Valley raised their shovels and joined pastor,
Father Mario Borges, on Oct. 25 for a groundbreaking ceremony to
mark the start of construction for a new driveway that will address concerns
for parishioners driving on to parish property from East Castro Valley
Boulevard.
Concord’s St. Bonaventure Parish has a support ministry that
reaches out to the widowed, divorced or separated. Those who would like
information about this group should contact Lori Hagge at lori@lorihagge.com
or (925) 998-8844.
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Around
the Schools
Third-graders at two Catholic elementary schools —
St. Jerome and St. John the Baptist — were among several
schools in El Cerrito to receive copies of Webster’s Dictionary
for Students by the Rotary Club of El Cerrito.
Suzanne Emelie Okada, a teacher at Richmond’s St. Cornelius
School, is one of several educators to receive a $500 grant from the
University of Phoenix Bay Area Campus. The funds will buy grammar workbooks
for her fifth-grade class.
Congratulations to Julia Gullikson, a sophomore cross country runner
from Oakland’s Holy Names High School, who ran in the 62nd
Mt. San Antonio College cross country invitational in Walnut, CA, which
drew about 25,000 participants. Gullikson finished 10th out of 151 girls.
Since his arrival at Bishop O’Dowd High School two years
ago as jazz band director, Fred Randolph has turned up the volume
for young musicians at the Oakland campus. Randolph, now director of the
music program, has infused the music program with a new beginning jazz
band class that brings professional musicians to teach master classes.
Thirty-two students from Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward
have earned AP Scholar Awards in recognition of their exceptional achievements
on AP exams. Only 18 percent of the nearly 1.7 million students worldwide
who take AP exams earn an AP Scholar Award.
Renovations were recently completed at McLean Chapel at Holy Names
University in Oakland. Funded by a bequest by Eva McLean, a 1950 alumna
who died in 2007, the renovations included improvements to the chapel’s
acoustics, the elimination of “squeaky flooring,” and beautifying
the interior of the chapel.
Robert Lassalle-Klein, associate professor of religious studies
and philosophy at Holy Names University, was recently awarded the
Spring 2010 Bannon Research Scholarship by The Center for Jesuit Education
at Santa Clara University. Lassalle-Klein, a HNU faculty member
since 2003, will be on academic leave during the spring semester working
on a manuscript on intellectual theology, and teaching and lecturing at
Santa Clara University.
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Among the Religious
Paulist Father Michael McGarry, former pastor
at Holy Spirit/Newman Hall Parish in Berkeley, has been elected
president of his religious community, formally called the Missionary Society
of St. Paul the Apostle. Father McGarry, 61, joined the Paulists in 1968
and was ordained in 1975. He served as pastor at the Berkeley parish from
1993-1999.
Dominican Sister Mary Peter Traviss has been recognized by The
Bishop John S. Cummins Institute for Catholic Thought, Culture and Action
for her contribution to Catholic higher education by naming her the second
Montini Fellow. Sister Traviss has been a teacher, high school administrator,
director of education, and professor in education. She served as director
for the Institute for Catholic Educational Leadership at the University
of San Francisco from 1989 – 2000 and was named president of Queen
of the Holy Rosary College in Fremont in 2006. Sister Traviss appeared
last week at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, where the Bishop
Cummins Institute is located, to deliver a lecture on Catholic higher
education and moral development.
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Names, News, Notes
Congratulations and many blessings to Rocco and Josephine
Battaglia, members at St. Ignatius Parish in Antioch, who are
celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary as well as Rocco’s 90th
birthday.
Forty-eight members of the Young Men’s Institute (Y.M.I.)
and their families from across the state, including representatives from
the Y.M.I. Council #8 in Oakland, took part in the Y.M.I.’s
2nd Annual Bocce Ball Tournament at Orange Park in South San Francisco,
Sept. 26. It was the Oakland team’s first appearance in the tournament,
which was won by Council #32 from South San Francisco.
The Next Step Learning Center, an adult literacy program in Oakland
sponsored by the Holy Names Sisters, celebrated its 15th anniversary
Oct. 29. Since its founding, the Center had served over 3,200 Oakland
residents and helped over 450 former high school dropouts earn full GED
certification. Over 250 East Bay residents have contributed thousands
of hours at the Center as one-on-one tutors.
Catholic Charities of the East Bay (CCEB) is in need of volunteers
to assist low-income wage earners with their income taxes. VITA (Volunteer
Income Tax Assistance) volunteers receive approximately 20 hours of
free training by the IRS in tax law and the TaxWise program to be certified
prior to preparing returns for clients. The training will be provided
in a classroom setting and online. Most classes are on Saturdays. CCEB
will operate VITA services at its Concord and Oakland sites between February
and mid-April 2010. Information: Wanica Means at (510) 768-3121 or Chi
Pham at cpham@cceb.org.
Did you know that you can help the homeless and the environment at the
same time? The Family Emergency Shelter Coalition (FESCO) in Hayward
is working with Recycle1234.com, a certified e-waste recycling center
that runs a processing plant in Union City. Recycle1234.com gives 10 cents
to FESCO for every pound of e-waste donated when a donor says they are
a “friend of FESCO.” Items can be dropped off at 33446 Western
Ave., Union City, CA 94587 Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. –
2 p.m. Infor-mation: (510) 468-2642.
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