A gift of life
A Red Cross volunteer watches over Greg Hickel
of St. Raymond Parish in Dublin during the annual blood drive organized
by the John C. Murphy Council #7987 of the Knights of Columbus at
St. Raymond Parish in November. Sixty pints of blood were collected
during the drive, named in memory of Tom Grywczynski, a fellow Knight
who died of cancer last August. The Knights have been conducting the
blood drive for the past 12 years. It will now be held in Grywczynski’s
memory. |
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Catholics help build homes
Catholics from at least five East Bay parishes were
among the volunteers and donors who helped to complete 20 new, green and
affordable homes on Oakland’s Edes Avenue for Habitat for Humanity
East Bay. A celebration of the project, which is transforming a blighted
auto salvage yard into a thriving neighborhood, took place on Dec. 12.
The new homeowners received the keys to their residences during the celebration.
Parishes participating in the Edes Avenue project were the Catholic
Community of Pleasanton, St. Joan of Arc in San Ramon, St.
John Vianney in Walnut Creek, St. Charles Borromeo in Livermore,
and St. Raymond in Dublin.
The homeowners worked with the Build-A-Thon volunteers at the site. They
had also put in 500 hours of sweat equity in the construction process
as part of their partnership with the Habitat program. Revitalizing neighborhoods
and providing ownership opportunities for families with limited incomes
is the mission of Habitat for Humanity East Bay.
Refs spread Christmas cheer
A total of 35 CYO (Catholic Youth Organization)
referees for boys basketball in Southern Alameda County raised money for
the homeless through a campaign called One Game, Many Meals (OGMM).
The referees, known as the Zebra Crew, voluntarily donated one game’s
pay toward the campaign as did about a dozen “friends” of
the Zebra Crew.
The referees include high school students, coaches, and adults from several
Catholic schools including Moreau High in Hayward, Bishop O’Dowd
in Oakland, De La Salle in Concord, as well as several public high schools.
Parishes in San Leandro, Hayward, Castro Valley, Union City, San Lorenzo,
Dublin and Oakland also contributed to the OGMM campaign.
Students experience Dickens
Over 150 7th and 8th grade students from three inner-city
elementary schools in the Oakland Diocese, accompanied by their teachers,
traveled to San Francisco last month to attend a performance of “A
Christmas Carol” at the American Conservatory Theatre. The students
from St. Cornelius School in Richmond and St. Elizabeth, St.
Martin de Porres School in Oakland, had studied the Charles Dickens’
novel in their language arts classes. The generosity of several individuals,
a corporate foundation and a local family foundation made the cultural
field trip possible.
Around
the Parishes
St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Concord will
host a memorial Mass on Jan. 21 for the late Father William Macchi,
a beloved former pastor who died in October. Bishop Emeritus John Cummins
will preside at the 7 p.m. liturgy. All are welcome.
The Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland rang in the New Year
with a series of three events. On Jan. 6 the choirs from the San Francisco
Archdiocese, Sacramento Diocese and the San Jose Diocese provided a choral
concert. On Jan. 7, Christian Brother William Woeger, artistic
consultant to the cathedral, lectured on the art inside the building and
on Jan. 8 architect Craig Hartman discussed his design of the cathedral.
Volunteers came to the cathedral’s Legal Justice Center to
serve at a Dec. 19 soup kitchen for the hungry in the parish hall. Besides
meals for the seated guests, the volunteers delivered food to homeless
shelters. The Legal Justice Center, founded by attorney Jayne Fleming
of Reed Smith LLP, provides advice and legal clinics to indigent and
low-income individuals.
Richmond’s St. Mark Parish brought joy to the city’s
“Iron Triangle” neighborhood by distributing toy gifts for
some 235 low-income families last month.
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Around
the Schools
Students at Christ the King School (CTK) in Pleasant
Hill continued the community’s 20-year tradition of participating
in the “Giving Tree” project for St. Boniface Parish in San
Francisco. For the past three years the San Francisco Police Department
has partnered with the school for this Christmas outreach. On Dec. 17,
Capt. Dan McDonagh and other members of the police department arrived
with lights and sirens at the school to pick up the donated gifts that
were loaded into cars, vans and even a bomb squad truck for the trip back
to St. Boniface.
Three of the four middle school students at Oakland’s St. Martin
de Porres School who participated in the Young Musicians Program (YMP)
at U.C. Berkeley last summer are now continuing in the yearlong program,
thanks to support from Frederica Von Stade, the well known mezzo-soprano,
and Daisy Newman, YMP director.
For the 10th year in a row, the third grade class at St. Philip Neri
School in Alameda has worked to support UNICEF. Under the supervision
of teacher Brooke Turner, the 27 students helped bake cookies and cupcakes
for sale. They had also asked for UNICEF donations during their Halloween
Trick or Treat. All of their work netted $950 for the UN agency.
Students at Queen of All Saints School in Concord recently donated
$500 to the John Muir Cancer Institute in Concord. They raised
the money by having Jean Day Fridays in which students were allowed to
wear jeans to school in exchange for a $1 donation. Fourth grade students
presented the funds and the class was treated to a tour of the cancer
facility and viewed a CT scan machine up close.
Andrew David King, a student at Moreau Catholic High School
in Hayward, is one of two students who took second place in the 2009
“Freedom in Academia” high school essay contest sponsored
by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. King won a $2,500
scholarship for his essay, “In Clear and Present Danger: The State
of Personal Liberty in America,” in which he investigates the threat
to free thought and human dignity posed by censorship at universities.
Also at Moreau, faculty, staff and students donated 420 gifts and
gift cards, and 50 items of clothing to the 2009 Salvation Army Toy Drive.
Concord’s De La Salle High School football team defeated
Crenshaw-Los Angeles 28-14 in the California Interscholastic Federation
(CIF) state championship Open Division Bowl on Dec. 19 at the Home Depot
Center in Carson.
Salesian High School in Richmond has a new online photo album on
Flickr (www.flickr.com) called “Picture This, Salesian!” Recent
photos include a peek at the work of students in an art class and a group
shot of the varsity basketball team.
The Knights of Columbus at St. Raymond Parish in Dublin shared
the proceeds from the sales of fireworks with St. Raymond School. Grand
Knight Matt Troiano presented a check for $7,000 to principal Madeleine
de la Fontaine at a recent meeting of the school board. Father
Bob McCann, St. Raymond pastor, was present at the meeting and thanked
the Knights for their generosity.
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Names, News, Notes
Congratulations to Myrna and Richard Barnes,
who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows at
Our Lady of Mercy Church in Point Richmond on Dec. 12. They wed
at the same church in 1959.
Richard Lane, an African American Catholic evangelist, spoke to
students at the School for Pastoral Ministry in November about the need
of the laity to evangelize and bring the Gospel to all people.
Over the past 20 years, A Friendly Place/Manor, a transitional
housing and day shelter for homeless women in downtown Oakland, recently
summarized some of the services provided at the site. These included:
364,000 cups of coffee served, 46,800 showers taken, and 37,500 loads
of laundry done. The program is run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of
Carondelet.
Catholic Charities of the East Bay (CCEB) distributed 1,400 turkeys
during its seventh annual Christmas give-away. The turkeys were given
to local organizations in the East Bay which, in turn, gave them to those
in need. John McMahon spearheaded the give-away, a joint project
of his employer, Merrill Lynch, and CCEB. Over the last six years, CCEB
has distributed an average of 1,584 turkeys annually to over 35 organizations.
Attention married couples!!! Are you interested in experiencing new romance,
deeper communication, and feeling closer to your spouse? Consider participating
in a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend. The next weekend in
the Oakland Diocese is Feb. 19 – 22. For more information, contact
Ray and Roberta Montes at (510) 351-2649 evenings after 6 p.m., or visit
www.lovemoredeeply.org.
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