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New gardens at
St. Anne Church
New landscaped gardens at St. Anne Church in
Union City include this statue of St. Anne with her young child, the
Virgin Mary, at her side. The prayer gardens were dedicated after
Mass on March 6 by Bishop Emeritus John Cummins and Father Geoffrey
Baraan, pastor. The gardens were made possible through a generous
gift from the late Helen Everitt, a long-time parishioner. A statue
of the Holy Family also graces the gardens.
ALFRED ALIPIO JOCSON PHOTO |
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A day of service
All the students at Oakland’s St. Elizabeth
High School contributed to a day of community service at 13 Bay Area
sites. ABOVE: Alma Padilla helps a kindergarten student at St. Martin
de Porres School in Oakland with her coloring project. RIGHT: Jonathan
Rafael and Anthony Bowie clean up the yard at Catholic Worker House, also in Oakland. |
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Recycle eWaste for free
To mark the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the Society
of St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County (SVDP) has teamed up with
Pacific Coast Farmer’s Markets to provide free eWaste collections
at the Jack London Square Farmer’s April 18 and 25 from 9 a.m. –
2 p.m.
SVDP’s eWaste effort, known as WasteNot, has provided job training
to individuals while diverting nearly a half a million pounds of electronics
from landfills. WasteNot accepts a wide range of eWaste including such
items as televisions, computers, laptops, monitors and cell phones. Items
will be recycled through a certified recycler. For more information, visit
www.svdp-alameda.org/electronics.php
or call (510) 638-7600.
School of service
Carondelet High School in Concord has been named
an exemplary school of service by the Jefferson Awards, Students in Action
Program for the State of California. The award was announced at the program’s
spring leadership training at Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo.
Justine Bie, Olivia Fernandes, Anabella Fosbery and Ashley See
accepted the honor from Robert Ford, the national executive director,
and Dina Bartello, the regional director.
The school raised $5,000 for Get On The Bus program as well as logging
over 59,000 service hours by the senior class. The students also recruited
Arroyo High School to be part of the Students in Action Program. Justine
Bie and Courtney Gegg, the senior leaders, along with their
moderator, Honey O’Leary, will be the guests of the National
Jefferson Awards Program at a June ceremony in Washington, D.C.
Sports successes
The recent CYO (Catholic Youth Organi-zation) playoffs
included 124 teams in girls’ volleyball, girls’ basketball
and boys’ basketball.
Twenty-four teams from four leagues took part in the volleyball playoffs.
The 6th grade team at St. Theresa in Oakland and the 7th- and 8th-grade
teams at Corpus Christi in Piedmont, won the volleyball championships
in their respective grade levels.
Sixty teams participated in the boys’ basketball playoffs. The winning
teams are: the 4th-grade teams at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Brentwood
(Division A) and St. Perpetua, Lafayette (Division AA); the 5th
grade teams of St. Bonaventure, Concord (A) and St. Bede, Hayward
(AA); 6th-grade teams at St. Leo the Great, Oakland (A) and St.
Bede, Hayward (AA); the 7th-grade teams at St. Martin de Porres, Oakland
(A) and St. Perpetua, Lafayette (AA); and the 8th-grade teams at
St. Ignatius, Antioch (A) and St. Perpetua, Lafayette (AA).
Forty teams participated in the girls’ basketball playoffs for the
eastern part of the diocese. The champions are the 4th-grade team at St.
Perpetua, Lafayette; 5th-grade team at Holy Rosary in Antioch;
6th-grade team at St. Anne, Byron; 7th-grade team at St. Mary,
Walnut Creek; and 8th-grade team at Holy Rosary, Antioch.
Playoff games for the girls’ basketball teams in the western half
of the diocese will take place in May. For complete results of all CYO
games visit: www.oaklandcyo.org.
After a historic run to the “Sweet 16” of the NCAA men’s
basketball tournament, the men’s basketball team at St. Mary’s
College in Moraga ended with a loss to Baylor, 72-49, on March 26.
Despite the stunning loss, the entire East Bay applauded the Cinderella
story of the small town team that made big plays in the post-season. Go
Gaels!
Another Lasallian school, St. Mary’s College High School in Berkeley,
also made big news when both its boys’ and girls’ basketball
teams became Division IV northern regional champs in the California Interscholastic
Federation (CIF) last month. The school community gathered on campus March
25 to send the teams off to the big game in southern California. The boys’
team fell to Price-Los Angeles, 69-51, while the girls’ team lost
to Harvard-Westlake, 58-44.
Meanwhile the boys’ basketball team at Oakland’s Bishop
O’Dowd High School lost a thriller in overtime to Serra-Gardena,
63-59, in the Division III championship game. The basketball team at Carondelet
High School in Concord lost to Mater Dei-Santa Ana, 58-43, in the
CIF Division II state championships.
The basketball teams at Alameda’s St. Joseph Notre Dame High
School also saw some post-season play, appearing in three rounds of
playoffs — the BSAL (Bay Shore Athletic League), the North Coast
Section playoffs and in the CIF Northern California championship playoffs.
The girls’ team progressed further in the NorCal championship playoffs
than any previous SJND girls’ basketball team before losing in the
quarter finals to Pinewood-Los Altos. The boys’ team played in the
NorCal championship semi-final game before losing to University-San Francisco
in overtime.
Around
the Parishes
Several hundred people, including religious and community
leaders, gathered March 18 at Oakland’s St. Columba Parish,
to show their support for effective violence prevention programs in the
city. The meeting was sponsored by Oakland Community Organizations
(OCO) which called on elected officials to increase funding for additional
outreach workers to meet with gang members to convince them to abandon
their lives of crime. OCO has been working with the Oakland Police Department
and the city’s Department of Human Services to develop and support
a strategy of focused intervention with gang members.
Inspired by the ongoing worldwide observation of the Year of the Priest,
members of the faith enrichment team at St. Michael Parish in Livermore
will collect pledges of prayer for vocations. After Masses April 17-18,
parishioners will indicate whether they will pray on a daily, weekly or
monthly basis for this intention. They will sign their name on a “prayer
ticket,” giving a portion to the team and keeping a section as a
reminder of the prayer pledge. The ticket stubs will be attached to a
prayer board in the church as a further reminder.
Members at St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Berkeley gathered over 300
postcards in response to the U.S. bishops’ “Justice for Immigrants”
campaign. The postcards were sent to senators and representatives in conjunction
with the March 21 march and rally in Washington, D.C. urging just and
humane immigration reform.
St. Ignatius Parish in Antioch is launching a new bereavement ministry.
Sandy Heinisch, bereavement coordinator at Immaculate Heart
of Mary Parish in Brentwood, is scheduled to speak at Masses next
weekend (April 17 – 18) inviting parishioners to consider participating
in the ministry.
Members at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Livermore recently came
together to help Jesuit Father Richard McCafferty, in residence
at the parish, celebrate his 85th birthday. The parish organized a semi-formal
evening that included the sharing of stories and photos and indulging
in birthday desserts.
The Young Ladies Institute (Y.L.I.) at All Saints Parish in
Hayward is encouraging young women to consider becoming members and
join in their spiritual and social activities. The group meets on every
third Monday of the month. Junior members may be eligible to earn scholarships
to further their education. Information: Joanne Muniz at (510) 886-3329,
Bette Dawson at (510) 538-5447 or Susan Pacheco at (510) 581-1599.
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Around
the Schools
Two students at Assumption School in San Leandro
took home honors at the San Francisco Bay Area Science Fair, March 22
– 25. Elena Aker, 8th grade, won third place in the biological
science category, and Drew Retallick, 7th grade, captured fourth
place in the physical science category. Days later Assumption 4th graders
demonstrated their science aptitude by holding a “Switchvention
convention” at the school to show off switch inventions. With guidance
from their teacher, Bridget Walsh, the students had developed company
names, logos and a “switch pitch” stating why their switch
was great.
Three students at St. Cornelius School in Richmond took top honors
in the Knights of Columbus #1499 Drug Abuse Awareness Poster Contest.
Daniel Zuniga, 6th grade, and Rhianna Barzoloski, 8th grade,
won first place, while Aniceto Leon won honorable mention in the
8 – 11-year-old category. The students received certificates and
medals.
Patrick Magno, a senior at Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward,
recently received the Gold Key Award from the Alliance for Young Artists
and Writers, considered the nation’s most prestigious recognition
program for students in visual arts and creative writing. More than 165,000
works were submitted and only 693 artworks from the region-at-large have
earned the Gold Key recognition, noted Moreau’s website.
Matthew Lapres, a senior at Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd
High School, has earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest honor
in the Boys Scouts. For his Eagle project, Lapres, a member Troop 818
in San Leandro, supervised the building of a playhouse for The Principled
Academy, a pre-school through 8th grade school that he attended.
Robie Mayberry, a 6-foot guard/forward on the girls’ basketball
team at Bishop O’Dowd High, was named the girls’ basketball
Player of the Year for the North Coast Section by Cal Hi Sports Bay Area.
Mayberry, who plans to attend Pepperdine in the fall, led the Dragons
to a 27-4 record, back-to-back Division III NCS titles, and to the California
Interscholastic Federation Northern California semifinals.
ESPN Rise has named John McArthur, center on the basketball team
at Concord’s De La Salle High School, as “CalHiSports
Athlete of the Week” for the western region for the week of March
15.
Salesian High School in Richmond sent 10 students to Youth Day
at the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim March 18, sponsored by
the Los Angeles Archdiocese. The students attended Mass celebrated by
Father Tony Ricard, charismatic storyteller and pastor of Our
Lady Star of the Sea Church in New Orleans, and joined a workshop
by Father Ricard that focused on the importance of pursuing one’s
faith after Confirmation.
Speaking of Salesian High, during Lent the Salesian Mystery Players,
a group of 25 students who recreate the last days of Christ through a
unique combination of mime, music, lighting and drama, visited several
parishes in West Contra Costa County.
Thirty-five students at Dominican Kindergarten in Fremont will
be jogging laps with some Dominican Sisters during the school’s
annual “Kinderjog” on May 7. Proceeds will benefit the technology
needs of the school, provide tuition assistance at the kindergarten and
nearby St. Joseph School, fund the Mission San Jose Dominican Sisters’
local and international missions, and St. Joseph’s Build-a-Church
Campaign. To make a tax-deductible donation or to participate in the raffle,
contact Jerlee Cadigal at (510) 796-2902 or kinderjog2010@yahoo.com.
The St. Felicitas School choir, under the direction of Neil Sugay,
performed at the annual spring concert at Moreau Catholic High School
in Hayward, March 25. This is the third year that the San Leandro school
participated in the Moreau concert.
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Names, News, Notes
Father Jay Matthews, pastor at St. Benedict
Parish in Oakland, and Jesuit Father Gregory Chisholm, pastor
at St. Patrick Parish in Oakland, joined other African American
religious leaders outside the Federal Building in downtown Oakland on
March 24 to voice their support for humane immigration reform.
Employees of the diocesan chancery raised $1,536.47 on March 17
for Catholic Relief Services’ aid programs for survivors
of the earthquake in Chile. Throughout Lent, the employees prepared potluck
lunches and donated their “lunch money” to various charities
including the George Mark Children’s House, which provides
services to families of children with life-limiting illnesses, and Oakland’s
Mercy Care and Retirement Center. They also donated shoes for Souls4Shoes
and books for the Half Pint Library Program that distributes books
to needy youth.
Some 150 members of the local Young Men’s Institute (Y.M.I.),
representing 38 councils, and their families, gathered at the Church of
the Assumption in San Leandro on March 6 for the annual Red and White
Mass, marking the 127th anniversary of the organization. Father Vince
Scott, Assumption pastor, and Father Agnel De Heredia, pastor
of All Souls Church in South San Francisco, co-concelebrated the
Mass. The liturgy included a procession of Y.M.I. banners and a symbolic
ceremony to honor current and deceased members. John Musgrove of Y.M.I.
Council #83 in San Leandro chaired the event.
VOLUNTEER ALERT! The Champion Guidance Center for Men of the St. Vincent
de Paul of Alameda County has started a soccer team to offer healthy
exercise as well as stability and support for homeless and low-income
men who attend the center. Volunteers with soccer experience are needed
to help with practices. Contact John at (510) 877-9218 for more information.
What’s on EWTN? The 24-hour Catholic television network will
broadcast Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Malta, April 17-18.
The network’s coverage will include the arrival ceremonies on April
17 at 8 a.m., a meeting with Malta’s president and other civil authorities
at 9.15 a.m., and a visit to St. Paul’s Grotto where the pope will
greet the general public at 10:45 a.m. The pontiff’s Mass at the
Floriana will air on April 18 at 1 a.m. and will be rebroadcast on April
18 at 6 p.m. EWTN will also televise the pope’s meeting with young
people at 7:45 a.m., and his departure to Rome at 9:30 a.m., both on April
18.
Other special programs on EWTN include a Christopher Close Up focusing
on Immaculee Ilibagiza, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, who
will discuss how she was able to forgive the people who murdered her family.
The program will air April 21 at 7:30 p.m. and April 24 at 2:30 a.m.
All times are Pacific Time. EWTN is carried 24 hours a day on Comcast
Ch. 229, AT and T Ch. 562, Astound Ch. 116, DISH Satellite Ch. 261 and
DirecTV Ch. 370; in Alameda, Comcast airs EWTN on Ch. 30. For more program
information, visit www.ewtn.com.
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