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Crosier Brother Jim Lewandowski

On Tuesday, I went to Sacred Heart Parish to meet with Crosier Brother Jim Lewandowski about immigration services his order is offering the community.

We spoke for a long time, and afterward I took this portrait photo of him. I wanted to capture the smallness of his working area, but I think that might be hard to see. He works in a trailer, basically, that can’t be more than 10 feet wide. He shares the trailer with the parish St. Vincent de Paul chapter and he meets with families looking to become legal residents, immigrate family members or become U.S. citizens. He meets them at all hours by appointment. He even meets with family members in prison.

As far as the portrait goes, I tried to utilize the “rule of thirds.” To understand this rule, you divide the photograph up by thirds, both horizontally and vertically. You want to shoot your photo so that your point of emphasis is on one of the crossings or intersections of the “thirds.” Each photo will have four such intersections. Read the end of this entry …

A first-grader at Pope John XXIII says "thank you."

Remember that old trick of learning to spell “principal” by thinking that “the principal of my school is my pal”? Well, today, see if you can’t find a way to really make the principal of your school or your child’s school feel special — like your pal — as it is National Catholic School Principal Appreciation Day.

“School administration is one of the most challenging ministries in the Church today,” according to the National Catholic Educational Association. They oversee hundreds of people from the youngest learner to teachers, to staff and parents. And it’s their enthusiastic leadership that factors into success for each student and for the school community.

The Diocese of Phoenix has 30-some hard-working principals leading children in the basics of faith and knowledge. MaryBeth Mueller, superintendent of Catholic schools for the diocese, expressed her appreciation for their leadership.

“We have great administrators who work hard to make the best school for our children,” Mueller said.

Take a moment to pray for the challenges and joys of their job. 

Now check out how two schools celebrated. I read in the Our Lady of Mount Carmel school bulletin that the students honored Dr. Vincent Sheridan during their weekly liturgy in Tempe yesterday, but don’t know the specifics.

Christina Bernier’s day started with a steady stream of students flowing into her office at Pope John XXIII School in Scottsdale. Each student placed a single-stemmed flower in a vase on her desk. Bernier is in her first year of leadership at the school.

Students at each grade level also sent cards and letters of acknowledgment to both Bernier and Elissa Muhlbauer, the school’s assistant principal. The first graders dedicated their computer class time to both women making the following images (and the one above) for her.

    

 

Some 500 runners and walkers took part in the first Race for Maggie's Place Nov. 16

After reaching at least double, if not triple the number of targeted runners/walkers in the first Race for Maggie’s Place, staff members are calling the fundraising venture a success.

I haven’t heard official numbers yet, but one organizer said over 500 and another guessed 600 people laced up their running shoes Nov. 16 for a 3k walk or 9k run around Kiwanis Park in Tempe.

Multiply that by $20 for the registration fee and that equals at least $10,000. That money and the in-kind donations dropped off near registration will go a long way in supporting pregnant moms and their newborns on their journey to self-sufficiency.

People of all ages turned out for the event including dozens of kids in strollers.

The race management company only tracked the ages and times of the runners, however. Men, women and children ages 10 to 78 circled the lake and playing fields three times to complete the 9k.

Congratulations to Read the end of this entry …

It went like this: Fr. Jay Scott Newman, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Greenville, South Carolina, wrote in his bulletin that those who voted for Barack Obama should go to confession before receiving Communion.

Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ’s Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.

A local newspaper picked up the story, which was then picked up by the Associated Press and linked to by a number of popular sites like the Drudge Report. Many of them linked to the article or bulletin with headlines like: SC priest: No Communion for Obama supporters, which implied that Fr. Newman was refusing to distribute Communion to Obama supporters.

That was never the case, he later clarified on his parish’s Web site. But, then, his diocese — which presently does not have a bishop —  a statement made by Msgr. Martin T. Laughlin, the diocesan administrator.

The statement comes in either PDF or video form and is featured on the Diocesan Web site front page. It also has replaced Fr. Newman’s clarification; St. Mary’s Web site now merely links to the diocesan one for those “responding to the AP story.” The statement reads in part:

This past week, the Catholic Church’s clear, moral teaching on the evil of abortion has been pulled into the partisan political arena. The recent comments of Father Jay Scott Newman, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville, S.C., have diverted the focus from the Church’s clear position against abortion.  As Administrator of the Diocese of Charleston, let me state with clarity that Father Newman’s statements do not adequately reflect the Catholic Church’s teachings.  Any comments or statements to the contrary are repudiated.

Sure, the election may be over, but the Catholic discussion of what the election means is probably only going to heat up. And all this may look like small potatoes if FOCA is pushed through.

US bishops' comprehensive immigration reform campaign

WASHINGTON — A recent Zogby poll of Catholics nationwide showed overwhelming support for reform of the nation’s immigration laws, with Catholics supporting a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million people in the country illegally.

The poll conducted Oct. 17-20, included a sample of 1,000 people who self-identified as Roman Catholics and was commissioned by Migration and Refugee Services of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (MRS/USCCB). It had a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percentage points.

About 69 percent of Catholics polled supported a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, provided they register with the government; 62 percent supported the concept if they were required to learn English. The U.S. bishops have long endorsed a path to citizenship for undocumented persons that would include requirements to register with the government and to learn English. Read the end of this entry …