September 4, 2006VOL. 44, NO. 15Oakland, CA

Lasallian educators meet
Forty Christian Brothers and 100 lay teachers from Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington, gather in front of the chapel at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, during a five-day assembly on their mission as Lasallian educators. They developed priorities that will be sent to the Christian Brothers District of San Francisco for incorporation into a five-year action plan. Priorities include sustaining projects that serve poor students, increasing low-income students’ accessibility to education, nurturing new leadership for the Christian Brothers’ schools, and responding to the needs of the growing Latino population in the western U.S.

JOHN GRAY PHOTO

Triple jump champion Ke’Nyia Richardson, a senior at Oakland’s Holy Names High School, competed last month in the triple jump at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Bejjing, China, placing 13th. In June at the CIF State Meet she placed first in the triple jump and second in the 100 Hurtles. She is the Gatorade California Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.

Honoring Deacon Barnes

The Knights of Columbus in Raleigh, NC, have created an endowment fund to honor Deacon Frank Barnes and his wife, Dorothy, who died from injuries sustained in a car accident on June 19. The couple, who lived for many years in the Oakland Diocese, had retired to Raleigh, North Carolina. The fund will provide scholarships for low-income children attending Catholic schools.
In 1978 Deacon Barnes was a member of the first group of men to be ordained to the permanent diaconate for the Oakland Diocese. Both he and his wife were actively involved in the deacon community and were known from their commitment to Catholic education. The deacon was a former bishop’s representative to the diaconate and Mrs. Barnes had served on numerous deacon community committees and was a member of the deacon personnel board.

Contributions may be sent to the Deacon Frank Barnes Endowment Fund, c/o Knights of Columbus, Council #11234/St. Catherine of Siena, 520 West Holding Ave., Wake Forest, NC 27587.

50 candles for Rodeo school

Happy Birthday Wishes go to St. Patrick School in Rodeo, which is celebrating its golden anniversary this month. Built on land donated by Mr. and Mrs. Linus Clays, the school opened its doors on Sept. 12, 1956, to 144 first to third graders. Each year a new grade was added to the school, which was staffed by the Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary from Tucson, AZ. On June 12, 1962, St. Patrick School held its first graduation and presented diplomas to 38 graduates.

Twenty years later (April 27, 1982), tragedy struck when an arson fire completely destroyed the school. Students attended classes in portables until the school was rebuilt the following year. A lasting void created by the fire was the loss of photos and other records prior to 1982. If you are an alum or an alumni family member and have photos or other memorabilia from the school’s early years, Diane Adame, development director at St. Patrick, would love to hear from you. She can be reached at (510) 799-2506.

The school’s anniversary celebration will take place Sept. 17 and all alumni and their families are invited to attend. Bishop Emeritus John Cummins will preside at the 2 p.m. Mass. A reception will follow. For more information or to RSVP: (510) 799-2506.

Life issues online

Catholics who have questions about end-of-life issues such as assisted suicide or hospice care can now turn to an online resource sponsored by the California Catholic Conference of Bishops.

Visitors to the website, www.EmbracingOurDying.com, can also find an overview of Catholic moral theology on death and dying, information on current medical and hospital practices, and a summary of the state of the law. Users can also find information about parish health ministry and other parish-based services, and downloadable advance directives.

Around the Parishes

St. Philip Neri Parish in Alameda will honor police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, airline and transportation civilians and civil servants during its annual Memorial for 9-11 on Sept. 10 at the 10:30 a.m. Mass.
Kudos also go to the Alameda parish for being good stewards of the earth. Since late May members at St. Philip Neri have brought in over 450 batteries to help keep toxic material out of landfills.

The Isabel Kellum Scholarship Committee at St. Columba Parish in Oakland awarded nearly $9,000 in scholarships to parishioners attending colleges and universities across the country. First-time recipients are college freshmen Kristen Davis, Keith McDonald, and Tyrone Robinson. Returning students are Chavon Allison, Demetrius Brown, Darius Bruner, II, Joshua Clemmons, Orielle Couttien, Kendra Dunlap, Ijeoma Ezeh, Alexander Lang, Dominique Shephard, Brendan Slevin, Debbie Snow, Cheryl Wozniak, and Bianca Yarborough. Kristen Davis, who is attending Howard University, also received the Al Morgan Memorial Scholarship.

Oakland’s St. Leo Church continues to ring its bells 30 times every Sunday at 12:15 p.m. for those who have died the past week in the Middle East. All who hear those bells are invited to pause for a moment and to pray for peace and for those who have lost their lives.

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Around the Schools

The Hedco Foundation has awarded a grant of $169,072 to St. Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda for the school’s science labs currently under construction. Three science classrooms, one each for biology, chemistry and physics, and a general classroom are being built next to the gymnasium. The grant will be used to purchase microscopes, autoclaves and sterilizers, a mini-ocean aquarium, and DNA electrophoresis chambers. The science center is part of the final phase of SJND’s “Let Every Student Soar” capital campaign.

Ronnie Lott, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was the guest speaker last month at a gala benefit for the Terrance Kelly Youth Foundation. The foundation is named for Terrance Kelly, a graduate of De La Salle High School in Concord and a member of its championship football team, who was two days away from leaving the East Bay to attend the University of Oregon on a full scholarship when he was shot and killed while sitting in a car in Richmond two years ago. The foundation, established by his father,Landrin Kelly, focuses on preventing youth violence by providing activities, guidance and opportunities for teenagers.

Last month the diocesan school community was rocked by another episode of senseless violence with the murder of Clinnetta Simril, the sister-in-law of Sonya Simril, principal at St. Leo School in Oakland. Simril, 57, was returning from a visit with her mother when she was struck in the head by a stray bullet fired some distance away. She died on Aug. 6 several days after being taken off life support. A memorial Mass was held Aug. 15 at St. Leo Church.

This fall students attending Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland will be allowed to bring their personal laptop computers to the campus and connect to the Internet as long as they are used only for educational purposes.

NEW EWTN PROGRAMMING: “Catholicism on Campus,” a weekly series filmed at the University of Illinois Newman Center, will air Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. And “Encounter with Padre Pio,” which provides firsthand insight into the devotion and mysticism of the saint by those who knew him, can be seen Sept. 23 at 5 and 11 p.m. and Sept. 28 at 10 a.m. EWTN is carried on Comcast Digital channel 229; DISH Satellite channel 261; and Direct TV channel 422; and in Alameda on Comcast channel 30 and Alameda Power channel 26. For more information, visit the website: www.ewtn.com.

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Names, News, Notes

Congratulations to Mary and Gino Pacini, members at St. Felicitas Parish in San Leandro, on their 50th wedding anniversary. They celebrated the occasion at the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock in Ireland.

Congratulations also to Beverly and George Alhadate, who observed their 50th anniversary with an Aug. 19 Mass at St. Felicitas Church. Father Wayne Campbell, pastor, celebrated the liturgy and gave the couple a special blessing.

Good Wishes also go to Andrea and Phil McCarthy, St. Michael Parish in Livermore, on their 35th wedding anniversary; and Madeline and Lou Silva, St. Leander Parish in San Leandro, who are celebrating 25 years of marriage.

Joanna Mooney, a 2006 graduate of St. Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda, has been honored for her poem, “Find Yourself in Chicago.” Mooney was selected as one of the “Top Ten” poets in a contest for young poets sponsored by Creative Communication Inc. The poem will be published in an anthology this fall. Mooney received a $50 savings bond.

The Knights of Columbus of District #30 have elected new Grand Knights: Efanye Chibuko (Council 01615 in Hayward), Stanley Eala (Council 03518 in San Lorenzo), and Benjamin Sacramento (Council 09481 in San Leandro). Among Fourth Degree Knights of the Northern California District, Alberto Morales is the newly elected Faithful Navigator from Eugenio Pacelli Assembly #70 in Hayward; Stephen Peterson, St. John the Baptist Parish in San Lorenzo, has been appointed master of the Fourth Degree, Arturo Limongco, St. Joachim Parish in Hayward, is District Marshall; and William Katen, St. John the Baptist Parish in San Lorenzo, is District Secretary.

Joe and Lorelei Itchon of Danville attended the 5th World Meeting of Families in Valencia, Spain, in July. During their visit the couple celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary and – along with thousands of other people – experienced a close encounter with Pope Benedict XVI, who also visited Spain at the time.

St. Vincent’s Day Home in Oakland is hosting a brunch on Sept. 10 to celebrate their work and show appreciation to all those who help make a positive difference in the lives of the families and children they serve. The Day Home is observing its 95th anniversary.

Got news? Share it with Around the Diocese. Send your school news, anniversaries, parish activities, individual achievements and other happenings in the Catholic community to Carrie McClish at The Catholic Voice, c/o Around the Diocese, 3014 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland, Ca 94610; phone: (510) 419-1074; fax (510) 893-4734; e-mail: cmcclish@oakdiocese.org. Deadline for the Sept. 18 issue: Sept. 6.

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