COLUMBUS – Annunciation school kindergarten students “stomp” through the hallways for their annual dino parade on Wednesday, Oct. 4. When the students complete their studies of the prehistoric beasts, they get to dress up and act out a little. (Photos by Katie Fenstermacher)
COLUMBUS –Father Jeffrey Waldrep shows second-grade students how a baby is baptised during a role-play exercise at Annunciation School.
GREENVILLE – Bishop Joseph Kopacz visited seniors at St. Joseph School on Thursday, Oct. 19. The bishop makes a point to visit each graduating class at some point during the year. (Photo by Missi Blackstock)
MADISON – St. Joseph students, faculty and staff marked the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima with a rosary in the rosary garden on campus on Friday, Oct. 13.(Photo courtesy Terry Cassreino)
MADISON –The St. Anthony School football team won the Central Mississippi Elementary Football League Championship for the second year in a row. The fifth and sixth grade Eagles played the fifth and sixth grade Christ Covenant Warriors on Bill Rafael field at St. Joseph Catholic School on Tuesday, October 10. Both teams came to the championship game undefeated and played a tough game. (Photos by Kristian Beatty)
By Maureen Smith
College students play an ‘icebreaker’ game with marshmallows as part of their fall retreat at Tishomingo State Park the last weekend in September. (Photos by Dawn McGinley)
TISHOMINGO – Three dozen college students from Mississippi State University and the Mississippi University for Women spent the weekend of Sept. 30- Oct 1 in Tishomingo State Park participating in the campus ministry fall retreat. Father Rusty Vincent, diocesan coordinator for college campus ministry, planned the weekend around the theme GPS, guidance, purpose, sent.
“The way myself and the team came to the theme was a discussion about many of the students need help finding direction in life,” explained Father Vincent. “Guidance was about discernment and how God is seeking to guide us in our lives. For purpose we divided the students into men and women, and we had talks about who we are and how that comes together with our discernment.”
“Being sent was meant to show that once we get clarity with our purpose, we are called to go into our world and our lives and share that joy with others,” he wrote in an email to Mississippi Catholic.
More than 30 students participated in the retreat with the theme GPS, guidance, purpose, sent.
He said the retreat team was hoping the students would consider the idea of discerning God’s will as they make decisions about their next steps in life. Dawn McGinley, coordinator for campus ministry at Mississippi State, said she feels blessed every day to work with Father Vincent and was excited to present the retreat.
By Maureen Smith
October is the month of the rosary and this year marked the 100th anniversary of Mary’s appearances in Fatima. Many parishes took advantage of cooler weather and clear skies to host outdoor celebrations honoring the Blessed Mother.
On the feast of the Holy Rosary, members of Grenada St. Peter Parish dedicated a new outdoor rosary garden. Their celebration included a rosary procession.
In Crystal Springs, Jackson and Natchez, several parishes took their beads outside, offering rosaries the weekend of Oct. 14-15 in honor of the Fatima anniversary. Even the cloistered community of Carmelite sisters in Jackson offered a rosary from their lawn.
A few pastors tied their prayers to the consecration of the diocese to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, which took place Sunday, Oct. 8. Bishop Joseph Kopacz urged pastors to consecrate their parishes as well. The effort places the new Pastoral Priorities in the care of Mary as parishes and pastors convene teams to work on their goals for thier communities.
NATCHEZ – Catholics from all area parishes gathered at the park near the Basilica of St. Mary to honor the Fatima anniversary with a rosary on Saturday, Oct. 14. (Photo courtesy of Regina Mardis)
GRENADA – Father Aroika Savio, pastor of St. Peter, leads the rosary procession to the new rosary garden behind the church. He was assisted by parishioner Madeline Liberto. (photo by Michael Liberto)
CRYSTAL SPRINGS – The community from St. John and St. Martin parishes prayed the rosary in downtown Crystal Springs on Saturday, Oct. 14, to mark 100 years since Mary appeared to a trio of children in Fatima, Portugal. More than three dozen parishioners participated in the procession and rosary. (Photo by Janice Stansell)
GREENWOOD – During the first weekend of October, 12 girls from three parishes gathered at Locus Benedictus retreat center for their first of five overnight sessions of the Young Women of Grace study program. The study, designed for girls ages 12 and older, teaches young women how to discern their purpose and mission in the world, and to find true fulfillment. It is based on an adult study program of the same name and uses a magazine-style workbook packed with facts, testimonials and stories of saints and other Catholic role models.
The retreat began with dinner on Friday at 6 p.m. and included Mass and reconciliation.. On Saturday morning after breakfast the girls gathered at the Mary, Mother of the Delta Shrine for a time of meditation and prayer.
In this first session of Young Women of Grace, the girls learned they have a special call from God and about the gifts of women to influence the world. In addition, they learned about Saints Teresa Benedicta of the Cross and Madeline Sophie Barat.
The monthly sessions will continue until April 2018. For more information on the Women of Grace or the Young Women of Grace, visit the website, www.womenofgrace.com.
(Story submitted by Tara Trost)
NATCHEZ – Lt. Darrel Carter, Chuck Golden and Savanna Sanchez of the Natchez Fire Department demonstrated stop, drop and roll to students Wells Herring, Keenan Jackson, Liza Kate James, Madeline Jex and Clifford Tillman at Cathedral School earlier this month.(Photos by Cara Serio)
PEARL – Father Lincoln Dall offered a Blue Mass on Thursday, Sept. 28, the vigil of the archangels, to honor first respondents and safety personnel. Knights of Columbus prepared a dinner, the Women of Faith offered desserts, and the Young Apostles put together goodie bags for the occasion. (Photos by Rhonda Bowden)
NEW ALBANY – Members of St. Francis Parish honored their patron on the weekend closest to his feast day, Sunday, Oct. 8. Despite rainy skies, parish dancers led a procession around the grounds before Mass and a meal. (Photos by Sister Maria Elena Méndez, MGSpS)
