GREENWOOD – Members of the group “Biking for Babies,” all college students riding from New Orleans to Chicago, stopped by St. Francis of Assisi Parish for Mass and dinner on Monday, July 14. This was one of many stops in the diocese for the group. Participants come from all over the country to promote the sanctity of human life as taught by the Catholic Church. For more information visit https://www.bikingforbabies.com.
KOSCIUSKO – Local firefighters visited St. Therese Parish children during their vacation Bible school held July 7-18. The children learned about fire safety and had an opportunity to inspect the fire truck. In inset photo, Vickie Pope, one of the leaders, talks to the children about the theme, “God Calls us, God joins us, God sends us.” Eighteen children participated in the bilingual program. (Photos by Father Odel Medina)
COLUMBUS Annunciation, car wash on 206 Tuscaloosa Road, Saturdays, July 26, Aug. 9 and Aug. 23, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Donations welcome. Details: Floyd McIntyre, 662-574-9389.
GLUCKSTADT St. Joseph Parish youth Mass, Sunday, Aug. 3, at 5 p.m. followed by dinner and activities.
The youth group is open to middle school (grades 7th-8th) and all high school students.
HERNANDO/OLIVE BRANCH/SOUTHAVEN All parish children should bring their school backpacks to Masses at Holy Spirit, Queen of Peace and Christ the King parishes the weekend of Aug. 9-10 for a special blessing for all students and school workers to kick off the new school year.
JACKSON Christ the King invites all 9-12th graders to a summer enrichment workshop July 30-Aug. 1 from 9 a.m. until noon in the multipurpose building. Register by Sunday, July 27, by emailing your name and grade level to ctkcatholicchurch@yahoo.com or calling 601-948-8867.
SOUTHAVEN Christ the King Parish youth should bring their backpacks to Masses Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 9-10 for a special blessing.
JACKSON St. Richard School basketball camp for third-seventh graders of St. Richard School or parish, July 14-18, and July 21-25, from 9 – 11:30 a.m. Registration fee is $50. Details: Paul Daschbach, 601-278-5256, pmdasch@yahoo.com.
– The parish high school youth group (Faith Life) is selling T-shirts for $15 and golf polos for $30. Details: Melissa Shapley, 601-366-2335.
MADISON St. Joseph School, five-day cheer camp, for rising first-through sixth-graders, July 21-25, from 9 a.m. – noon, conducted by the school varsity cheerleaders. Cost is $100 per student. On the final day of camp, parents are invited to watch the performances.
– Summer used uniform sale, Saturday, July 19, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. in the school library. Details: Paula Morgan, 601-573-1244, henryandpaula@bellsouth.net.
MERIDIAN St. Patrick and St. Joseph parishes new coordinator of Catechetical (PSR) and youth ministry is Marianne Hurst. She will join the parish staff on Friday, Aug.1.
NATCHEZ The St. Mary’s Basilica CYO is collecting children’s books for pediatric patients at Natchez Regional Medical Center, Natchez Community Hospital and Blair Batson Children’s Hospital through July 15. Look for the collection box at the entrance of the church.
YAZOO CITY St. Mary, swimming party and cook out on Sunday, July 13, from 4 – 7 p.m. p.m. the home of Frank and Melissa McGraw.
JACKSON – The Youth Office of the Diocese of Jackson is inviting Mississippi’s Catholic teens to the Home Work Mission Trip set for July 21-25 in Northeast Mississippi, including Tupelo, Fulton and Booneville.
Home Work is open to teens who were in grades nine, 10, 11 or 12 this past school year. “One of the great things about this event is that youth will be able to make a bunch of new friends from parishes all over Mississippi,” wrote Kathie Curtis, director of the Office of Youth Ministry, in her invitation letter.
Some of the activities may include assisting with day camp, painting parish classrooms, preparing and serving meals for the needy, doing home maintenance and repairs for the elderly, and assisting with Habitat for Humanity.
Curtis is asking youth to figure out what are their unique gifts and talents and how they can use them to serve God now.
Participants will be housed in the Catholic Life Center at St. James Catholic Church in Tupelo.
Cost is $75. Spaces are limited. Get an application on the Office of Youth Ministry page of www.jacksondiocese.org. For more information contact Kathie Curtis, 601-949-6934, kathie.curtis@jacksondiocese.org.
Carrie Lambert, left, and Ruth Powers join the Healing Hands ministry at St. Mary Basilica to make bracelets to raise money for Berkeley Mardis, a teenage cancer patient. Organizers hope the foundation they have formed to sell the bracelets will expand to support children with cancer world-wide.
By Maureen Smith
NATCHEZ – A simple act of kindness has taken on a life of its own with the founding of Berkeley’s Bracelets. Berkeley is a 15-year-old New Orleans girl who has cancer. Carrie Lambert, a friend of her grandmother and member of St. Mary’s Basilica, made her a hat and a shawl to wear while she was in the hospital for treatments.
“She sent me a thank-you note and in it she talked about how blessed she was. It really touched me” said Lambert. As Lent was approaching, Lambert was trying to think of what her sacrifice would be. She prayed about it and woke up before dawn with the idea to start Berkeley’s Bracelets.
Lambert taught members of the Healing Hands ministry at the basilica how to make the bracelets and the group began selling them as a way to help cover the cost of Berkeley’s treatments. Organizers then got the idea to encourage kids with cancer to share the bracelets with one another. The group explained the concept in their mission statement. “There are different colors assigned by the American Cancer Society to represent the different forms of cancer. Berkeley’s type of cancer has been designated as yellow. The foundation hopes to offer bracelets, their patterns, and packets so others can start up a foundation like this for their child,” reads part of the statement.
The foundation also hopes the patients feel a sense of being connected with others facing similar challenges. “I think that the most important thing for Berkeley’s Bracelets is to bring happiness to the others fighting their own pe
rsonal fight,” said Berkeley Mardis in an email from the hospital. “The bracelet is a constant reminder that we are not alone in the fight and that there is always someone caring about us and praying for us. And I really think the teens and preteens who receive these bracelets will like them,” she added.
The bracelets are made using a technique called Tunisian or Afghan crochet, which combines elements of crochet and knitting. Each one has a charm on it, sometimes a “B” for Berkeley, sometimes a cross or a dove.
Mardis’ grandmother, Regina, is the secretary at St. Mary’s. She said the teen has been strong throughout her ordeal. “She has never cried, she is smiling all the time. We just can’t believe her spirits,” said the elder Mardis. She explained that Berkeley, a high school softball player, found a knot on her leg, but dismissed it as an injury from her sport. When it would not go away she went to her doctor and got the surprising diagnosis.
Her cancer, osteosarcoma, stayed on the outside of her bone. In late spring, doctors removed a section of bone and muscle from her leg and then, in a second surgery, removed a benign spot from her lungs. “Right now she is cancer free, but she still has to go through chemo until October,” said Mardis.
The teen hopes to rejoin the softball team when she is done with treatments. Her family has incurred more than half a million dollars in costs so far, even with insurance. “I hope that Berkeley’s Bracelets will continue to bring joy for many days and years to come. I am very thankful for all that the program has done to help with our huge medical expenses, but more importantly I want to see it raise awareness, not only for osteosarcoma, but for childhood cancers in general. I am one blessed girl to have so many people who love me and my family,” said the teen.
The foundation hopes to send bracelets to children with cancer. Each one will come in a little bag with a note about the project.
The foundation is asking permission to hand out the bracelets in children’s hospitals to spread the idea. Each would come in a mesh bag with a letter from the organizers and information on how to purchase more bracelets or a pattern to make one. “I would like to be able to deliver some of the bracelets myself to the kids because it would give me the opportunity to meet some new people who may be going through something similar to me. But my resistance is low due to the chemo I am taking, so I cannot visit any of my peers who are sick,” said Berkeley.
The group has set up a facebook page where order information is posted. The bracelets cost $6-7 and the pattern is $10.
Betsy Carraway, (left) leads the children in singing “Thank you Father” during St. Therese Parish’s Vacation Bible School. (Photos by Elsa Baughman)
By Elsa Baughman
JACKSON – St. Therese Parish Vacation Bible school (VBS) children dedicated their theme, “Circus of the Stars,” to the 24 religious sisters living at St. Mary of the Pines Retreat Center in Chatawa. According to Betsy Carraway, the director of the VBS, they are all older than 80-years-old and two are older than 100. VBS has held June 16-20.
Carraway said the children made cards for the sisters and retired priest Father Alfred Camp. “The cards say ‘Thanks for saying yes to God,” “We love you,” and one of them says, “Thanks for being God’s husband,” she said laughing but adding, “they got it wrong but the idea is they (religious women) marry Christ and then he is their husband, that’s beautiful.”
She is thrilled this is a Catholic VBS. “K4J (Kids for Jesus) is a wonderful program that helps children understand the faith and grow in virtue,” she added.
During the week participants learned about the virtue of balance, she said. “They had a balancing act where they had to work, play, rest and pray every day.”
Carraway noted they also learned about four saints, St. John Bosco, St. Catherine of Siena, St. John Vianney and St. Teresa of Avila and Friday was dedicated to Mary, the Mother of K4J starts. “I am so pleased they learned about all these saints and other things they would have not learned if they didn’t have attended this special Catholic program,” she added.
Father Alfred Camp talks with the children during his visit to St. Therese.
On Friday, every child received a photo of one of the sisters living in St. Mary of the Pines so they can pray for her individually. The sisters will receive the cards the children made for them plus a monetary donation from the children.
Early on Friday, June 20, Father Camp visited the children to tell them about his life and how he decided to become a priest.
“When I was 12-year-old, one of the nuns at school, Sister Alfred (that’s my name!) said to me, ‘you know, someday you will make a good priest,’” he told the children. “I was young and impressionable and I believed her! That’s all it took,” he added as he related the story of how at the age of 13 he entered the seminary.
Father Camp went on to tell the 23 children gathered around him that during his first months in the seminary he missed his mother, his father and home and that at times he cried himself to sleep because he was lonely but he got used to life in the seminary and soon it was a lot of fun. The children asked Father Camp questions about his life as a priest in the Diocese of Jackson and now as a retired priest living at Madison St. Francis of Assisi Parish.
JACKSON St. Richard School basketball camp for third-seventh graders of St. Richard School or parish, July 14-18, and July 21-25, from 9 – 11:30 a.m. Registration fee is $50. Details: Paul Daschbach, 601-278-5256, pmdasch@yahoo.com.
MADISON St. Joseph School, five-day cheer camp, for rising first-through sixth-graders, July 21-25, from 9 a.m. – noon, conducted by the school varsity cheerleaders. Cost is $100 per student. Each day will feature fun games, arts and crafts, learning new cheers and dances, and more. On the final day of camp, parents are invited to watch the performances.
– Summer used uniform sale, Saturday, July 19, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. in the school library. Details: Paula Morgan, 601-573-1244, henryandpaula@bellsouth.net.
SOUTHAVEN Christ the King, mini summer camp, on Saturday, June 28, after the 5 p.m. Mass until 10 p.m. for youth in grades 6th-8th. Fun-n-games, grilled hot dogs, and faith building.
– The recipients of the Cindy Pretti Scholarship this year are Sacred Heart School students Amber Cook and Jack Codemo. Cook is a member of Christ the King Parish. She will attend St. Agnes Academy in the fall. Codemo is a member of Olive Branch Queen of Peace Parish. He will attend CBHS.
– Young women retreat, July 13-18, for Catholic high school girls living in the area where the Sacred Heart Southern Mission (SHSM) serves. Participants will help with maintenance and repair projects and will spend time reflecting on their unique gifts and talents.Register as soon as possible. Details: Amanda Ready.
By Maureen Smith
Almost 200 young men and women graduated from the four Catholic high schools in the Diocese of Jackson the week of May 18-24. The schools logged graduation rates of 95-100 percent, well above the state’s public school average and at least three of the schools report that all graduates are going on to college.
The theme for Catholic schools this year was communities of faith, knowledge and service and this year’s graduating class reflected that in their achievements.
Seniors took on a variety of service projects in 2013/2014, from Madison St. Joseph School’s dance marathon, which raised more than $11,000, to a Filipino-themed dinner to benefit Typhoon victims held in Vicksburg. In Natchez, students boxed more than 80,000 packages of food together. One senior at Cathedral took on the challenge of collecting a toy for every single child at Baton Children’s Hospital. These are just a few of the many tasks, large and small, that graduates completed to make their communities better places to live.
This year’s class was not lacking in academic honors either. They are going on to the Massechusettes Institute of Technology, Washington Lee University, Rhodes College, Spring Hill College and, of course, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss. At least two schools reported $3.9 in scholarships, an impressive number given the size of the classes.
In the following pages, Mississippi Catholic features some statistics from each class as well as highlighting the top students of each school. The staff of Mississippi Catholic offers congratulations and a wish for many blessings upon the class of 2014.
