Georgia Bulletin

Georgia

• New program to fight abuse of vulnerable people underway in archdiocese

  By ANDREW NELSON, Staff Writer
  Published April 14, 2016

  SMYRNA—Thousands of teachers, clergy, religious women and men, parish staff and volunteers and employees of the Atlanta Archdiocese will be trained under a new program to prevent and combat child abuse. A national program is being rolled out in the 69-county archdiocese to ensure adults can identify and report abuse of children and vulnerable people, […] Full Story

• Cathedral homily traces recent popes’ great emphasis on God’s mercy

  By JEAN DRISKELL, Special to the Bulletin
  Published April 14, 2016

  ATLANTA—Eucharistic exposition and Benediction for Divine Mercy Sunday were presented at the Cathedral of Christ the King April 3 by Deacon Gerald Zukauckas, spiritual director of the Divine Mercy Apostolate. The celebration began after the 7:15 p.m. Mass and was in conjunction with the Divine Mercy celebration held earlier that day at St. Marguerite d’Youville […] Full Story

• Detainee families find comfort and support at El Refugio

  

  By ANDREW NELSON, Staff Writer
  Published April 14, 2016

  LUMPKIN—Inside this cozy yellow bungalow, the kitchen smells of fried chorizo, onions and peppers, and scrambled eggs. A fresh pot of coffee is ready by 7 a.m. as guests awaken in the three bedrooms. A mile from the barbed wire surrounding Stewart Detention Center in rural southwest Georgia sits this house of hospitality with its […]

• St. Joseph’s Tables honor beloved saint

  

  Published April 14, 2016

  ATLANTA—Immaculate Heart of Mary School and St. Anthony of Padua Church, both in Atlanta, celebrated the feast of St. Joseph on March 18 and 19 with a St. Joseph’s Table. The table at the school was filled with wonderful food of Italian and Polish heritage, prayer cards, carpenter tools, turnips from the IHM garden, prayers […] Full Story

• Pinecrest kindergartners learn about Easter in egg hunt

  

  Published April 14, 2016

  CUMMING—The kindergarten classes at Pinecrest Academy learned about Easter and Holy Week. One of the kindergarten teachers’ favorite ways to share the Easter story with their students is through “Resurrection Eggs,” an interactive teaching tool by an organization called Family Life. These out-of-the-ordinary eggs allow Easter to come to life in the little hands that […] Full Story

• Holy Trinity’s annual “Día de la Familia” health fair serves 600

  Published April 14, 2016

  PEACHTREE CITY—People waited for more than an hour on Saturday, March 12, for the start of the annual “Día de la Familia” (Family Day) health fair at Peachtree City’s Holy Trinity Church. As the parish hosted the event for the 15th year, many doctors and medical clinics were represented. This year the National Kidney Foundation […] Full Story

• Boys round up items for children in foster care

  Published April 14, 2016

  ATLANTA—Joseph Miller, a seventh-grader at Immaculate Heart of Mary School, Atlanta, and neighborhood friend Alex Matullo, a seventh-grader at St. Thomas More School, Decatur, collected new and gently used luggage, backpacks and duffel bags for children in foster care. The boys learned that many children in foster care do not have luggage and are forced […] Full Story

• First-graders build model to get a handle on anatomy

  Published April 14, 2016

  ATLANTA—At Our Lady of the Assumption School, students participate in a STREAM program focused on Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics. It’s an interdisciplinary and applied educational philosophy founded on hands-on, problem-based learning. John Lamarca heads the STREAM program. First-grade students built models of the thoracic cavity to end a science unit focused […] Full Story

• Georgia governor vetoes state RFRA measure; bishops respond

  Published March 31, 2016

  ATLANTA (CNS)—Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory and Savannah Bishop Gregory J. Hartmayer said that like all of the U.S. Catholic bishops, they support the Religious Freedom Restoration Act but “do not support any implementation of RFRA in a way that will discriminate against any individual.” “Indeed, the dignity of each individual is the basis for […] Full Story

• Maria Boylan will speak at May 7 Magnificat

  Published March 31, 2016

  ATLANTA—All women are invited to the Magnificat gathering on Saturday, May 7, when the guest speaker will be Maria Boylan, coordinator of the newly formed Magnificat chapter in South Carolina. A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Maria grew up in Canada, where her family emigrated when she was a child. Now she and her […] Full Story

• Pinecrest’s inaugural wrestling season builds character

  

  By MICHAEL ALEXANDER, Staff Photographer
  Published March 31, 2016

  CUMMING—Pat Metz and Mike Miller, Pinecrest Academy parents who had campaigned for a competitive wrestling team at the school for nearly eight years, saw their dream become a reality this school year. The season officially began in late October 2015. High school social studies teacher Martin Podmolik, in his fourth year at Pinecrest, filled the […]

• For eighth year, Holy Week walk focuses on immigrants’ detention

  By NICHOLE GOLDEN, Staff Writer
  Published March 31, 2016

  ATLANTA—A Holy Week pilgrimage focusing on those being held in immigration detention centers and on their families crossed through the Archdiocese of Atlanta and stopped at several Catholic churches on March 23 and 25. Nearly 40 people, some joining mid-route, participated March 23 in one segment of the eighth annual Holy Week Pilgrimage for Immigrants […] Full Story

• Father Joseph Peek blessed by ranks of brother priests at funeral Mass

  

  By NICHOLE GOLDEN, Staff Writer
  Published March 31, 2016

  DUNWOODY—As they sang the “Salve Regina,” scores of Atlanta’s priests and its three bishops one by one blessed the casket of Father Joseph M. Peek in the sunshine outside All Saints Church at the March 18 funeral Mass. Confronted with leukemia just prior to his priestly ordination in 2002, Father Peek turned his physical illnesses […]

• Praying at city sites, Good Friday pilgrims seek deeper concern for poor

  

  By NICHOLE GOLDEN, Staff Writer
  Published March 31, 2016

  ATLANTA—More than 300 people walked a two-mile route along Atlanta’s busy city streets March 25 for the 36th annual Good Friday pilgrimage, an ecumenical journey from the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to the Reflection Pool of the King Center. The Archdiocese of Atlanta Justice and Peace Ministries sponsors the program of prayer and reflection, […] Full Story

• Six priests celebrate golden, silver jubilees

  

  Published March 31, 2016

  ATLANTA—Six priest jubilarians were recognized at the Archdiocese of Atlanta Chrism Mass on March 22. Msgr. Francis Pham Van Phuong, pastor of Our Lady of Vietnam Church, Riverdale, is celebrating 50 years of priesthood. A native of Vietnam, he was ordained April 29, 1966, in Saigon. He came to the United States as an exchange […] Full Story

• Priests told to be icons of Christ, seeing the ‘forgotten’

  

  By ANDREW NELSON, Staff Writer
  Published March 31, 2016

  ATLANTA—Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory encouraged hundreds of priests at the annual Chrism Mass to be “ministers of compassion and mercy.” The Chrism Mass for the Archdiocese of Atlanta was a key event in Holy Week as clergymen gathered for a day of prayer and reflection leading up to Easter. Archbishop Gregory spoke on Tuesday evening, […] Full Story

• Irish priest’s Civil War heroism remembered

  

  By ANDREW NELSON, Staff Writer
  Published March 18, 2016

  ATLANTA—The Hibernian Benevolent Society of Atlanta and Atlanta civic leaders remembered and celebrated the life of Father Thomas O’Reilly whose heroics during the Civil War left an imprint on the current city of Atlanta. The civic honor of the wartime Irish pastor of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is one of the celebrations associated […] Full Story

• Restoring mind, body and community are goals of shelter yoga class

  

  By ANDREW NELSON, Staff Writer
  Published March 18, 2016

  ATLANTA—John McVay directs the dozen men sitting on mats in the downtown Atlanta gym to cross their legs. And when that’s done, he has them alternate their leg position. For these men who call Atlanta streets their home, it’s a deep stretch. Then he tells the men to slow their breath and encourages them to […] Full Story

• Monsignor Donovan captures first GISA state basketball title

  

  By MICHAEL ALEXANDER, Staff Photographer
  Published March 18, 2016

  ATHENS—Fifth-year head coach Dodd Rentz and the Lady Rams of Monsignor Donovan High School won the school’s first Georgia Independent School Association state basketball championship in a 45-34 victory over Crisp Academy of Cordele at Mercer University, Macon, on March 5. Monsignor Donovan led 21-18 at halftime. They extended the lead to 33-27 at the […] Full Story

• Athlete alums inducted into BT Hall of Fame

  

  Published March 18, 2016

  ROSWELL—Blessed Trinity High School inducted three alumni athletes into its Athletic Hall of Fame Jan. 30, recognizing some of the outstanding athletes who have graduated from the archdiocesan high school since it opened in 2000. This year’s inductees were Jack Andrews, who graduated in 2004, and Kara Kasten Mullins and Alison West Hollstegge, both 2005 […] Full Story