Kallie O’Haren interned during the summer in the Parish & Social Justice Ministries office of Catholic Charities Atlanta.

O’Haren, a Marist senior and chaplain/member of the track team, wasn’t interested in spending her time making photocopies. She researched Catholic social teaching, Catholic Relief Services’ Fair Trade program and the new encyclical Caritas in Veritate, as well as Catholic Charities Atlanta’s expenditures for non-fair trade coffee and bottled water.

O’Haren convinced the nonprofit’s management team to buy faucet-mounted water filters to replace bottled water. Not only is it a green decision, but the savings will allow them to purchase Fair Trade coffee from Café Campesino, a CRS Fair Trade partner in Americus.

Father Daniel Stack, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi, Cartersville, penned a chapter in a new book, called “Voices from the Nueva Frontera: Latino Immigration in Dalton, Ga.”

The 216-page book, published by University of Tennessee Press, looks at the influx of Hispanic immigrants in Dalton and how the newcomers transformed the town. The essays look at the contribution of the immigrants in the labor market, education, houses of worship and social organizations.

According to a review, the book gives “an in-depth picture of Latino immigration and dispersal in rural America along with a framework for understanding the economic integration of the South with Latin America.”

The editors give the immigrants voices as they talk about the changes. The reader hears the views of a worker, student, teacher. The book was number 598,202 on Amazon.com on Monday, Aug. 17.

Father Stack penned the chapter reflecting on the religious response to the influx of Mexicans in the community.

“This is the first time I have been published in hardback. Previously I was invited to contribute opinion pieces to the newspapers in the Dalton area. My favorite was when the Chattanooga paper asked me to be the Pro speaker for a Pro-Con op-ed piece on the Latino problem,” he wrote in an e-mail. Father Stack also publishes a weekly “faith issues” column in the Monroe newspaper.

“I enjoy writing because I enjoy speaking. My ideas become clarified in expressing them,” he wrote.

Mary Rachel Taylor, a young woman who grew up in Conyers, will be the first person to graduate from Emory University with a minor in Catholic Studies at the end of the summer.

Scheduled to graduate from Emory in August with a bachelor’s degree with highest honors in philosophy, Taylor spent all four years at the Atlanta school after graduating from George Walton Academy, Monroe.

“The Catholic Studies minor is for students who want to learn about the rich intellectual and cultural traditions of the Roman Catholic Church during the past two millennia and study their impact on Western thought,” states the program’s Web site.

The minor comprises five courses, with one required and four electives. Such courses include Early and Medieval Christianity, Jesus and the Gospels, Paul and his Letters and Sociology of Religion.

According to Emory President James Wagner, religion and higher education in America have for too long existed in self-contained spheres, with little or no interaction.

“The CS minor provides an opportunity for anyone interested in the interdisciplinary study of religion, but also for Catholic students who want to learn more about their faith in the broader context of their liberal arts education,” the Web site states.

In addition to being quite active academically, Taylor explored several other interests during her time at Emory. She was a member and the vice president of academic excellence in the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority as well as the secretary and treasurer of Phi Sigma Tau, the Philosophy Honors Society. Taylor also served as a peer tutor at the writing center during her junior and senior years.

During this past year, she wrote her thesis with adviser Dr. Jack Zupko on The Mythology of the Meme: Tracing the Body and Soul in Philosophical and Theological Mythmaking.

Taylor plans to attend graduate school in English or philosophy or pursue automotive engineering and design.