Becki Bennett, who has been the Respect Life coordinator at St. Anna Church, Monroe, for about four years, reported on the activities at her parish on Respect Life Sunday, Oct. 2.

The parish Respect Life group met with children in grades six to nine to pray the glorious mysteries of the rosary for life.

A large circle was formed outside by the children to pray while a few children sat in the middle of the circle to lead each rosary mystery. Each child was then encouraged to adopt a baby by picking a name and praying for the baby every day for nine months.

St. Anna’s also put up the “Cemetery of the Innocents” for the month of October to remind everyone that it is Respect Life Month. The committee talked to the children about the more than 50 white crosses and how they represent 50 million babies aborted since 1973.

Later in the afternoon members of the parish met fellow Christians in downtown Monroe at the historic courthouse to participate in the annual Life Chain. St. Anna’s Respect Life group started the Life Chain in downtown Monroe six years ago. The event there has grown from 30 participants to about 250 participants last year. An estimated 150 people participated this year.

Atlanta’s St. Vincent de Paul Society received a gift of $5,000 worth of fuel from CITGO and S.A. White, a Marietta-based CITGO marketer.

The fuel will fill up the nonprofit’s truck fleet, including a refrigerated truck that is used as part of its partnership with Kroger grocery stores. Using the truck, the group picks up perishable food from nine area stores and uses the food for SVdP clients, said Caryn Stofko, the communication programs manager.

SVdP is one of 12 CITGO Summer Fueling Good campaign winners selected from more than 1,100 charities through a nationwide online vote.

SVdP Atlanta provides poverty relief services that address immediate needs and teaches people ways to become more self-sufficient. SVdP Atlanta donates more than 320,000 hours of service and $8.8 million in financial aid to more than 189,000 Georgians annually, according to a news release.

Congratulations to students who received their certificates of ecclesial ministry from the Atlanta branch of Spring Hill College of Mobile, Ala., on Oct. 16 at a Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Atlanta.

Among the students from Holy Trinity Church in Peachtree City earning their certificates were Candy Lacey, Terri Thomas, Tom Brown, Rebecca Capezutto, Jennie LeBeau and Marta McGlade.

Jesuit Father Christopher Viscardi, a professor from Spring Hill College, also attended the Mass.

Well done to Father Bob Frederick, pastor of St. Brendan the Navigator Church, Cumming, after he finished the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., on Oct. 2.

According to Michael Ferrin, the Atlanta Archdiocese associate vocations director who also completed the course, Father Frederick was not planning on running the marathon and stopped training in June, some three months prior. But that morning, he changed his mind, entered and finished the 26.2-mile course.