Dian Hall, who lives in Cartersville, was one of four candidates who took the first steps in becoming agrégées with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, Kan.

Hall and the three other women in November attended a special Mass at the Sacred Heart Chapel at the Nazareth Motherhouse, at the end of the congregation’s annual assembly.

Hall along with Beth Weddle of Concordia and Susan Klepper of St. Louis, Mo., are now agrégée candidates, beginning a three-year process of study and spiritual discernment with mentors from the Concordia congregation. Dee Morris of Fort Collins, Colo., is a “pre-candidate,” who will spend another year deciding whether she is called to become an agrégée candidate.

The word ‘agrégée’—pronounced ah-gre-ZHEY—comes from the French for “attached to” or “aggregated with.” It is a form of membership in the religious congregation that dates to their founding in 17th-century France, when Sisters of St. Joseph were either canonically vowed “principal sisters” or so-called agrégée or “country” sisters. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia revitalized this form of religious life in 2006.

The Sisters of St. Joseph came from Rochester, N.Y., to Kansas in 1883 and founded their congregation in Concordia a year later. There are about 140 sisters in the congregation, serving in ministries in 10 states and in Brazil.

Agrégées are women who commit themselves to active and inclusive love of God and the dear neighbor as expressed in the spirituality of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia. They profess a vow of fidelity to God and to the congregation, but do not make vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They are viewed as full members of the congregation, with a voice and a vote on congregational issues.

Each of the new candidates has a mentor to help with her spiritual discernment, including Sisters Helen Mick and Jodi Creten from Atlanta.

More information about the agrégée form of membership is available at www.csjkansas.org. Or anyone interested may contact Sister Bette Moslander at (785) 243-4428 or by e-mail at bmoslander@mannahouse.org.

Author Matthew Kelly donated nearly 84,000 copies of his book “Rediscovering Catholicism” to the Catholics Come Home Georgia campaign.

Said Kelly, “In the (book’s) introduction I speak about Catholicism as an old treasure map. Too many people have thrown it aside because it is old. But it doesn’t matter how old a treasure map is, what matters is if it leads to treasure. Catholicism is a really old treasure map, but it still leads to treasure. I hope the book will help people to see that.”

The books arrived at 92 parishes in the closing days of Advent to be distributed at Christmas Masses, according to Deacon Steve Swope, an organizer of the campaign.

“There was no cost to the archdiocese—absolutely zero! This was a free gift arranged by Matthew Kelly,” said Deacon Swope.

The gift fits in well with the Catholics Come Home Georgia initiative. That evangelization effort is intended to draw lapsed Catholics back to the faith, make non-Catholics more aware of the church and inform practicing Catholics and the book helps accomplish all of the objectives, said Deacon Swope.

“The timing, content and nature of Matthew’s gift to the archdiocese could not have been better,” he said.

Contacted by e-mail, Kelly said he was motivated to give his book away as a way to help trigger Catholics to return to church more often.

There is genius in Catholicism, but our culture doesn’t see it that way, Kelly said, and the hope is the book will help people to rediscover its values.

His giveaway effort has grown in three years. In 2008, some 88,000 copies were distributed, and in 2010 more than 700,000 copies of the book were distributed.

And if someone didn’t receive the book they can go to Matthew Kelly’s website: www.DynamicCatholic.com to request a copy.

Marist student Adam Erwood was recognized for his play on the football field and work in the classroom. Erwood was awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the National Football Foundation Greater Atlanta Chapter.

The organization recognizes senior Georgia High School Scholar-Athletes and Scholar-Student Managers with the scholarships for their combined accomplishments on the field, academically and in community service.

The National Football Foundation, in connection with the College Football Hall of Fame, awards more than $25,000 annually to high school students in Georgia.

Solve these math puzzles:

What digit is in the ones place when 17^2010. (17 to the 2010 power) is multiplied out?

An angle is 20 degrees more than three times its supplement. What is the measure of the complement of the angle’s supplement?

How many three-digit positive integers are there such that the average of the sum of their digits is 3?

Those are the type of tough questions faced by the Immaculate Heart of Mary Middle School Competition Math Team when they recently participated in the Rockdale Mathematics Competition.

The IHM team won first place in the Georgia Independent School Association team competition. The team members were Kyle Ryker, Ariel Kim, Matteo DeLurgio, Josh Forbes, Ethan Bills, Gabe Banks, Carlos Zayas, Eyoel Endashaw, Melat Endashaw, Thomas Houghton and Brian Houghton.

In addition, seventh-graders Ariel Kim and Josh Forbes won fourth and fifth place in the individual round.

The competition was hosted by the Math Team of Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology and the Mu Alpha Theta Chapter of Rockdale County High School. More than 100 middle school students from all over the Southeast attended.

Answers: Question 1: 9; Question 2: 50; and Question 3: 45.