Congratulations to Father Christopher Rhodes, 34, of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky.

Father Rhodes was raised a Protestant and joined the Catholic Church while attending Morehouse College, Atlanta. He was an active member of the Catholic Center faith community at Lyke House, where Father Edward Branch is the chaplain.

Father Rhodes was ordained on Saturday, May 26, at the cathedral in Louisville. Attending the ordination were Father Branch and members of the Knights of Peter Claver from Atlanta.

Father Rhodes was profiled in The Georgia Bulletin as one of three young men from Lyke House who were exploring vocations to the priesthood. You can read the original story at http://bit.ly/JSxDIU.

He will begin as associate pastor of St. Augustine Church in Lebanon, Ky., and Holy Name of Mary Church in Calvary, Ky.

Sixth-grade teacher William Canning isn’t a guy to go back on his word to his students.

And for that, he enjoyed fried worms.

In November, he challenged students at St. John the Evangelist School, Hapeville, that if they identified 5,000 potential sponsors for the Race for Education, he would eat fried worms.

Canning consumed five worms.

Cub Scout Pack 21, at Our Lady of the Assumption School, Atlanta, made up of students from Montgomery Elementary, OLA, and Ashford Park Elementary, is number one in popcorn sales for the entire metro Atlanta area, earning $47,504. In addition, the pack holds the 14th spot nationally and the sixth in the Southern region.

Two of the top individual sellers in the Atlanta area are in Pack 21—Montgomery third-grader Schaller Simmons and OLA fourth-grader Joseph Castro. They each sold more than $5,000 in popcorn.

Cub Scouts sell popcorn to pay for camping trips, hiking and other activities. Funds raised by Pack 21 allowed more than 150 Scouts to enjoy Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Joe Castro, the “Kernel” for Pack 21 popcorn sales, said the effort builds communication, confidence and lots of memories for Scouts and their parents.

“The Scout steps into the world of commerce and makes a connection to work and reward, preparing them for the world they will inhabit as citizens. Many Scouts set personal goals, and the pursuit and achievement of those goals enhances their confidence and maturity. Mostly, however, are the memories of being with your Scout as he grows in Scouting,” he said in a news release.

To learn more about Cub Scout Pack 21, visit olapack21.clubspaces.com.

St. Joseph School in Athens closed its Prince Avenue campus May 23, ending its 63-year history in downtown Athens.

The school opens in August in a new, larger, two-story building just off Georgia Route 316 in Clarke County.

The final day of classes at the Prince Avenue school was bittersweet, as teachers, staff and students left their home of many years, but they are also excited about the move.

At an awards ceremony, she was presented with a plaque by Principal Charles J. Martin and received a standing ovation from the students and their parents.

Eventually St. Joseph Church will also move to the 46-acre campus, leaving the downtown site where the church was established 139 years ago by Bishop W.H. Gross of Savannah.

Susanna Kimbell, St. Peter the Rock Parish, in The Rock, will be part of the National Catholic Youth Choir. Thirty-five high school students from 15 states were chosen based on written applications, recommendations and recorded auditions.

The choir practices and performs music of various Christian traditions, from medieval Gregorian chant to 20th-century music. Leading it is choral conductor Axel Theimer.

The primary focus of the choir is liturgical, and the choir seeks to implement the directive of Vatican Council II that the “treasury of sacred music” be preserved and fostered in the modern liturgy, according to a news release.

The choir is sponsored by St. John’s University School of Theology-Seminary and meets on the grounds of St. John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minn.

The two-week camp includes extensive choir rehearsals, repertoire-based classes in religion, music theory and music history, recreation, recording a CD, daily worship and prayer with the Benedictine monks on campus and with the Benedictine sisters in nearby St. Joseph and concludes each day by singing Compline. The choristers also receive cantor training as encouragement for musical ministry in their home parishes and throughout their adult life.

Daniella de Silva, daughter of Tito and Maria de Silva, had the honor of crowning the statue of the Blessed Mother at the Gift of Grace House, Atlanta.

Residents, volunteers and their families joined the Missionaries of Charity in singing Marian hymns and praying the rosary before the crowning of the life-size statue in the front yard of the home. The ceremony took place on Friday, May 25.

The crowd sang “Bring Flowers of the Fairest” as the crown of flowers was placed on the statue.

It is always a pleasant, happy, joyful, prayerful event for all, said David Caron, a musician who plays at the Gift of Grace House.