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News & Herald Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte

Volume 3 Number 44 August 26, 1994

U.S. Catholics

First

Day Fun

Responding To Rwanda Appeal CHICAGO (CNS) — A shipment of six U.S. tractor-trailer trucks to aid

Rwandan

was the

relief efforts

brain-

child of a Catholic corporate executive in

Chicago.

Matthew Hehl, a vice president of Navistar International Transportation Corp. in Chicago, spearheaded the donation to Catholic Relief Services, the U.S.

Catholic overseas aid agency, after

watching a televised news report on dying

Rwandan refugees.

At this end the value of gift can be measured in dollars about $275,000. In Rwanda its value will be measured in

human lives. More than 800,000 Rwandans have fled their homes and are living in refugee

St. Patrick

lets

School kindergarten students

find

recess to be a great break from their

the youngsters explore the playground on their first day of school. Pictured

McQueen, Michael Malone, Corey Swanda, Alex Lapalombella,

Christine

(l-r):

camps. A Catholic network of CRS and European Caritas agencies is providing food and other assistance to 200,000 in Rwanda and neighboring countries. As of Aug. 19 CRS reported having received at least $2.25 million in donations from U.S. dioceses since mid-July, when the media began to focus on the dimensions of the refugee tragedy and Catholic dioceses were asked to take up

new studies as teacher Mary Szura Ginny Slee, Olivia Myrick, Shannon

Maley and Jessica O'Connell. Photo by JOANN

Rwanda at week-

special collections for

KEANE

end Masses. Catholics in the Chicago Archdio-

patholic School Enrollment

cese donated $436,000 at weekend Masses July 23-24. The previous record

Shows Jump

collection for a foreign disaster in the

archdiocese had been $280,000 raised in

1989 for Lebanon.

By

CAROL HAZARD Associate Editor

The good news is Catholic school ipnrollment is up across the country for Ihe second year in a row. The even better jiews is enrollment in the diocese' s

System

is

pumping up

school

the national fig-

y

iMes.

All 16 schools in the Diocese of Charlotte are reporting either steady or ising enrollment. vith

Most schools are filled

openings only

at certain

grade lev-

Hutchcraft.

Educators attribute the demand to a in North Carolina as well as parents looking for quality education in a Catholic valuesbased environment. "It's a values question for us, "particularly considering all the trouble in the public system with guns and knives, says Chris Nunez, president of the Home School Association at Our Lady of Grace. "In addition to receiving

growing Catholic population

els. I

Greensboro added a kindergarten and a first grade for a total of 307 students. "It' s so sad when we have to turn people away," said Principal Sue Geraghty. Our Lady of Grace School, Greensboro, is completely full with 438 students. More than 100 children are on a two-year waiting list for kindergarten alone. "We still have siblings we aren't able to get in," said Principal Roberta

Remarkably, the enrollment inreases have occurred despite a reduc!on in class size from 35 to 30 students less.

Schools with waiting lists have com•ensated for the reductions

lasses.

For example,

St.

by adding Pius

X

in

a quality education, the kids are taught

the

same kinds of things we teach

home

in

at

terms of values, discipline and

morals."

Moreover, the teachers are extended family, she said. "The kids know someone is looking after them." "We're one of the few places in the country not just dreaming of building schools, we're building schools," said Dr. Michael Skube, diocesan school superintendent.

A new

high school in Charlotte

is

Parishes of the Baltimore Archdio-

CRS

expected to open in August 1995. The present high school will be converted into a middle school, which will open at the same time. Moreover, enrollment in a

cese,

two-year-old school

about $2,000.

— All

Saints in

where

has

its

national head-

quarters, donated $207,000.

One

small

inner-city parish, St. Vincent de Paul,

usually gets a total

weekend collection of

When

the pastor an-

students for a total of 650,

making it the

nounced that the whole regular collection would go to CRS for Rwanda relief,

largest Catholic school in

North Caro-

parishioners put $ 1 0,000 in the baskets.

Enrollment in Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools has jumped 36 percent with 862 new students since the six schools became part of a regionalized system two years ago. Bishop McGuinness High School, Winston-Salem, has seen four years of continuous enrollment expansion. The school is subsidizing three van pools to shuttle students to and from Greensboro. Hence, many of its 35 new students this year are from Greensboro. Principal George Repass said the steady increase is due in part to "a vastly improved" recruitment and public relations program. "The Bishop McGuinness message is having a greater impact," he

nated $70,000 through their parishes. In Spokane, Wash., an appeal for dona-

Charlotte

rose again this year by 25

Catholics of Columbus, Ohio, do-

lina.

said.

The high school offers quality alter-

native education centered on values and

That's the message that's getting

And

by the diocesan newspaper, the

Inland Register, brought in about $5 ,000.

Hehl said he was stirred to action by a Cable

News Network report. See Rwanda, Page 2

How To

Help

Donations to Catholic Relief SerRwanda can be made

vices for aid to

by mail or telephone. Checks or money orders should be

made

out to

"CRS"

with a notation "Rwanda" on the memo line indicating for.

Send

what the contribution is

to Catholic Relief Services,

MD

religion.

out.

tions

it's

the system.

being echoed throughout

P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, 2 1 203-7090. For more information on

CRS work

in

Rwanda

or to

make

a

contribution by credit card, call (800)

736-3467.


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