PAGETWO

COURTESY BENILDE-ST. MARGARET’S AND RISEN CHRIST CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

SERVICE AND LEARNING A recent month-long service project for about 150 high school students at Benilde-St. Margaret’s in St. Louis Park teamed them with students in grades K-3 at Risen Christ Catholic School in Minneapolis to read, practice writing skills and spend time together at recess. The high school students also gathered information about the grade school students’ interests, pets and hobbies to create a story about them, with visuals, to inspire interest in reading. The younger students received personalized, laminated storybooks for practicing Spanish and English writing and reading, and older students received bound bilingual stories for practicing comprehension and fluency. In the photo, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 11th grader Steven Sibri Pina reads a book to Risen Christ students, including third graders Aydee C. and Jaileen R. (at Sibri Pina’s immediate right).

NEWS notes

Fletcher Stoen, an eighth grader at Benilde-St. Margaret’s in St. Louis Park, competed in the Can-Am Alpine Ski Race Series the weekend of March 30-April 2 at Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. Stoen placed 10th in slalom and 20th overall out of about 95 skiers. He had qualified as the No. 1 seed out of the U.S. Ski Team’s Central Region, junior level (under age 14). Stoen’s mother, Hayley, taught her son to ski, starting when he was 18 months old.

Middle and upper school students at Visitation School in Mendota Heights took part in Women’s Day April 5. The theme was Trailblazers: Women who lead the way. The event featured speaker Rosalind Wiseman, a New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of Cultures of Dignity, an organization that tries to help bring dignity and social and emotional learning to all.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s appointed Danielle Palkert Hermanny, a 2003 graduate of the school, as its next president. Palkert Hermanny, a lawyer and theology teacher, will take her new post May 15. Most recently, she has served at the University of St. Thomas as associate vice president for equity compliance and Title IX coordinator. Meghan Lind DesLauriers has served as interim president at BSM since last July after the departure of Adam Ehrmantraut, who stepped down as president to pursue personal business opportunities.

The annual Family Rosary Procession is 2 p.m. May 7 beginning at the State Capitol in St. Paul and ending at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. People are invited to gather at the Capitol beginning at 1:15 p.m. Archbishop Bernard Hebda will be participating at the Capitol and the Cathedral. Parishes are encouraged to bring banners to represent their communities, and first Communicants are invited to wear their first Communion attire. Those who are unable to join the procession are invited to come to the Cathedral at 2 p.m. to pray the rosary. The event, celebrating its 75th year, is sponsored by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and Minnesota Rosary Processions.

THE BLESSING OF BAPTISM

Hollis Norman, 5, receives the waters of baptism

April 15 from Pro Ecclesia Sancta Father Joe Barron, associate pastor of St. Mark in St. Paul. Normanis among five children from three families who were baptized in the same ceremony, inspired along with their parents by the staff at St. Mark’s Preschool. The preschool’s director, Gayane Manukyan, said, “It wasn’t our goal to make sure to baptize these children at St. Mark, (but) for sure our goal is and always will be to make sure these children are loved by the teachers and that they know that they are loved by God.”

PRACTICING Catholic

On the April 21 “Practicing Catholic” radio show, host Patrick Conley interviews newly ordained Bishop Michael Izen, auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who reflects on his ordination and new responsibilities. Also featured are School Sister of Notre Dame Kathleen Storms and Adam Fitzpatrick, social mission outreach coordinator for the Center for Mission in the archdiocese, who discuss the Laudato Si’ apostolate and stewardship of creation; and Paula Kaempffer, the archdiocesan outreach coordinator for restorative justice and abuse prevention, who describes a new ministry for victim-survivors of clergy abuse to receive the Eucharist and a new support group for victim-survivors. Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingcatholicShow com or anchor fm/Practicing-catholic-Show with links to streaming platforms.

Doug Hoverson, the chair of St. Thomas Academy’s Social Studies Department in Mendota Heights, has been nominated by National History Day in Minnesota for the Patricia Behring National History Day Teacher of the Year award. All nominees receive $500. Each of 47 National History Day affiliates may nominate one high school and one middle school teacher for the award. The winner, to be selected by a committee of teachers and historians and awarded $10,000, will be announced June 15 at the national awards ceremony in College Park, Maryland.

The Catholic Schools Center of Excellence will hold its seventh annual CSCOE Bash May 6 at the JW Marriott in Bloomington. Students, principals, community leaders and CSCOE President Brian Ragatz will offer remarks, and there will be a live auction and presentation of the Legacy of Greatness Award. CSCOE supports all 156 Catholic elementary schools in Minnesota.

A seminarian for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis joined an ensemble of schoolmates to play jazz tunes at the annual Rector’s Dinner April 20 at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Joseph Wappes, 25, who plays the trumpet and is studying at the NAC, also played at last year’s dinner, which is a fundraiser and celebration of supporters of the school. Among the 450 guests are bishops, Curia members and diplomatic representatives. Online Catholic news and information outlet Aleteia featured Wappes and his role leading the entertainment.

Deacon Masla dies at 94, served in Woodbury

Deacon John Masla, who served about a decade in the permanent diaconate — including nearly two years at St. Ambrose in Woodbury before retiring from active ministry, and eight years in Sacramento, California — died April 3. He was 94. His wife of 70 years, Mary Lou, said her husband, a native of Chicago, was an administrator and consultant in higher education. He ministered at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento, where he was ordained May 30, 1992. She and her husband moved to Woodbury in 2000 to be closer to family. They first met while he attended then-St. Mary College, now St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, and she attended then-College of St. Teresa, both in Winona. In addition to his wife, Deacon Masla is survived by seven of eight children, 19 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. The funeral Mass was April 14 at St. Ambrose.