Local News
Keeping faith, family and Irish roots as priorities
By Sister Kathleen LearySpecial to The CS&T “It’s a great day for the Irish everyday,” according to Seamus Boyle, the grand marshal of the 2010 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Philadelphia. Whether he is speaking of the motto of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), the theme of the parade, the claddagh ring or his […]
Disability deepens faith, love of God
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T One man’s disability is another man’s blessing. Tom Nordeman, who received the annual Margaret Way Hoffner Award from Pennsylvanians for Human Life on Feb. 28, has cerebral palsy. “If it wasn’t for my disability I wouldn’t have the faith and deep love of God that I have now,” he […]
A spiritual journey to North Philly
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T A year or so ago Bethany Welch was working for a non-profit think tank in New York as a policy analyst, and the pay was very good. Then she heard Providence Center, a little outreach program at Fourth Street and Lehigh Avenue in North Philadelphia, was looking for an […]
Outreach helps women after prison
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T When Sister Virginia Jenkins graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Girls in 1955 and immediately entered the Sisters of St. Joseph, she could reasonably expect a life-long ministry in the classroom – that’s what most St. Joseph Sisters did back then. And it did hold true for […]
Donations for Haiti relief keep pouring in
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T RADNOR – At Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishop’s agency for overseas relief, the tragic Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti is commanding the attention of the entire staff, including Dennis Fisher, an education program officer who works out of CRS’s Northeast region office in Radnor. “From the start of […]
Prepping for a spring break to serve others
By Colleen Boyle SharpSpecial to The CS&T While most college students will be putting on sunscreen and flip-flops during spring break, Catherine “Katie” Blumenstock, a student at Holy Family University, is opting for the less fashionable look of a hard hat and work belt. Blumenstock will not join the multitude of party-ready co-eds who will […]
Archbishop Ryan student takes pro-life stance seriously
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T Casey Schwartz, a member of Northeast Philadelphia’s Our Lady of Calvary Parish and a senior at Archbishop Ryan High School, traveled to Washington for the Jan. 22 annual March for Life, but she skipped the rally and march and headed straight to the source. Her day was spent giving […]
St. Luke teacher receives accolade
By Christie L. ChicoineCS&T Staff Writer GLENSIDE – Had Elva M. FitzGerald not put family first, she most likely would be working as a forest ranger today. Instead, FitzGerald, 56, has devoted nearly three decades to a teaching career at St. Luke the Evangelist School in Glenside, a job that came to be when she […]
A lifetime devoted to catechesis
By Christie L. ChicoineCS&T Staff Writer HILLTOWN – Catechist. Director of Parish Religious Education for the Philadelphia Archdiocese. President of the Archdiocesan DRE Association. Coordinator of Assessment in the Office of the Catechism of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Award honoree. Marie C. Scanlon, 71, has held many catechetical titles, […]
Two decades as a ‘seminary mother’
By Christie L. ChicoineCS&T Staff Writer WYNNEWOOD – A wife and mother of five grown daughters, the executive secretary of the Archdiocese’s Vocation Office for the Diocesan Priesthood at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary always believed she would have a son. God works in mysterious ways. “I always wanted a little boy,” said Lucille Nazzario, 68, […]