Local News
Have you met the music man?
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T For a guy that is just 20 years old, Jeff Braconnier certainly has a full plate. At St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Media, he directs the children’s choir, is a youth minister and handles technology support. He is also a full-time student in his third year at Immaculata University. […]
Devotion without limitation
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T SOUTHAMPTON – If there is anything in the whole world Matthew New would like to do with his life, it is probably to become a priest. Now 20, he’s been an altar server at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Southampton for about 10 years, and received a […]
Parade grand marshal: Honoring St. Patrick
By Sister Kathleen Leary, S.S.J.Special to The CS&T “Every day is a gift from God” for Sister James Anne, I.H.M., who considered it a special gift when she was unanimously voted to be the grand marshal for Philadelphia, 2011 St. Patrick’s Day parade. Only the third woman to hold this honor, she explained the theme […]
A man of accomplishment
In 1945, when Meryll Frost was recognized as the most courageous athlete of the year, he said, “I am not a great man, but there is a great woman behind me.” Ask Rosalie Mirenda, president of Neumann University in Aston, recipient of many distinguished awards, and she will tell you she isn’t a great woman […]
A deacon for life
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T Deacon Alvin (Al) Clay III, 53, who is assigned to Immaculate Conception Parish in Jenkintown where he has been a parishioner for the last 18 years, will be honored Feb. 27 by Pennsylvanians for Human Life (PHL) at their annual Celebrate Life Banquet at the Springfield Country Club. Deacon […]
Love of faith, science nurtured at Cabrini
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T Katie Mageeney is still a senior at Cabrini College in Radnor, but she’s something of an expert in the field of mycobacteriophages (viruses that affect bacteria) and can look to a bright future in health research. She has been published in the scholarly journal BioScience, and in a peer […]
Delco. mother devoted to helping expectant mothers
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T Helen McBlain, who was recently appointed executive director of Mother’s Home, a residence on MacDade Boulevard in Darby that provides shelter to women with crisis pregnancies, brings to the table a lifetime of commitment to the poor in spirit. Just to mention a few items of her resume, she […]
Faith meets expertise
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T Mary Flannery, who was recently appointed director of marketing and public relations at Malvern Retreat House, the nation’s largest Catholic retreat center, had quite a different career plan when she entered college. After childhood in Blue Bell and education at Gwynedd-Mercy Academy, she entered Georgetown University, where she graduated […]
Twins for life
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T Twins Maura and Briana Druding definitely have pro-life genes in them. Seniors at Archbishop Ryan High School in Northeast Philadelphia, they are lifers with Ryan for Life. Members since their freshman year, the girls made their fourth trek to Washington, D.C., for the annual Rally and March for Life […]
At 86, a priest still on the move
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T Father Joseph T. Murphy takes seriously the line from his ordination rite almost 64 years ago, “Thou art a priest forever.” Despite his 86 years and having suffered a stroke last year he still celebrates Mass regularly for the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart in Wyncote and the people […]