Lenten 40 Days for Life: Prayers for the unborn
Friday, Mar. 19, 2021
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Barbara Granja, Nancy Sliwinski, Vicki Pope and Denise Maxwell pray outside the Salt Lake City Planned Parenthood Metro Center.
By Linda Petersen
Intermountain Catholic
SALT LAKE City – Every Wednesday in Lent, Barbara Granja has made her way to downtown Salt Lake City. Rain or shine, she spends an hour praying with other Catholics outside the metro Planned Parenthood Clinic. They usually pray the rosary, a novena or a litany, she said.
It’s something Granja, the Respect for Life ministry chair in her home parish of St. Thomas More, has done every spring and fall for the past seven years. She became involved with the semi-annual 40 Days for Life vigils after hearing about them from a friend. Granja has a particular affinity for the unborn for a special reason.
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Ryan Ciezynski waits Tuesday in a cold parking garage in Lewiston for the bus that will take him home to Connecticut. Ciezynski visited his fiance before catching the bus at the Oak Street Bus Station. “I love it here in the summer,” he said. “It’s cold in Connecticut, but not like this. I can’t wait for this bus to come.”
Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
Central Maine Power Co. workers were expected to work throughout the night Tuesday to restore power to thousands of customers after shrieking winds gusting up to 65 mph ripped down tree limbs and power lines.
Emergency fund for food pantries more needed than ever, say aid workers
Clients receive food Feb. 3 from archdiocesan Catholic Social Services Southwest Philadelphia Family Services Center, one of several sites relying on an emergency relief fund created by the Catholic Foundation of Greater Philadelphia to meet soaring demand for food assistance. (Photo courtesy of Samuel Abu)
By Gina Christian • Posted March 1, 2021
A year into the COVID pandemic, a charitable campaign has managed to distribute some $282,000 to archdiocesan food pantries – and needs to raise thousands more to meet rising demands for assistance.
Last March, the Catholic Foundation of Greater Philadelphia (CFGP) created an Emergency Relief Fund (ERF) to help restock a five-county network of food cupboards managed by archdiocesan Catholic Social Services (CSS). As workplace shutdowns and layoffs mounted in the pandemic’s initial weeks, client volume at the outreaches soared, with one location reporting a 1
Where someone else might see desperation in the face of homelessness, Sister Anne Halpin sees opportunity.
Where another person might feel pity, or even derision, for those on the streets, Halpin feels the motivation to help.
Over the last five years, out of a small shoebox-sized room in the St. Anastasia Catholic Church, Halpin has quietly tended to the needs of the community s most vulnerable population.
Halpin, who grew up in New Jersey, joined the Dominican Order of nuns in 1959, serving in a number of Catholic churches there before finding her way to St. Augustine in 2004. Her original intent was to come for a short stay to help a family member having health issues, but stay she did.
Little Flower songwriting class ‘lets students lead the way’ to musical diversity
Jennifer Allen of the Philadelphia Catholic Gospel Mass choir performs at a Feb. 9 concert marking the start of weekly songwriting workshops led by composer Tonya Taylor Dorsey at Little Flower High School. (Gina Christian)
By Gina Christian • Posted February 24, 2021
Students at an archdiocesan high school are finding their musical voices, thanks to a new songwriting course led by an acclaimed composer.
Tonya Taylor Dorsey, director of the Philadelphia Catholic Gospel Mass Choir, has launched a weekly workshop series at Little Flower High School in the city’s Hunting Park section.