Local News

The St. Margaret Mary Alacoque first-graders burst out the doors when they saw that their pen pals from Trinity Catholic High School had arrived at their south St. Louis County school.

Despite that initial energy, many of the freshmen from the north St. Louis County archdiocesan high school and their young acquaintances were a little hesitant initially when greeting each other for the first time. But it didn't take long before they paired up, sitting on a classroom floor talking, smiling and laughing.

Father Jaroslaw Szymczak goes by many nicknames. Father Jay and Padre Jota are just a couple. But the one that perhaps has the most meaning is "Rescuer of Married Couples."

The native Polish priest, an instructor with the Faculty for Studies on the Family in Lomianki-Warsaw, Poland, at Cardinal Stefan Wysznski University, was in town late last month to give a talk on the gift of human sexuality. The archdiocesan Office of Natural Family Planning hosted the April 23 talk at the Cardinal Rigali Center in Shrewsbury.

The archdiocesan Respect Life Apostolate is hosting its first Family Life Picnic from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 2, at Queeny Park in west St. Louis County.

The event will mark the Year of Faith with a celebration of family life and the gift of life, according to executive director Karen Nolkemper. It also will serve as a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion virtually on demand in the U.S.

As graduation approaches, college students are getting ready to make their transition, whether into a new career or maybe furthering their education.

But for college students who have made building a culture of life a priority in their lives, the questions they have go beyond what kind of job they will find or where they will live. Rather, they want to know whether they will have the tools to promote a culture that affirms life, no matter where their future is headed.

Reaching out

Letting go of angry feelings isn't easy.

The Cornerstone Catholic Scripture Study branch at Annunziata Parish recently reflected on anger through a story out of Genesis in which Joseph, a son of Jacob, managed his anger after spending 13 years as a slave and prisoner after being sold by his brothers.

Friar Nicolas Marie James Casas Monco of the Order of Preachers Province of St. Albert the Great (Central Province) will be ordained to the priesthood at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 11, at St. Margaret of Scotland Church, 3854 Flad Ave. in south St. Louis. He will be ordained by Auxiliary Bishop Edward M. Rice.

Two Dominican friars of the same province, Friar Luke Christopher Barder and Friar Jude Gerald McPeak, will be ordained to the diaconate, together with Friar Peter Damian Harris, a Dominican brother of the Province of St. Martin de Porres (Southern Province).