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Water conservation: High school video sends a message
Using the digital tools of their generation, members of Immaculate Heart High School’s Earth Club decided to make a humorous video with a timely message highlighting simple tips on how to conserve water in this third consecutive year of California’s drought.
Earth Club co-historians Christina Roh, videographer, and Emma Weeks, video “news anchor,” joined with seven other club board members in the project to raise awareness about water conservation in light of the state’s three-year rain deficits, low-reservoir levels and sub-par snowpack.
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CEF Senior Mass honors 650 students
The accomplishments of hundreds of graduating high school seniors — recipients of tuition assistance from the Catholic Education Foundation — were celebrated during a Mass April 9 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
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Interfaith clergy awareness of juvenile justice issues increases
Community Bible Church’s Senior Pastor Ruett Foster shared his own story to help the teenagers he sat with at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall open up and talk about their own lives.
And Imam Abuishaq Abdulhafiz, from the Islamic Shura Council, was awestruck by the maturity of the teenage girls housed in the only female unit at the Sylmar detention center.
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A new approach to ‘Together in Mission’
Together in Mission, part of the annual Catholic appeal in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, makes it possible for 37 parishes and 56 schools to continue serving their communities.
“It appears to be off to a strong start,” said Anthony Sciacca, director of archdiocesan appeals, of the 2014 campaign. This year’s goal is to raise $15 million, money that would go straight to communities most in need.
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L.A. Catholics present pope with letters from undocumented children
Ten-year-old Jersey Vargas met Pope Francis today.
Vargas joined a coalition from Southern California that journeyed to Vatican City to deliver letters from children with undocumented parents written to the Holy Father.
In her letter, Vargas wrote how she’d spent her last two birthdays without her father, who has been in custody with U.S. immigration officials. She told the pope about her father in person today after the general audience at St. Peter’s Basilica.
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At the Cathedral: Fresh insights, inspired by faith
Graham Student Art Exhibit offers high school youth a showcase for their artistic talent.
Louisville High School senior Nathalie Moreno has applied to the University of Southern California to pursue a career in fine arts. On the afternoon of March 23, she was thrilled to learn that renowned artist Gayle Garner Roski — for whom USC’s Roski School of Art and Design is named — would back her with a letter of recommendation.
Garner Roski is a member of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels’ fine arts committee and a strong promoter of the fourth annual Robert Graham Memorial Student Art Exhibit, which opened March 23 and runs through May 4. Moreno is one of 72 Catholic high school participants, having created “The Lion of God,” an unusual but faith-based sculpture on display at the Cathedral.
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Attendees: They came, they saw, they said…
The 40,000-plus who came to the Religious Education Congress March 14-16 offered comments on a variety of topics — from the workshops they attended to the faith they practice and proclaim. A sampling of their reflections (more online):
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Search is on for Santacruzan 2014 ‘sagalas’
In preparation for its annual Santacruzan on May 10 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, the Filipino Ministry of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is seeking “sagalas,” young women ages 13-35, who will comprise the Court of Honor for the procession of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Each candidates must be a baptized and practicing Catholic; must write an essay on: “How Can I be a Model for Today’s Young Women?”; and be able to attend mandatory preparation activities including Catechetical Day (April 12 at St. Stephen Martyr Church, Monterey Park) as part of faith formation, as well as a general practice (May 6, 7 p.m. at the Cathedral), the Santacruzan Celebration (May 10, 2:45 p.m. at the Cathedral) and the Santacruzan Dinner-Dance (May 10 at Almansor Court in Alhambra).
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‘For the ones we’ve lost, and the ones we’ve saved’
“Defend Life,” “Women Do Regret Abortion,” “Men Regret Lost Fatherhood” and, simply, “Life” — those were the signs that greeted travelers March 15 along Ventura Boulevard in Encino.
On this warm and sunny Saturday morning in Encino, more than 1,000 people of all ages and ethnicities marched along both sides of the San Fernando Valley’s busiest street, carrying signs proudly proclaiming their pro-life faith as they waved enthusiastically to those driving past.
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Rabbis, Latino priests seek stronger ties at AJC event
Dozens of local Latino Catholic priests and Jewish rabbis seeking to strengthen interfaith relations — and discuss their shared migrant experiences — came together March 10 for a day of fellowship and conversation at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles.