Beyond the story: Catholic school technology (video)

In case you missed our Catholic Schools Week story, check it out here.

 

Now, go beyond the story with this video!

Father Swope’s thoughts on Cristo Rey seniors

As president of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Baltimore, Jesuit Father John W. Swope has seen many achievements from students. This week’s Catholic Review features a story about the school’s first seniors getting college acceptance letters. It’s a monumental moment.

“We’re on the threshold of our first graduating class, and we are well on our way to having 100 percent of our seniors accepted to college,” he said. “Ninety percent will be the first in their families to go to college. This is the single most important outcome for our school.”

The first Cristo Rey seniors getting accepted into colleges.

Catholic Relief Service’s videos of Haiti a year later

In the wake of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti Jan. 12, 2010, Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services was swift in its emergency response. People all around the world gave to aid CRS’ efforts. Catholic Relief Service’s Lane Hartill visited Port-Au-Prince two days after the earthquake and met people directly impacted. He  returned to Haiti in December 2010, 11 months later. That journey is documented below in several moving videos.  Just know that Catholic Relief Services is making an extraordinary difference and that Haiti must not be forgotten as the one-year anniversary of the earthquake approaches.

Be sure to read John Rivera’s account of Rubble to Reconstruction and visit the links of the left of the article.

What is a normal life in Haiti?

In addition, catch up with a soulful singer who captured the imagination of CRS workers. See her moving story, thanks to Lane.

Cholera, of course, is a major concern. How did CRS help and what is ahead?

New congress 30 percent Catholic, which is largest represented religion

The Pew Research revealed the religious representation of the recently sworn in United States congress members. Of all specific religions, Catholicism, with 156 members, makes up 29.2 percent. That’s the largest specific religious background. Protestants, as a whole, make up the largest group with 304 people, about 56.8 percent. Protestants make up 51.3 percent of the country’s population, while Catholics account for 23.9 percent.

The United States Supreme Court has an even greater representation, with six of the current nine being members of the faith.

What will that translate to over the next few years in Congress? The congress is historically made up of Christians, but politically they find little common ground. The country seems more divided than ever.  No matter what kind of well-intentioned rally Jon Steward and Stephen Colbert throw, I have the terrible feeling that’s not going to change  any time soon. I hope I’m wrong and the best in people emerges.

Image comes from http://pewforum.org.

Mount Carmel in contest to get football field

Photo by Owen Sweeney III

Essex’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School had its first football team  last fall.

The program was assembled quickly, but was well-coached by Robb Johnson. Johnson believes in the program’s future. The school is trying  to install a game/practice field on campus.

The first-year field was in a wooded park that utilized two trees 30 yards apart and a covered water drain manhole in the middle of the field. It wasn’t wide enough for lines  and the team lacked  necessary practice equipment like tackle machines and sleds.

The team is hoping to win Pepsi’s Refresh Everything contest, which you can vote for here to make their dream a reality. Good luck, Cougars.

Blakefield students swim for their brothers

I received a really nice item from Loyola Blakefield’s Robert Robinson.

As students eyed clocks  Dec. 22 to countdown to their Christmas vacation,  members of the school’s swim team completed a 100-mile relay during nearly 30 hours. They did so in honor of fellow Dons and freshmen Joseph Gorman and Matthew Costello. Gorman has had leukemia for more than two years and has recently undergone a bone marrow transplant, while Matthew was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in 2009.
Robinson said they raised more than $9,300. Proceeds will be donated to the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Oncology Center on behalf of the Gorman and Costello families.

The swim was originally conceived in 1997 as a means to raise funds to establish the school’s Water Polo team, but has since morphed into a charitable endeavor with several local nonprofits as recipients of the funds raised.

Congrats to the young men over at Loyola Blakefield for this noble effort!

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog for CatholicReview.org did in the last two months of 2010, when it was formed. Thanks for your readership. Here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,800 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 53 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 39 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 69mb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was November 23rd with 180 views. The most popular post that day was Matthew Slattery update.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were catholicreview.org, facebook.com, newcatholicblogs.blogspot.com, dscottmiller.com, and Private networks.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for best and worst christmas songs, molly sinnott, catholic review dwayne thomas, best worst christmas songs, and len bias mother.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Matthew Slattery update November 2010

2

Meet Dwayne Thomas, Loyola Blakefield student December 2010

3

Best and Worst Christmas songs Part I: The Worst December 2010
4 comments

4

Young Adult Spotlight on Sean Comber November 2010
1 comment

5

The inspiring Kleintank story December 2010
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