From bags to bench (above): The Plarn Ministry at St. Mark, Virginia Beach, helped the parish save 1,000 pounds of plastic, collected from last July to February of this year. In doing so, the parish earned a bench made from recycled materials from the NexTrex organization. The bench was placed on the front porch of the rectory for Father Eric Baffour Asamoah. “Plarn” refers to yarn made from plastic bags; the parish Plarn Ministry has been helping keep plastic waste out of landfills since 2017. (Photo submitted by Christine McGrath)
Learning to serve (below): Throughout the Lenten season, the youth and young adults at Church of the Vietnamese Martyrs, Richmond, participated in three projects to beautify the church and serve the community. The group cleaned and revitalized the church facilities, worked to transform the garden dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and raised $8,700 to pack over 21,000 meals through Rise Against Hunger. (Photo/Anh Nguyen)
Catholic Hokies keep watch (below): Virginia Tech Catholic Campus ministry hosted 24-hour Eucharistic adoration, starting at 9 a.m. on April 9. The Eucharist was processed from the campus ministry Newman House to the Virginia Tech Drillfield in the center of campus the morning of April 9. Later, a procession brought the Eucharist back to the Newman House, where it remained for the rest of the night. (Photos/RaeAnna Kelly)
OLMC School honored: Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, Newport News, has been named to the Newman Guide for commitment to faithful Catholic education. The Newman Guide is a list of Catholic schools compiled by the Cardinal Newman Society; selection for the guide is based on standards that uphold Catholic identity in every aspect of education.
Redeemer’s Angels visit seminarians (above and below): Representatives of Court Redeemer’s Angels #2456, Catholic Daughters of the Americas – a women’s group associated with Church of the Redeemer, Mechanicsville – visited two seminarians in early April. Aventon Grimes, who is studying at St. John Paul II Seminary in Washington, D.C., and David Hairston, who is studying at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, led Redeemer’s Angels on tours of their respective campuses. (Photos/Marybeth Maino)
Sister Thea Bowman Conference: On March 29, 45 people from our diocese participated in the Sister Thea Bowman Conference at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. The conference featured speakers who touched on the life, legacy, and canonization status of Sister Bowman. Virginia Catholics for Racial Justice sponsored a bus that took parishioners from St. Thérèse, Chesapeake; Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Norfolk; Holy Rosary, Richmond; St. Elizabeth, Richmond; and Holy Family, Virginia Beach.
Read more about Sister Thea Bowman in a previous edition of The Catholic Virginian.