The St. Mary's Campus Ministry Team's mission is to reach out and assist
those looking to deepen their relationship with the Lord. They also reach
out to those in the surrounding community who have
been instrumental in the development of St. Mary's and its programs.
Each year the team holds several events that encourage self- examination and
promote activity in the community. Each team member is actively involved in
the community.
For those in the St. Mary's High School community
that are ill or injured
Richard Van Over class of 1996, a Stockton
Police Officer, seriously injured in a collision
while responding to a call.
(8/08)
For Those Serving in the Military
Ryan Mallory class of 2004 a Navy Corpsman
serving as a medic with the Marines in Iraq.
(3/08)
Ted Driscoll class of 2000, a lieutenant in
the United States Marine, who is serving in Iraq.
(6/08)
Adam Night class of 2002 is a private in the
Unites States Army and is serving in Iraq as a
combat engineer until February 2009.
(11/07)
For all SM alumni and family serving in the
military. Pray that they be respected and protected,
that their patron saint St. George watch over them
and pray to God for their safety, wisdom in their
decision making, fortitude and compassion.
In Thanksgiving for Those Serving in the Military
That Have Brought Safely Home
Pedro Y. Hernandez class of 2005, who has
safely returned from his third deployment in Iraq as part of
the Army’s elite Ranger Regiment.
(7/08)
Brian Jones class of 1996 a Navy
Reserve Petty Officer 3rd Class and a member of the
Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, Navy Customs
Battalion. Brian has returned after a nine month deployment to Iraq.
(7/08)
For
the Holy Father, Bishops, Priests and Religious
In particular for the members of
the order of St. Francis de Sales, the Dominicans
and Franciscans, all orders and Diocesan priests that are or have served
St. Mary's High School since its beginnings in 1876.
For
the unborn and born victims of abortion
For the innocent victims of abortion,
for those who are suffering the personal devastation
of abortion's aftermath, and that the hearts of
those who promote the killing of the unborn be
changed to affirm life.
Red
Rhino Orphanage Project Helps Children in
Nairobi, Kenya
There are currently
thousands of children who live in Nairobi, Kenya,
not in houses but
entirely on the streets. The best estimates are
between fifty and sixty thousand street children.
They are resourceful and smart, yet continually
exploited and almost always doomed.
Greg Traverso, class of 1979,
and his wife Susan purchased five acres of land
about forty-five minutes outside of Nairobi, for the
purpose of establishing the Red Rhino Orphanage
Project (RROP). It will be home to
some of the street kids of Nairobi, and other
orphaned children in similar circumstances.
Who We Will Serve
In addition to serving the children from
Springs of Hope, we will dedicate
ourselves to housing and educating the
following:
Rescued Children
There are a number of children in and
around the Nairobi/Machakos area who,
for a variety of reasons: abandonment at
birth or thereafter, severe physical
and/or sexual abuse, or abject neglect
are taken to rescue centers, where they
are nourished, physically and
emotionally. When these children reach
school age (at about age five), we can
give them a home and education.
Children at Risk
There is a critical period in the life
of many children when they are at most
risk of being thrown out onto the
streets. The death of parent, physical
abuse at home, parental drug abuse, or a
downturn in the family’s financial
situation could all lead to a child
being abandoned.
Once these at-risk children land on the
street and begin to experience its
ravages, sexual exploitation, addiction
to glue and other drugs, extreme
nutritional deficiencies, and other
innumerable health and personal safety
issues, the road back becomes very steep
and difficult. That is why it is so
crucial to be able to identify children
on the brink and intervene.
Local Orphans
Every aspect of the project is focused
on local action and involvement. Our
vision puts the children’s home at the
center of local life. As such, we feel a
special responsibility to provide a home
and education for the orphans in our own
area.
The
property on which the home will be built contains
both room and provision for the children to grow
physically, emotionally and spiritually. The
property is adjacent to a Catholic Church. The
children will grow a good deal of their own food and
reestablish a personal connection with their land.
David Saunders, class of 1968, an English teacher at
Saint Mary’s from 1988 to 2001, is currently living
in Africa close to the site. David is working there
as the Project Director in collaboration with Greg
Traverso, our Dean of Students and Moderator of the
International Outreach Club, to oversee the
construction and staffing of the children’s home.
Members of the SM International Outreach Club are
actively involved in the design and other elements
of the project. To take a closer look at the
project, go to the web site found below and click on
David’s Journal link for a firsthand account of
David’s humorous and at times heartbreaking
experiences. If you would like to contact David
personally, please feel free. Charbel Semaan, class
of 2000, is the web site designer and provides
technical support for the project. St. Mary's has a
Red Rhino Project Club on campus. Please see Mr.
Traverso for more information.
The St. Mary's community and the Diocese of Stockton
are committed to offering help to our students in a
compassionate and caring manner. Consistent with our
concern for our students, our commitment to the
sanctity of life and our Catholic faith, we
encourage those that may find themselves, or a
child, unexpectedly pregnant to avail themselves, in
addition to the support we will try to offer, of the
services of the diocesan
Community of Caring,
an outreach to pregnant and parenting teens and to
those suffering because of an abortion.
Community of Caring (begun in 1984 and
co-founded by Margo Kozina (a religion
teacher and Cheer coach at St. Mary's)
and Nancy Bonnet, is a loving
outreach
program for pregnant and parenting
adolescents.
Fathers and extended family are welcome
and encouraged to participate. All
services are free, confidential and open
to anyone in need. Services include:
Parenting Classes—Classes cover
prepared childbirth information,
nutrition & fitness during
pregnancy; the care of the newborn
baby, parenting skills, information
on getting and keeping a job,
creating a safe and nurturing
environment for the baby and
decisions regarding love, marriage
and planning for the future.
Support Meetings—for teen parents
and grandparents (parents of
pregnant/parenting teens.
Material Help—baby clothes and
supplies
Referrals & Information—We can help
find other agencies and people in
the community who want to help.
Post Abortion counseling through
Project Rachel
a network of professional counselors and priests, all trained to
provide one-on-one spiritual and psychological care for those
who are suffering because of an abortion.
Community of Caring needs your prayers,
financial support and volunteer support.
Please call
the
Respect Life Office at (209) 465-5433 or
toll-free from the Stockton diocesan
area (800) 396-8777. You may also assist
the pro-life effort by joining the St.
Mary's Right To Life Club.
Selected Quotes from Church Documents: On Legalized
Abortion
(Source: USCCB)
Papal Teaching
But responsibility likewise falls on the legislators
who have promoted and approved abortion laws, and,
to the extent that they have a say in the matter, on
the administrators of the health-care centers where
abortions are performed. … In this sense abortion
goes beyond the responsibility of individuals and
beyond the harm done to them, and takes on a
distinctly social dimension. It is a most serious
wound inflicted on society and its culture by the
very people who ought to be society’s promoters and
defenders.
When a parliamentary or social majority decrees that
it is legal, at least under certain conditions, to
kill unborn human life, is it not really making a
‘tyrannical’ decision with regard to the weakest and
most defenseless of human beings?....While public
authority can sometimes choose not to put a stop to
something which – were it prohibited – would cause
more serious harm, it can never presume to
legitimize as a right of individuals – even if they
are the majority of the members of society – an
offense against other persons caused by the
disregard of so fundamental a right as the right to
life.
Id., nos. 70, 71.
Laws which legitimize the direct killing of innocent
human beings through abortion or euthanasia are in
complete opposition to the inviolable right to life
proper to every individual; they thus deny the
equality of everyone before the law.
Id., no. 72.
Utilitarianism is a civilization of production and
of use, a civilization of "things" and not of
"persons", a civilization in which persons are used
in the same way as things are used. In the context
of a civilization of use, woman can become an object
for man, children a hindrance to parents, the family
an institution obstructing the freedom of its
members. To be convinced that this is the case, one
need only look at certain sexual education
programmes introduced into the schools, often
notwithstanding the disagreement and even the
protests of many parents; or pro-abortion tendencies
which vainly try to hide behind the so-called "right
to choose" ("pro-choice") on the part of both
spouses, and in particular on the part of the woman.
Also social is every sin against the rights of the
human person, beginning with the right to life and
including the life of the unborn or against a
person's physical integrity…The term social can be
applied to sins of commission or omission-on the
part of political, economic or trade union leaders,
who though in a position to do so, do not work
diligently and wisely for the improvement and
transformation of society according to the
requirements and potential of the given historic
moment…Whenever the church speaks of situations of
sin or when the condemns as social sins certain
situations or the collective behavior of certain
social groups, big or small, or even of whole
nations and blocs of nations, she knows and she
proclaims that such cases of social sin are the
result of the accumulation and concentration of many
personal sins. It is a case of the very personal
sins of those who cause or support evil or who
exploit it; of those who are in a position to avoid,
eliminate or at least limit certain social evils but
who fail to do so out of laziness, fear or the
conspiracy of silence, through secret complicity or
indifference; of those who take refuge in the
supposed impossibility of changing the world and
also of those who sidestep the effort and sacrifice
required, producing specious reasons of a higher
order. The real responsibility, then, lies with
individuals.
It
is true that it is not the task of the law to choose
between points of view or to impose one rather than
another. But the life of the child takes precedence
over all opinions. One cannot invoke freedom of
thought to destroy this life…
The role of law is not to record what is done, but
to help in promoting improvement. It is at all times
the task of the State to preserve each person's
rights and to protect the weakest. In order to do so
the State will have to right many wrongs. The law is
not obliged to sanction everything, but it cannot
act contrary to a law which is deeper and more
majestic than any human law: the natural law
engraved in men's hearts by the Creator as a norm
which reason clarifies and strives to formulate
properly, and which one must always struggle to
understand better, but which it is always wrong to
contradict. Human law can abstain from punishment,
but it cannot declare to be right what would be
opposed to the natural law, for this opposition
suffices to give the assurance that a law is not a
law at all…
It must in any case be clearly understood that
whatever may be laid down by civil law in this
matter, man can never obey a law which is in itself
immoral, and such is the case of a law which would
admit in principle the liceity of abortion. Nor can
he take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of
such a law, or vote for it. Moreover, he may not
collaborate in its application.
John Paul II, continuing the constant teaching of
the Church, has reiterated many times that those who
are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a
«grave and clear obligation to oppose» any law that
attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic,
it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for
them.
The
social doctrine of the Church is not an intrusion
into the government of individual countries.It is a
question of the lay Catholic’s duty to be morally
coherent, found within one’s conscience, which is
one and indivisible. «There cannot be two parallel
lives in their existence: on the one hand, the
so-called ‘spiritual life’, with its values and
demands; and on the other, the so-called ‘secular’
life, that is, life in a family, at work, in social
responsibilities, in the responsibilities of public
life and in culture.
When political activity comes up against moral
principles that do not admit of exception,
compromise or derogation, the Catholic commitment
becomes more evident and laden with responsibility.
In the face of fundamental and inalienable ethical
demands, Christians must recognize that what is at
stake is the essence of the moral law, which
concerns the integral good of the human person. This
is the case with laws concerning abortion and
euthanasia (not to be confused with the decision to
forgo extraordinary treatments, which is morally
legitimate). Such laws must defend the basic right
to life from conception to natural death.
We urge those Catholic officials who choose to
depart from Church teaching on the inviolability of
human life in their public life to consider the
consequences for their own spiritual well being, as
well as the scandal they risk by leading others into
serious sin. We call on them to reflect on the grave
contradiction of assuming public roles and
presenting themselves as credible Catholics when
their actions on fundamental issues of human life
are not in agreement with Church teaching. No public
official, especially one claiming to be a faithful
and serious Catholic, can responsibly advocate for
or actively support direct attacks on innocent human
life. [N]o appeal to policy, procedure, majority
will or pluralism ever excuses a public official
from defending life to the greatest extent possible.
As is true of leaders in all walks of life, no
political leader can evade accountability for his or
her exercise of power (Evangelium Vitae, 73-4).
Those who justify their inaction on the grounds that
abortion is the law of the land need to recognize
that there is a higher law, the law of God. No human
law can validly contradict the Commandment: "Thou
shalt not kill."
The law is not the only means of protecting life,
but it plays a key and often decisive role in
affecting both human behavior and thinking. Those
called to civil leadership, as Pope John Paul II
reminds us, "have a duty to make courageous choices
in support of life, especially through legislative
measures." This is a responsibility that cannot be
put aside, "especially when he or she has a
legislative or decision-making mandate, which calls
that person to answer to God, to his or her own
conscience and to the whole of society for choices
which may be contrary to the common good" (The
Gospel of Life, no. 90).
Public officials are privileged in a special way to
apply their moral convictions to the policy arena.
We hold in high esteem those who, through such
positions and authority, promote respect for all
human life. Catholic civil leaders who reject or
ignore the Church's teaching on the sanctity of
human life do so at risk to their own spiritual
well-being.
