Ruth and Aaron: Nearer Perfection

Amidst all the death Americans had to endure this winter, the passing of baseball great Henry “Hank” Aaron seemed to garner but a mere footnote in the back of the book. Hardly fitting for arguably the best ball player to ever play. “Hold on,” you say, “what about Babe Ruth?” Not close, since numbers rarely lie. Aaron played 21 seasons and belted 755 homeruns – which was 41 more than Ruth – amassed nearly 1,500 extra base hits and knocked in 2,297 teammates over his career, played mostly for the Milwaukee and then expansion Atlanta Braves.

This humble Mobile, Alabama, native grew up in the Depression Era and Jim Crow segregated South, when African Americans were wise not to seek the bright lights of fame. Young Hank used to toss balls up on their sharecropper shanty and run to the other side to make a diving catch. He was an extraordinary athlete in high school and began his career in the Negro Leagues before ascending to professional baseball in his early 20s.

Church Welcomes 54 Men and Women Preparing to Receive Sacraments of Initiation at Easter

The first Sunday of Lent marks a unique period in the spiritual lives of catechumens – men and women who will receive the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil. Annually on this day, the Church celebrates the Rite of Election, the solemn occasion on which those seeking to join the Catholic Church conclude their time as catechumens and begin their final period of intense spiritual preparation for Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation.

Service Project at St. Margaret Mary School Uplifts Health Care Workers

To honor healthcare workers on “Celebrating Your Community” day as part of Catholic Schools Week, students at St. Margaret Mary School in Harrisburg assembled 200 snack bags for employees at Penn State Health Holy Spirit Medical Center in Camp Hill.
The service project was in response to a request from the hospital’s Vice President of Mission Integration, Sister Mary Joseph Albright, SCC. She reached out to St. Margaret Mary School to ask students to help boost the workers’ morale.

NASA Rover Carries St. Joseph School in York on Mars Expedition

St. Joseph School in York has successfully landed on Mars.

NASA’s rover, Perseverance, descended on the red planet on Feb. 18, bearing three microchips etched with more than 10 million names, including that of the PreK-6 parochial school in east York.

The venture was part of NASA’s “Send Your Name to Mars” campaign, which invited people from around the world to add their names to travel aboard the rover. The 10,932,295 submitted names were etched by an electron beam onto three fingernail-sized silicon chips and placed onto a plate mounted on the rover.