Yearly Archives: 2021

Bishop McDevitt Student Awarded Full Scholarship to St. Vincent’s

St. Vincent College president Father Paul R. Taylor, O.S.B., has announced that Miranda Keller, a senior at Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, has been awarded a four-year, full-tuition scholarship as a winner of the College’s 40th annual Wimmer Scholarship Competition.

Keller was awarded the scholarship, valued at more than $150,000, after placing among the top five in the Scholarship Competition, which drew 143 entrants.

Obituary: Sister M. Rita O’Leary, IHM

Sister M. Rita O’Leary, formerly Sister Rita Regina, died peacefully in Camilla Hall on Thursday, Feb. 25 in the 65th year of her religious life. She was 85.

Sister Rita was born on Aug. 31, 1935, in Harrisburg. Her parents, James and Emma Elizabeth (Hatton) O’Leary, raised their family in the Cathedral Parish of St. Patrick in Harrisburg. Rita attended St. Patrick Cathedral Elementary School and Harrisburg Catholic High School (later named Bishop McDevitt). Rita graduated from “Catholic High” in 1953, and after graduation she attended College of Mount St. Joseph On-the-Ohio for one year.  Later, while in Community, Sister earned degrees from Immaculata College, West Chester State College, and Catholic University of America.

Remembering Sister Rita O’Leary

Sister Rita O’Leary, IHM, died peacefully at Camilla Hall in Immaculata, Pa., on Feb. 25. She was 85 years old.

Formerly known as Sister Rita Regina, she was born on Aug. 31, 1935.

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.

Two Crusade to District Wrestling Titles

Eric Howe of Lancaster Catholic and Riley Robell of Bishop McDevitt earned individual District 3 titles in this year’s Class 2A wrestling tournament on Feb. 21 at Central Dauphin East High School. The two Crusaders topped the podium in the 120-pound and heavyweight brackets, respectively.

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.

USCCB Chairmen Say Equality Act Would Discriminate against People of Faith and Threaten Unborn Life

Five committee chairmen of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) wrote a letter to members of Congress opposing the recent reintroduction of the Equality Act (H.R. 5), which is scheduled to be voted on by the U.S. House of Representatives this week. The bishops warned of the threats posed by the proposed legislation to both people of faith and of no faith, with respect to mandates impacting charities and their beneficiaries in need, health care and other conscience rights, taxpayer funding of abortion, freedom of speech, women’s sports and sex-specific facilities, and more.

The Equality Act, the USCCB warns, would uphold transgender ideology by requiring “girls and women to compete against boys and men for limited opportunities in sports, and to share locker rooms and shower spaces with biological males who identify as women.”