Bishop Gerald Barbarito sprinkles holy water on one of the four new classrooms
at St. Vincent Ferrer School in Delray Beach. Father Tom Skindeleski (left) accompanies him on the tour.
Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
BELOW: Volunteers pack rice and beans to send to Haiti at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach.
Photo provided
Catholic school enrollment is up this year with a 23 percent increase at St. Vincent Ferrer School leading the way.
The Delray Beach school has 325 students this year, compared to 265 students last year.
The five-county Diocese of Palm Beach reports that Catholic enrollment increased from 6,061 to 6,194 students at its schools in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.
All three diocese high schools have more students. The increase at Pope John Paul II High School in Boca Raton is from 481 to 529 students.
Bishop Gerald Barbarito in a Sept. 5 ceremony blessed the four new modular classrooms that were necessary at St. Vincent Ferrer School in Delray Beach because of the 60 new students.
“May this be the center in your search for the wisdom that guides you in your Christian life,” Barbarito told the students.
The influx of young people keeps the St. Vincent congregation thriving, too, according to Father Tom Skindeleski. “This is the future for our parish,” he said.
St. Vincent welcomed 43 transfer students from St. Mark Catholic School in Boynton Beach, which closed last year. Pope John Paul also counted 17 sixth-graders from St. Mark who were given a classroom.
But diocese officials say the improving economy is making it possible for more families to consider Catholic education again.
The annual End Hunger Walk for to raise money for Christians Reaching Out to Society (CROS) Ministries is set for Sunday, Oct. 13, on Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach.
Walkers raise money for the Caring Kitchen in Delray Beach and other feeding programs for the poor.
A second CROS fundraiser is the eighth annual dinner at DIG restaurant at 777 Atlantic Ave. in Delray Beach on Nov. 5.
Contact Gibbie Nauman at (561) 233-9009, Ext. 106, gnauman@crosministries.org for more information about either event.
INSET PHOTO: Rabbi Joan Cubell
A conservative Jewish congregation in West Boca Raton has hired the first female member of the American Council of Rabbis to be its new spiritual leader.
Temple Beth Shira chose Rabbi Joan Cubell, a chaplain at Boca Raton Regional Medical Center.
"She brings a wealth of experience and a formidable academic and religious background,” congregation past President Marc Shapiro said. “This energetic, wise and warm woman has become everyone’s rabbi.”
B’Nai Israel, a reform congregation in Boca Raton, also has a female rabbi, Marci Bloch.
Cubell, 53, has 15 years of experience in synagogues, Hebrew day schools and nonprofit organizations.
Her background as a financial planner is valuable for Temple Beth Shira, a 10-year-old congregation that has struggled during the recession and now worships at Century Village.
The mission of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach isn’t only to the Haitian immigrant neighborhood that surrounds the church — the congregation also helps in big ways in Haiti.
More than 300 volunteers packed 50,000 vitamin-fortified meals of rice and beans for the impoverished nation on Sept. 21.
Students in St. Paul’s after-school program were among the volunteers. “Many of our students are from Haitian backgrounds and it means so much to them to be able to feed needy children in Haiti,” said Kathy Fazio, director of Paul’s Place.
Among schools in Haiti to receive the meals is one in Bondeau that was built by the South Florida Haiti Project led by St. Paul’s in Delray Beach and St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Boca Raton.
Alzheimer’s Care for Boca Raton now has its own home at Advent Lutheran Church.
A new adult day care facility was dedicated Aug. 30 for 30 clients on church property next to Advent’s assisted living facility.
Advent has hosted the nonprofit Alzheimer’s Care for more than 25 years in the church fellowship hall, which got crowded during the week.
So Advent bought a single-family home adjacent to their property, retrofitting it as the ideal environment for Alzheimer’s clients. Advent’s assisted living facility has Alzheimer’s and dementia care programs.
The congregation has a $400,000 Space for Grace fundraising campaign to renovate the fellowship hall and create a daytime church ministry. About $250,000 has been raised thus far.
The centerpiece of the renovation will be Grace’s Place, a Starbucks-like café open Monday through Friday. Seniors can study the Bible, learn computers and quilt while they socialize.
St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church is growing young violinists.
Church children ages 5 to 13 are offered violin lessons taught by a high school student.
Classical music has always found a home at the Boca Raton church. “Music is one of the ways that people connect with God,” the Rev. Andrew Sherman explains.
Aislinn Brophy, a ninth-grader, started the violin classes five years ago. When she graduated and went to Harvard, she passed her St. Gregory’s violin students to Pine Crest High School junior Ismail Ercan, who now is the teacher.
The violinists rehearse every Sunday afternoon and perform through the year at church events.
Tim Pallesen writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Email him at tcpallesen@aol.com.
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