LOCAL NEWS

GLENDALE — As a child, Johnson Toe spent 12 hours a day farming okra, rice, tomatoes and peppers on his grandmother’s farm in Liberia. The...

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted blessed and dedicated Holy Cross Catholic Mortuary April 20. The 22,000-square-foot facility, at the southwest corner of 99th Avenue and Thomas Road, joins Queen of Heaven in Mesa in offering mortuary and cremation services for burial or interment at any cemetery.

Emily Kodicek, a young Catholic in pre-K, was jumping up and down as she took home the grand prize at this year’s Most Holy Trinity Marian Shrine Contest April 25.

Catholic musicians from around the Valley are putting on a May 18 concert in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary at St. Louis the King Parish, 4331 W. Maryland Ave. in Glendale.

The Catholic Community Foundation has announced that longtime board member John Sack is now the organization’s interim president and CEO. The announcement came in the weeks after Donna Marino stepped down from the position last month to accept a new job in the Valley.

Most kids dabble in a sport or two in their preschool or elementary years, but that doesn’t mean they arrive fully equipped.

AVONDALE — It took nearly three hours for the winners to be decided at the annual diocesan Spanish-language Spelling Bee April 22 at St. Thomas Aquinas School.

Fr. Carlos Martin, CC, has an unusual collection: 4,000 relics of the saints. The Companions of the Cross Father and former atheist, who lives in Toronto, travels throughout North America with his “Treasures of the Church” exhibit that features some 175 relics.

Nestled at the foot of Camelback Mountain, the Mount Claret Retreat Center stands as oasis of sorts in the midst of a bustling city. Tom McGuire, the new director of the facility, is hoping more and more Catholics will seek God’s presence there.

Countless Catholics have approved and shared — via social and traditional networks — Pope Francis’ acts of humility in the five weeks since his election. Catholics devoted to the Franciscan way of life or are simply part of a mission or parish named after the well-known saint have felt an even deeper connection to the new pontiff.