By Jena Lanham

Juan Alonso is the St. Theresa Youth of the Year. Juan has been very involved with the teen program for the last four years. He is a Core Teen Member, a lector, an Extraordinary Minister and serves on the Stewardship Committee as the teen representative. He has been involved in many of the Social Justice and Outreach projects that Life Teen has been a part of, including Habitat for Humanity and working at the soup kitchen with St. Francis’ Table.
Juan is a very bright and articulate student and is a Senior at Chapel Hill High School where he plays baseball. During his high school career he has been involved with both the Key Club and the Beta Club. We have been blessed to have Juan in our program, he has my deepest respect and I am honored to nominate him as our Youth of the Year.

By Rosemary Crockett

Every year, the Council of Catholic Women of St. Theresa asks parishioners to nominate a worthy woman to be honored as our Woman of the Year. This year we are proud to announce that Mrs. Kathleen Stento has been chosen to represent our parish at the annual Recognition Day Mass sponsored by the Atlanta Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women.
Kathleen is very active in our parish, having served as Coordinator of Altar Servers and now assisting with the altar servers for funerals and special Masses. She is the Elijah Cup Coordinator, the Eucharistic Congress Parish Coordinator, a Youth Teen Core Leader and a Catechist. Kathleen is also an Extraordinary Minister and she serves on the Liturgy Committee as well as on the Our Lady of Guadalupe Committee. She helps the Circle of Friends and the Children’s Mary’s Garden. Thank you Kathleen Stento for all you do for St. Theresa Parish – you certainly deserve to be Woman of the Year of 2010. Congratulations and may God continue to bless you for all you do.

By Fr. Fernando Molina-Restrepo

Our church has been blessed from the beginning with many parishioners who are strongly committed to the cause of social justice and to building and strengthening the Kingdom of God here on earth through evangelization. We are especially blessed with the fruits of one of our dearly loved parishioners, Eva Romick. Of course, when I arrived here I did not know Eva that well, but certainly in my short time as her pastor I have been very impressed with her passion and commitment in favor of those less fortunate.
For example, Eva is very involved with visiting the homebound on a regular basis and has spent a remarkable amount of effort coordinating with others to feed the homeless and hungry here in Douglasville. For those of you who know her, Eva is a very private person and much of what she does for those in need, is kept very private so as not to call attention to herself. She is an anonymous blessing to so many!
Eva is very passionate about her faith and is not only involved with social justice and helping those less fortunate, but she puts her many talents to work toward the service of God’s church. She was the Director of Religious Education here at St. Theresa’s for 12 years and worked as a volunteer for many, many years before that. Since her retirement, Eva has continued to serve this parish in reviving the Adult Education portion of the Religious Education Department as well as leading the Wednesday morning bible
study group.
I rejoice in the fact that due to her many remarkable efforts; Eva Romick has been selected from all the nominees throughout the Archdiocese of Atlanta to receive the Fr. Bruce Wilkinson Founders Award. This award is given as public recognition to express gratitude to the evangelization ministers for their gifts to us and to encourage them on their personal spiritual journeys. By focusing attention on this ministry, we remind ourselves of the gift of God’s presence in our lives from the moment of our Baptism to the present day. As baptized followers of Christ, we assume the responsibility to evangelize – to proclaim His Good News. This award was established in 2002 on the 20th anniversary of the OBCM in recognition of two decades of evangelization work to correct weaknesses and build on strengths. It was dedicated to Fr. Bruce as the principal founder of the OBCM to thank him for sharing his many gifts and to acknowledge his contribution to the evangelization ministry. The Father Bruce Wilkinson Founder’s Award was inaugurated at the Atlanta Archdiocesan Martin Luther King, Jr. 2002 Celebration. Since then the award has been presented annually to a deserving lay person or member of the clergy or religious life, who has distinguished himself/herself in the ministry of evangelization and social justice.

By Diana Franceschi

This year’s annual Blessing of the Animals was celebrated at St. Theresa’s on Sunday, October 4th at 3:30 p.m.
On this beautiful fall afternoon, many of us came to celebrate the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi with our furry “children”, who joined together in relative harmony in front of our church.

There were literally dogs of all shapes and sizes and at least one very brave feline, who all came to St. Theresa’s for this beautiful Blessing, which was celebrated by our Parochial Vicar, Father Bill. We serenaded our companion animals with ‘The Song of St. Francis”, thanks to Mick Butorac, our Music Director, and were joined in prayer, after which each animal was given a blessing.

Our pets bring so much to our lives, providing unconditional love and companionship. As St. Francis had a special passion for all God’s creatures, it was a beautiful celebration honoring the life of St. Francis while also recognizing how much God’s creatures bring to our own lives. A special thanks to Pat and Jim Smith, and Mick Butorac for all they did to make this year’s blessing so enjoyable for all of us.

Three parishioners are being honored for their outstanding work in parish ministry:

Eva Romick received the Fr. Bruce Wilkinson Founders Award from the Archdiocese of Atlanta for her work in social justice and evangelization.
Click here for the full story on Eva Romick

Kathleen Stento received the Woman of the Year Award from St. Theresa Catholic Church for her involvement in various ministries in the parish.
Click here for the full story on Kathleen Stento

Juan Alonso received the Youth of the Year Award from St. Theresa Catholic Church for his involvement in the Teen Program.
Click here for the full story on Juan Alonso

Three parishioners are being honored for their outstanding work in parish ministry:

Eva Romick received the Fr. Bruce Wilkinson Founders Award from the Archdiocese of Atlanta for her work in social justice and evangelization.
Click here for the full story on Eva Romick

Kathleen Stento received the Woman of the Year Award from St. Theresa Catholic Church for her involvement in various ministries in the parish.
Click here for the full story on Kathleen Stento

Juan Alonso received the Youth of the Year Award from St. Theresa Catholic Church for his involvement in the Teen Program.
Click here for the full story on Juan Alonso