Fall Conference 2012 will be ‘awesome’

By Michael Brown

Editor

       Sites this year include Bishop Kelly High School, Boise; St. Pius X Parish, Coeur d’Alene; St. Mary Catholic School, Moscow; and Holy Spirit Parish and School, Pocatello.

       Boise, Coeur d’Alene and Pocatello will be broadcasting keynotes to all locations. Moscow will not have a keynote speaker on site, but will receive all broadcasts and have a full complement of workshops.

       Keynote speakers this year include Jim Reed, superintendent of schools in Weiser and a religious education teacher at St. Agnes Parish; Thomas Smith, a convert from Mormonism and national lecturer; Mary Sharon Moore, a national speaker on vocations; and Father Ernesto Caro, a bilingual international expert on using social media for evangelization.

       Smith and Father Caro are scheduled to present in Boise. Moore will be in Coeur d’Alene and Smith will be broadcasting from Pocatello.

By Christie L. Chicoine

Catholic News Service

     Kent became a Brownie at age 8 in her native Vermillion, S.D., and remained a Scout until she was a teenager in Waco, Texas.

     Now a wife and mother of five, Kent lives in the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pa., and is a Girl Scout troop leader in York, Pa., where her troop meets at St. Joseph Catholic School.

     Her daughter Maggie, 7, a first-grader at the school, is a Girl Scout Daisy. Kent hopes daughter Ruth, 3, will one day join her sister in the Scouts.

     Among other projects, her troop makes Christmas and Valentine’s Day cards for the elderly and this year donated 46 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to the local Catholic food pantry and sent 85 boxes to a girls’ school in Afghanistan.

     “As Catholics, we are called to be serving other people, to be reaching out, to be trying to do good in this world,” said Kent, 44, who became a Catholic at Easter 2003 when she was 35.

     Kent is well aware of claims by some that the Girl Scouts of the USA promotes Planned Parenthood and its advocacy of birth control and abortion. Others have complained that some printed material distributed to Scouts contained references that countered the Catholic Church’s teachings.

     “Wade is very much a part of our parish community and recognized for his unselfish service,” said Deacon Gary R. McSwain, pastoral associate at St. Pius.

     “Rain, shine or freezing cold, Wade is out there distributing food as well as gleaning toiletries from hotels. Nothing goes to waste with Wade - milk, yogurt, bread, cakes - anything perishable might show up at our food kitchen early in the morning. He always has a good word for everyone, and when he is feeling poorly he finds someone to take his place.”

     “He indeed is an outstanding Catholic man of service,” Deacon McSwain said.