Angelus News | January 26, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 2
On the cover: High school student Atticus Maldonado smiles between classes at St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy in Downey. On Page 10, Angelus contributor Steve Lowery has the incredible story of how Maldonado’s school community rallied behind him in prayer — and why his unlikely recovery from a rare cancer may not even be the story’s biggest miracle.
On the cover: High school student Atticus Maldonado smiles between classes at St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy in Downey. On Page 10, Angelus contributor Steve Lowery has the incredible story of how Maldonado’s school community rallied behind him in prayer — and why his unlikely recovery from a rare cancer may not even be the story’s biggest miracle.
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LOCAL<br />
Walking for change — The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet were among many other religious sisters, supporters,<br />
and advocates who participated at the <strong>2024</strong> LA Walk for Freedom to End Human Trafficking on Jan. 13.<br />
Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood hosted the event and was the starting location for the two-mile walk. |<br />
SISTERS OF ST JOSEPH OF CARONDELET<br />
■ Are you ready? LA Congress lineup announced<br />
A local filmmaker will headline the <strong>2024</strong> Los Angeles Religious Education Congress<br />
in Anaheim, set for Feb. 15-18.<br />
Congress keynote speaker Jessica Sarowitz is the founder of Miraflores Films and<br />
executive producer of the 2023 documentary, “With This Light,” on the life of<br />
Maria Rosa Leggol.<br />
This year’s workshop speaker lineup also includes Cardinal Robert McElroy,<br />
who will speak about the Synod on Synodality, <strong>Angelus</strong> contributor John L. Allen<br />
Jr., Archbishop Joseph Nguyen of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, Auxiliary Bishop José<br />
Arturo Cepeda of Detroit, and Victims Assistance Ministry Coordinator Heather<br />
Banis for the Archdiocese of LA.<br />
Youth Day on Feb. 15 will include a workshop on “Gaming, God, & the Heroic<br />
Life” and another titled “Awkward: When Following God Gets Uncomfortable.”<br />
Get more information and register at recongress.org.<br />
■ Abbots in Orange<br />
County launch Catholic<br />
fundraising firm<br />
St. Michael’s Abbey in Orange<br />
County has launched a consulting<br />
and fundraising firm to help Catholic<br />
institutions make progress on their<br />
projects.<br />
The firm, the Abbey Group, will<br />
help religious organizations, educational<br />
institutions, and leaders with<br />
“ambitious apostolic endeavors and<br />
strong leadership but are in need of<br />
the financial and temporal resources<br />
to accomplish their objectives,”<br />
Gregory Clark, the strategic planning<br />
director of the Abbey Group, told<br />
Catholic <strong>News</strong> Agency.<br />
The idea for the firm came after the<br />
abbey’s success in raising more than<br />
$150 million for a capital campaign to<br />
build a new monastery.<br />
The Abbey Group doesn’t market its<br />
services but instead relies on word-ofmouth<br />
to allow for effectively vetting<br />
of the organizations and projects it<br />
pursues. The group said they take on<br />
only four projects at a time.<br />
“It is an authentically Catholic<br />
approach to fundraising — one that<br />
is desperately needed in our Church<br />
during this moment in her history,”<br />
said R. Shane Giblin, CEO and<br />
co-founder of the Abbey Group.<br />
Y<br />
■ USC Catholic students attend SEEK Conference in St. Louis<br />
USC students and local seminarians were<br />
among the thousands at the <strong>2024</strong> SEEK Conference<br />
in St. Louis, Missouri, this month.<br />
Organized by FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic<br />
University Students), SEEK featured guest<br />
speakers, daily prayer, Eucharistic adoration,<br />
workshops, and live music, plus additional<br />
ways to evangelize, including seminary formation,<br />
missionary opportunities, and volunteer<br />
work.<br />
Guest speakers at the Jan. 1-5 conference<br />
included Father Mike Schmitz, the host of the<br />
popular podcast “The Bible in a Year,” Tim<br />
Glemkowski, CEO of the National Eucharistic<br />
Revival, and Sister Mary Grace, SV.<br />
Next year’s event will be Jan. 1-5 in Salt Lake<br />
City, Utah.<br />
USC students from the Caruso Catholic Center with women religious at<br />
this year’s SEEK conference. | USC CARUSO CATHOLIC CENTER<br />
6 • ANGELUS • <strong>January</strong> <strong>26</strong>, <strong>2024</strong>
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