PEOPLE OF FAITH
'IT MAKES ME HAPPY'
In old age, a new Catholic: 89-year-old joins the Church
On the Friday after Easter, Helen Lyngard was received into the Catholic Church. It was about eight decades overdue.The 89-year-old Albany native was baptized Protestant and longed to become a Catholic as a child, but her father didn't approve.
TEAM CAPTAIN
CCHS student sails off to Coast Guard Academy
Like every parent, Kathy Howland will have to deal with the separation as her daughter heads off to school and adulthood. But her case is unique: Just three weeks after her daughter, Alexi, graduates from Catholic Central High School in Troy, Alexi will report for duty at the Coast Guard …
CROSS CREATOR
Blacksmith forges faith
Jim Moran's blacksmithing hobby started four decades ago with a hair dryer, a hibachi grill and a handful of coal in his Delmar backyard. The makeshift forge he created evolved into a shed with a full hearth and draft hood, and blacksmithing turned into a passion for Mr. Moran, a …
MIXED MEDIA
Catholic artist works on canvas and in court
Dahl Taylor's first commissioned pieces of artwork - replicas of Bruce Springsteen and Jimi Hendrix album covers - appeared on bedsheets draped over his peers' dorm room windowsills. Three decades later, his work lives in books and magazines, museums and galleries, posters for regional and national theatre and other advertisements …
ALBANY AGENCY
For St. Catherine's Center, 125 years of helping children with special needs
Much has changed in the 125 years that St. Catherine's Center for Children has served struggling children and families in the Albany Diocese, but leaders know one thing will stay constant in the next century: The agency will adapt to contemporary needs of counties, schools and communities.
YOUNG ADULTS
Siena fostered friar's vocation
Strolling across the Siena College campus and greeting students, faculty and friends is hardly an unusual occurrence for the friars who serve the Loudonville school.But for Brother Daniel Horan, OFM, those encounters are "little moments of random and unpredictable grace."<
TOP TEEN
Diabetes doesn't slow Maisie down
Maisie Orsillo never asked for help injecting insulin into her arms or stomach for her diabetes - even on the day she was diagnosed at the age of 11. Now 17, Maisie never complains if she has to leave class or take a break from dancing when her blood sugar …
ENVIRONMENT
Biogas project wins prizes
After weeks of hearing power tools buzz through steel in an Albany backyard last summer, Katie Picchione's neighbors grew slightly irritated. When she moved her science project to the garage, its rotten-egg stench irritated her family, too.
BIG-LEAGUE LOCAL
East Greenbush native trades baseball uniform for business suit
Christopher Rosenbaum, who was tagged out of minor-league baseball a year ago, has slid safely into a new job with the Boston Red Sox. Mr. Rosenbaum grew up in Holy Spirit parish in East Greenbush, where his mother, Kathleen, is a parish associate. He left in 2002 to attend the …
STUDENT PROJECT
This 'fairy godmother' outfits prom princesses
A peek inside Mary Doane's project-planning binder proves that she put a lot of thought into creating a prom apparel boutique for teens in need. But ask the 16-year-old whose idea the "Fairy Godmother's Closet" was, and she'll point to anyone but herself.
TRIPLETS AND SACRAMENT
First Communion, times three
When triplets Caroline, Ryan and Connor Darby were newborns, they synchronized their turning patterns in their cribs. When they started to babble, they seemed to understand one another. And now, at eight years old, Connor points out, "We're all ticklish." "Me and Connor both have the same bathrobes," Ryan added.
MUSIC, POR FAVOR
American with French roots plays and prays with Hispanics
Andre LaPointe doesn't always understand the Spanish-speaking homilist at St. Anthony's parish in Schenectady, but he gets the gist of the message. Mr. LaPointe has played guitar for the Hispanic Catholic community in Schenectady for 14 years. A native of that city who grew up speaking English and sometimes French …
NEPAL TO U.S.
New Catholic, newer citizen
One of Fort Plain's newest Catholics recently gained another title: American citizen. Sunam Mazzarella, a native of Nepal, came to the United States on a student visa in 2006; she became a citizen last month.
WORLD TRAVELER
Priest vacations as cruise ship chaplain
Hearing poolside confessions and praying for a tour bus passenger to find her passport are a matter of course for Rev. Charles Gaffigan. A priest of the Albany Diocese for almost half a century, Father Gaffigan has spent his spare time traveling as a cruise ship chaplain for 42 years.
VISITING SHRINE
First trip to Lourdes for couple
When Peter Bonelli began traveling to Lourdes, France, three years ago, his parents were intrigued. Though he was a college student at Cornell University in Ithaca at the time, he would return from the trips each year with stories of the things he had experienced and the hearts that had …
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