News

We invite you to join us for a scholarly presentation on the life of our Blessed Mother Mary. There will be two presentations. On April 29th at 7:00pm at the Santa Lucia Catholic Church, the topic will be "Mary's Song: The Magnificat". On May 1st, the topic will be "A Portrait of Mary in Islam" at the Pius X Community Center. Sister Mary Catherine is a scholar on the life of Mary and studied at the Pontifical School. For more information call 915-474-2034, 915-740-5461 or 915-274-3973. All are invited. 

We share with you today the very sad news of the death of our founder, Sister Donna Kustusch. She died on July 21st as the result of injuries sustained in a car accident in Chicago where she had been living since leaving El Paso. Below you can read her official obituary:

As the Center continues to grow and develop we have seen the need to let the leadership pass from Dominican Sisters from the US to Mexican women. Our educational programs need to be directed by people who have degrees earned in Mexico and who are thoroughly familiar with the Mexican system of education, both pre-school and primary, and who understand the current reforms that the government has put in place. The Center also needs leadership who can look for sources of funding in Juarez and in the State of Chihuahua to augment the sources we already have in the United States.

Today our group of twenty-five sixth graders celebrated the completion of their years in our tutoring program. Next year these boys and girls will begin secondary school and hopefully also join our youth group.

Many of these students started their educational journey in our kindergarten and have come to the tutoring program twice a week during all their primary school years. 

Nothing brings out the crowds like a good party--and a good party is what we had at the Center this morning. The day dawned cool after some welcome overnight showers. A few clouds kept the sun from beating down on us as we gathered outside.

The honored guests were the mothers of all the children in the tutoring program as well as the mothers of the teens in the youth group. Each class had practiced a dance to entertain their mothers.

This morning we received the sad news that one of the members of the sewing cooperative died this weekend after a short illness. Martha Solis has been a part of our "family" for the last fourteen years. She was in charge of packaging all the items that the cooperative makes. She was also a member of the finance committee. Because she had a passport and visa she also helped with sales in El Paso and frequently spoke about the Center to various groups. More importantly Martha was a friend!

We begin the holiest week of the year for Christianity--and we wish all of you blessings and grace!

As is our tradition on Saturday the children of the tutoring program led the community in the walk called the Way of the Cross. Children dressed in costume to represent the Roman soldiers, Pontius Pilate, the women who encountered Jesus on his way to die, Mary and, of course, Jesus himself.

Our kindergarten teachers and students celebrated the arrival of spring with dances prepared to delight family and friends. On Friday March 22nd, the last day of school before the Holy Week/Easter vacation break the sounds of music and laughter drew people off the street to enjoy good food and fun.

This event was also a fundraiser for the kindergarten. We now have raised enough money to paint all the kindergarten classrooms, thanks to the wonderful food donated by parents.

The day has many names--Saint Valentine's Day, the Day of Love, the Day of Friendship. Whatever name you prefer, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could celebrate love and friendship every day instead of just once a year? That is exactly what we try to do at Centro Santa Catalina--make every day a celebration of community and friendship.

The children in the tutoring program left their studies aside on February 14th and enjoyed time for friends, food and fun.

On a recent cold morning the kindergarten children were learning all about the letter M. It's easy for adults to forget how much there is to learn at that age.

The simple lesson included capital M's and small m's, manipulating pieces of pasta into M shapes, painting the M's creatively and then cleaning up one's own work space. Along the way there was time to talk about those children whose names begin with M--Manuel, Marbella, Mireya and Miranda, among others.