Central Catholic: Keeping Busy with Pilgrimages, Service, & Environmental Awareness

Central Catholic High School (CCHS) students and parents joined in a pilgrimage for Our Lady of Guadalupe. The school also undertook various service projects and food and supply drives for organizations such as VFWs, Project MEND, ADL, LovePurse, Catholic Charities, and more.

Our Campus Ministry team here at Central Catholic has been exceptionally busy over the past two months! For the first time, Central Catholic joined other Catholic faithful in the Our Lady of Guadalupe Pilgrimage, held every year on the feast day of December 12th. This first group of pilgrims included MSG Alexander Chavez (JROTC), Senora Fabiola Mendez (Spanish), Fr. Patrick McDaid, eleven amazing students, and an excellent group of parents who were ecstatic about this 17-mile pilgrimage. Perhaps the greatest part of this journey was the opportunity it offered students for reflection, further spiritual growth, and continued devotion to the Catholic faith in this unique environment.

In the meantime, our CCHS Guardian Angels remained one of the busiest groups on campus with a service project or drive going on every week. This included spending a morning at one of the local VFWs (Veterans of Foreign Wars), where they distributed food to hundreds of needy families.

Central Catholic High School's Guardian Angels at the VFW

Then our Guardian Angels organized a cleaning and medical supply drive for Project MEND.  Project MEND is a nonprofit that assists elderly and disabled vets with necessary medical equipment.

Central Catholic teaming up with Project MEND

While that was going on, the Guardian Angels also put together a successful toy and coat drive. Nearly 1000 new toys were collected. Many of them were given to children dealing with pediatric cancer.

Christmas Donations

Then, the Guardian Angels partnered with the Animal Defense League (ADL) and had one of the most successful ADL drives in history! They ended up collecting nearly 4,000 donations (which included dog food and chew toys). And in return, the guys got to visit (and play with) some of the stray dogs who were up for adoption!

ADL supply drive (Animal Defense League)

Next up, the Guardian Angels partnered with LovePurse (www.lovepurse.org) to collect toiletries for victims of domestic violence. This was another extremely rewarding drive. At the same time, it was eye-opening. For many of our guys, it really opened their eyes to some of the negative, yet real, aspects of our world.

Supply drive at the LovePurse organization

Another project that was eye-opening was the Guardian Angels' volunteer work at the annual No Strings Gala. This gala was a fundraiser aimed at supporting victims of human trafficking. This was deep! Many of our guys did not know that things like this even existed in our world. For them to help assist at this event was life-changing! 

No Strings Gala

Right before Valentine’s, a group of Guardian Angels got together to make Valentine’s cards for senior citizens. As you can see, the variety of service opportunities this group participates in is quite diverse.

Guardian Angels create cards for Valentine's Day for Senior Citizens

The Guardian Angels also partnered with Catholic Charities to spend a Saturday organizing their warehouse. It was hard work, but someone had to do it! 

Getting a “workout” at Catholic Charities!

Finally, this past week, the Guardian Angels coordinated one of the best blood drives we’ve ever had. We had nearly 50 donors! That might not sound like a lot at first, but considering that we are a relatively small school and that many of our students are not allowed to donate due to sports commitments, this is an outstanding number!

Blood Donations

On top of all that, to “kick off” the season of Lent, the Guardian Angels and Button LIFERS partnered up with more than 500 other students from across the archdiocese to work in the community garden at Catholic Charities.

Archbishop Gustavo with some of the students, Button LIFE moderator (and Math faculty), Ms. Dorothy Hanson, celebrating the event!

The entire group at work in the garden and planting trees.

In addition, our Ecology Club has been busy too!

These guys recently participated in a project to help clean up Kardon Park on San Antonio’s northeast side. As you can see, there’s never a dull moment here at Central Catholic – especially when it pertains to our Campus Ministry team!

Update sent by James Bendele

Ministry Lead, Marianist Encounters,

Guardian Angels Moderator

Central Catholic High School

San Antonio, TX