A Bishop Visits

The aroma of cooking was the first thing Syracuse Bishop Douglas J. Lucia noticed.

“Oh, that smells good!”

Bishop Douglas Lucia & Advisory Board Chair Darren Woods

The bishop decided to stop in at Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen and Boutique on Oct. 7, two weeks before the canonization anniversary day of the soup kitchen’s namesake (St. Marianne Cope). He was between official visits to Notre Dame Junior/Senior High School and Historic Old St. John’s Church.

Parish Trustee Karl Schmidt had met Bishop outside and escorted him into the soup kitchen. He then introduced Darren Woods, who chairs the operation’s advisory board.

Stuff the Chapel

 One would think that filling a chapel at a Catholic school would not be much of a challenge.

Nancy Robert (2nd from left) with ND sstaff & tudents.

But Notre Dame Jr./Sr. High School put a unique twist on the concept as a way to get holiday donations for Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen and Boutique.

Thus, Stuff the Chapel was born.

“Campus Ministry hosted the ‘Stuff the Chapel’ event and the whole student body, staff and families came together and donated both food pantry items and boutique items,” noted Campus Minister Brittany Wilcox (at right in photo). (Photo left to right: student Andrew Scalise, Boutique Coordinator Nancy Robert, students Jenna Herron and Logan Shedd, and Campus Minister Brittany Wilcox.)