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Ann's Friends ~
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 Kevin Davidson
Visit Kevin's website
at: www.watercoloryupo.com
Kevin is the wonderful artist from California who worked with Ann on the OSV Catholic Encyclopedia for Children and the new Catholic Bible Stories for
Children. He has been a freelance illustrator for over three decades, working for local Ad agencies and designers, as well as national publishers. He has been involved with set design for musical productions, as well as murals, most notably the 120 foot Wine Country mural in The Napa Rose in Disneyland’s Grand Californian Hotel. In addition to his illustrations, however, Kevin works in the fine arts as well. He has won numerous awards for his stunning watercolors.
Kevin is a member of SOCALPAPA, LPAPA, a juried member of Watercolor West, and the Orange Art Association.
 He will be a Yupo demonstrator at the Learning Product Expo in Burbank this fall. Yupo is a special type of watercolor paper made of polypropylene plastic instead of the traditional rag. “The Yupo and plein air painting are a perfect match for my style,” he says. “The ability to completely lift the paint allows for great flexibility in execution on site, then when I get back to the studio, I can take my time for any cleanup needed, without fear of overworking, getting back to pure white paper if need be, and the color stays fresh. The paint dries a little more intensely than it does on the rag paper. I can be painting a sky and if I’m not a hundred percent satisfied with it, I’ll do it again until I am. The process is more time consuming, but the percentage of successful paintings is far greater than traditional rag paper.”
Visit Kevin's website at www.watercoloryupo.com
or contact him at his studio (714) 633-9061, cell (714) 797-6007, or by e-mail at
kj.davidson@earthlink.net
Here are our current favorites (click to enlarge):
  
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Kathy M. Crosse from Houston, Texas is the portrait artist who produced the new rendition of my favorite saint, Blessed Miguel Pro. In her realistic colored pencil portrait of the Blessed, she shows him smiling.
 In keeping with the formal type of photographs made in his time, most of the known pictures of Blessed Miguel show him with a solemn expression. His own writings and the testimony of those who knew him, however, show he had a joyful nature as well as a deeply spiritual one. Kathy has managed to show both in this work.
Kathy’s specialty is portraiture. Her works include portraits of famous sports figures, Presidents, board members, individuals, sports action art and more. She also has a beautiful series called "The Blessing of Angels" that consists of 5 individual images of God’s holy angels. Kathy is currently working on a rendition of Jesus and the Arch Angel St. Michael.
Last spring, Kathy was driving down Highway 6 when she says she got a feeling she should turn into the shopping center where Blessed Pro’s shrine is, inside St. Francis Religious Goods store. Noticing the sign, she decided to visit the store and noticed the shrine. She overheard the owner talking to a customer about Pro, and when she visited the shrine she felt that she just had to do a portrait of Pro. His devotees think she has done a wonderful job!
To contact Kathy you can e-mail her at kathys.portraits@sbcglobal.net.
To order this print of the Blessed Miguel, please click here for details.
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 Meet Ann’s friend,
Pax. He may not be with us long because he has cancer, but in his lifetime he has really spread a lot of love.
This photo shows him at Angola prison in Louisiana. For the inmates, God’s peace and love are unleashed when Pax is around. Ann swears he is the most helpful, and one of the nicest, houseguests she has ever had.
Pax is trained to help the disabled. He can bring you the milk from the fridge or the remote to the t.v.!
Click here to read an article about Pax, the peacemaker.
While you are at it, meet Pax’s “mom”, Sister Pauline
Quinn, O.P. She is shown with our friend Bishop Raul Vera Lopez, O.P., of Saltillo, Mexico. Sister Pauline is also an ambassador of love and peace. Visit her website,
Pathways to
Hope, to see her work. Sister is a photographer, and you can see more photos of Pax
by clicking
here.
Sister Pauline’s story, and the story of the prison dog program are shown in a made for TV movie called
Within These Walls
starring Ellen Burstyn and Laura Dern. It’s a great movie, so catch it on the re-runs, get the DVD, or rent it for your family.
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 Ina Hecker is an iconographer who lives with her husband and their four children in Corvallis, Oregon. She was born in Germany, raised in Chile, and in 1989 came to the USA.
 Click on her lovely icon of Christ Pantocrator
to visit her website to see her creations and learn about
Ikonokids and
Romanian reverse glass
painting.
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 Ann’s friend
Peter Kelley is a sculptor with 7 years experience in the toy/prototype field, sculpting toys and highly-detailed action figures for Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and more. After his conversion to Catholicism 5 years ago, he began branching out into religious images, sculpting an Assumption and soon afterwards a version of Our Lady of Good Success, an approved Ecuadorian apparition.
Currently he is working on a Modern Saints series. Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J., and Saint Maximilian Kolbe are the first two figures in this series, with Saint Maria Goretti on the way shortly. Each of the sculptures in this series is 7.5” tall and highly detailed in realistic poses. Peter lives in Mt. Kisco, N.Y.
Click here to see
samples of Peter's work including the lovely new image of
Blessed Miguel, Ann’s
favorite!
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 Paul Thigpen is a Catholic writer, speaker,
editor of
The
Catholic Answer,
and a big friend of the Georgia Martyrs. To learn more about these heroic Franciscans, please
click
here.
Be
sure to visit Paul's new website, STAR OF THE SEA
Catholic Resources, here:
www.paulthigpen.com
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Father
John Sheehan, S.J.
 "After almost twelve years in Nigeria, I have been re-assigned. Although I have left Nigeria, Nigeria remains in my heart.
Part of my sadness in leaving Nigeria is that so much work remains to be done. Nigerian and Ghanaian Jesuits will pick up where I have left off. They will still need help with our schools: two in Nigeria and one in Ghana. Education is the most powerful key to a better future, the tool that will fight corruption, political greed, religious bigotry and the parts of the local culture that continue to hinder development.
The problem remains that good education costs money, and in Nigeria, the average
annual wage is still less than $300. Parents who struggle to feed their families must make tremendous sacrifices to pay even the most modest school fees. At this point in the development of the country, it is not possible to have good schools without some outside assistance, unless we only open our doors to the very rich. We choose instead to find ways to help good students to enter and stay in school. Many of our students have all or part of their tuition paid with the help we regularly receive from others all around the world. Without this help, none of this would be possible.
Small amounts can do great things. With $10,000 raised from friends, a village in Kogi State repaired eight classrooms, built four new ones, and rehabilitated eight more that had been seriously damaged by a storm. Children who had been studying under a tree are now able to sit at a desk. The villagers did all the manual work themselves; the money went to pay for supplies. Children are our future, and that village has a brighter future because their children are being better educated.
Thank you for your prayers and your help which makes it possible for the Jesuits to bring the Good News to the children of God in Nigeria."
- John Sheehan, S.J.,
Chaplain - Kwajalein
    
 Father John
Sings Sacred Songs
Click on the
links below to hear some samples from this CD (select the
player of your choice):
Lord's
Prayer
Windows MediaPlayer
(32 Kbps)
RealOne (RealAudio) Player
(32 Kbps)
O Holy
Night
Windows MediaPlayer
(32 Kbps)
RealOne (RealAudio) Player
(32 Kbps)
Also
available:
- The Several Sides of Father John
- Father John: Live in Concert!
To order any
of these titles, please download the
Order Form (a PDF version is available
here).
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The Wordsmith
Leo Knowles died on 18 October 2004 after a short illness at the age of 69.
 He was a gifted writer and enjoyed a distinguished career as a journalist with the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and as a contributor to OSV and Catholic newspapers and periodicals in England. He was an author of several lives of the saints. His final work was a compilation of Catholic quotations published only months before his death. His essay on his devotion to the Blessed Mother at her shrine in Ladyewell was published posthumously in Ann’s book, The Other Faces of Mary.
He lived virtually the whole of his life in Manchester, England but he was a great traveler, enjoying in particular his several trips to the USA, a country for which he had great affection.
He was a man of deep faith, which he lived through his regular attendance at the liturgy, his professional and family life, and his unfailing kindness to all with whom he came into contact.
His wife, Pat, predeceased him by only 18 months. He is survived by three adult children and two grandchildren.
Leo’s editor at Our Sunday Visitor, Gerald Korson, wrote:
"Leo Knowles was a wonderful man, an excellent writer who did many fine articles for Our Sunday Visitor newspaper. I will miss his contributions."
Ann will miss the sparkling wit, the help, and encouragement that Leo, her long-time friend and correspondent, always shared with her.
May his soul, and the soul of all the faithful departed, rest in peace.
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(For
more pictures, please click on the photo above)
The
Ortega boys are shown here with their little sister
Julia, who suffers from S.M.A. (Spinal Muscular
Atrophy).
Their little angel, Holly Ann, is shown at the top left. Holly has left for Heaven already.
I hope all my friends will take just a minute to say an extra prayer for Julia and for her
family.
To learn more about Spinal Muscular Atrophy, please visit the SMA Angels
site by clicking here:
http://www.our-sma-angels.com/index2.html
Anyone who knows how to cross stitch and would like to help with COLES quilts, visit this site to learn about a beautiful project for these SMA children:
http://www.our-sma-angels.com/colesquilts/
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Celebration!
Recently Ann was privileged to attend a joyful celebration. Her friends
Consuela and Roosevelt Martinez of Corpus Christi, Texas, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on the same day their son, Peter, was ordained a priest!
The ordination Mass at the cathedral was beautiful. At the end, Bishop Carmody called Consuela and Roosevelt up to the altar and blessed them, as their two priest sons, Peter and his older brother, Father Frank Martinez, placed their hands on these good parents.
That evening, there was a nice party, complete with mariachi musicians. Remarks by their children gave testimony to the wonderful job these parents have done in raising their large brood.
Consuela and Roosevelt have lived out their Christian vocation for fifty years – a wonderful record. Peter has just followed his brother in making the commitment to the vocation of the priesthood. I pray both of these young priests, some years from now, will celebrate a golden jubilee of their own, following their parents’ lead in living the vocation of love to which God has called them.
  
Ann's former student
Fred Goporo was recently honored with a stone on the Walk of Honor at Houston Baptist University. He is shown here with
Mary Ellen Hall, award-winning softball coach at HBU, and
Bebe Velez. Congratulations, Fred!
COLORES
del PUEBLO
Ann's friend
Deborah Brown holds one of the lovely santos (images of saints carved in wood) that she imports from Guatemala. Visit Debbie's
site to see how her work helps poor artists gain dignity and break the cycle of poverty. She shows her imported items at many religious conferences so you may get to meet her in person if you attend a conference in your area.
  
 Ann
and
Leo Knowles have been friends and correspondents for nearly twenty-five years. In the "old days" their letters took weeks to cross the ocean from Texas to England and back; today they can even "chat" via computer!
In his new book, Leo has gathered a gold mine of quotes from outstanding, contemporary Catholics such as Pope John Paul II, Blessed Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, Archbishop Oscar Romero, and dozens more, as well as the best of the traditional sayings from the first nineteen-and-a-half centuries of the Church.
Thousands of quotations are arranged by topic and the book also contains mini-biographies of the famous Catholics who said
them.
Please click
here for more information. |
 Dr. Quentin Colgan is a professor at Ohio Dominican University. He knew and loved
Virginia Cyr, a young woman whose ardent desire to live only for Christ transformed her into a selfless channel of God's love.
Confined to a wheel chair with severe Cerebral Palsy, Virginia came to the conviction that her calling was “to be for” others. Lovingly called God’s little hobo, her cheerful apostolate gave witness to the Gospel by prayer and example, and she left a remarkable journal which shows her very personal relationship to the Blessed Mother as she struggled toward her goal: the total gift of herself to God.
Dr. Colgan and those whose lives were touched by Virginia hope that one day she may be accorded the honors of the
altar.
Be sure to visit Dr. Colgan's website
for more information on Virginia Cyr or click
here to obtain a copy of this book.
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An online resource for teachers, catechists, and
parents to help children grow in our Catholic Faith!
Free Booklet - Petals from the Little Flower (click for details)
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