By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger DAVENPORT — Forty-eight adults of different ages, backgrounds and interests listen as their instructor explains the goals for the second session of the Mottet Leadership Institute, being held at the Davenport Diocese’s headquarters. Participants hope this eight-week institute will equip them with the leadership skills necessary to foster positive change in their communities and organizations. Breaking out of their comfort zones is a first step.
By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger The Diocese of Davenport/ Catholic Charities has been awarded a $10,000 one-year grant from the Amy Helpenstell Foundation Fund Advisory Committee to go towards an administrative assistant position in the Immigration Office. Immigration Counselors Gricelda Garnica and Karina Garnica received the award during a reception last month in Moline, Ill. Kent Ferris, director of Social Action and Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Davenport, expressed gratitude for the grant, which will buttress the work of the immigration counselors.
By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger Widad Akreyi was 8 years old, attending an all-girls school in northern Iraq, when a member of the ruling Ba’ath Party entered her classroom. He wanted all of the students to join the Ba’ath Party. She refused. “I said I didn’t want to join their party.” The shocked man instructed someone to write down her name. She will join the party, he said. But Widad again refused. “He became really, really angry. He used force against me,” Widad told a small group of students and professors at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill.