Despite the loss of her mother and brother to violence, Sr. Terry Maher stands against the death penalty.

 You couldn’t have blamed Sister Terry Maher for trying to write the letter.

 Her brother, a police officer and a supporter of the death penalty, had been shot and killed in the line of duty. She knew he would have wanted her to write it. On top of that, he was the second member of Sr. Terry’s immediate family who had died at another’s hand. Her mother had been killed by a drunk driver 30 years earlier.

GRAND TERRACE—It wasn’t too long ago that Father Javier Gonzales-Cabrera and Father Jorge Garcia were discerning their vocation and then taking their first steps toward the priesthood in seminary life.

 The two young priests, ordained together in 2008, are embarking on new ministries that will take them back to their formative years, only this time as mentors.

By Andres Rivera
Staff Writer

SAN BERNARDINO—Sister Mary Chilee Okoko, D.M.M.M., says she feels that her entire life has prepared her for a new role. She joins Joyce Drake and Jose Luis Elias in entering new leadership positions in the diocese’s Ministry of Life, Dignity and Justice; Ministry of Educational Services and Ministry Formation Institute, respectively. 

Palm Desert pastor and his parishioners reach out to poorest of the poor on a 10-day summer mission to Nicaragua

PALM DESERT—Father Howard Lincoln of Sacred Heart Church in Palm Desert has rallied his congregation to help the impoverished farmworkers of Mecca and Duroville with everything from periodic food drives to funding for a new church.

By Petra Alexander

LOS ANGELES—Many Catholics from the Diocese of San Bernardino flocked to a celebration honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Aug. 6. 

 Archbishop Jose Gomez presided at the celebration, accompanied by several other bishops, including Bishop Gerald Barnes.

SAN BERNARDINO—Completing three years of formation, 62 faithful Catholics participated in the Coordinator of Ministries Formation Program (CMFP) graduation ceremony on Aug. 26 celebrated by Bishop Gerald Barnes at Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral in San Bernardino.