At Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) School in Beloit, the middle school students have been putting their faith into action through a year-long Works of Mercy Project.
Tag: OLA
Our Lady of the Assumption Spring Fling in Beloit
A lucky online bidder at Our Lady of the Assumption School’s Spring Fling will have the opportunity to have dinner with Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison, Pastor Fr. Mike Resop, and six others at the Butterfly Club, Beloit’s fine dining supper club.
Priest to celebrate 40th anniversary
BELOIT — Fr. […]
Beloit nurse worked in leper colony
Sandra Clisham holds a picture of St. Damien De Veuster and Christ, painted by Henry, a leper patient she treated in Hawaii. St. Damien cared for leprosy patients in Hawaii. (Catholic Herald photo/Pat Casucci) | |
BELOIT — Perhaps Sandra Clisham, an Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) parishioner in Beloit, could be described as being rooted in service and sacrifice.
Clisham is a licensed LPN and is now retired. She spent the better part of 10 years working in Hawaii, the last four of those at Kalaupapa Hospital, which served the leper colony on the island of Molokai.
The leper colony itself is located on the remote, windy, north shore of the Kalaupapa Peninsula. Some of the highest cliffs in the world surround the peninsula. Supplies arrive by barge. Food is flown in.
She shrugged her shoulders and said in her calm, humble manner, “I never considered it that important” when she was asked about her experiences in Hawaii.
Adventurous spirit
Her adventurous spirit led to her work of service and care for the few remaining people who chose to continue living at the former leper colony on Molokai.
On a trip to Hawaii in the early 1980s, Clisham visited the leper colony and was impressed with the contrast between the beauty of the area and its history.
She explained, “While I was there on the trip, I jokingly said to a hospital official, ‘If you have any job openings at the hospital, let me know.’” She admitted, “I knew it would be a challenge. But life has always been a challenge for me.”
Not long afterwards, the hospital called and told her she had a job there. At first she worked in a larger hospital on the island of Kauai until there was an opening at Kalaupapa.
So began Clisham’s odyssey.
How lepers were treated
She pointed out that leprosy is now called Hansen’s disease. By the 1800s, it had spread rapidly throughout the Hawaiian Islands and by mid-century, lepers were exiled to the Kalaupapa Peninsula.
The disease was not understood, and the lepers were left to fend for themselves. Walled off from the world, they bonded together, living their lives out in what histories describe as sad, demoralizing, neglected conditions.
For more than a century, hundreds of people were forced to live there. After 1969, the quarantine ended when the disease became better understood and could be treated with antibiotics. The colony is now designated as a National Historical Park.
Portable Planetarium comes to Beloit
BELOIT — Students at Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) School in Beloit had a recent surprise.
They had a field trip and a chance to learn about the night time sky brought to them.
On November 15, the Portable Planetarium from the Discovery Center Museum in Rockford, Ill., made a stop at the school.
Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Beloit to serve Thanksgiving meal
BELOIT — Are you alone with no place to go or have no family members nearby on Thanksgiving Day?
You can spend Thanksgiving dinner with dozens of people in the comfortable, friendly surroundings at Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) Parish.
Beloit students ‘plant’ Pinwheels for Peace
BELOIT — On September 21, Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School children took part in an international art project, Pinwheels for Peace, by “planting” pinwheels with messages of peace in front of their school and church.
Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project started in 2005 by two art teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan, of Coconut Creek, Fla., as a way for students to express their feelings about what is going on in the world and in their lives.
It’s back to school time in Beloit
BELOIT — It’s back to school time at Catholic schools throughout the Diocese of Madison.
One of them is Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) School in Beloit, which began the 2017-2018 school year by celebrating Mass with the coming together of students, families, and staff. Students proudly debuted new school uniforms.
Students met their Mass buddies and greeted old friends. The Mass buddies will attend Mass together each week as well as celebrate special occasions, work on service projects, and support each other throughout the school year.
After-school Code Club offers springboard to the future for Beloit students
BELOIT — It’s music to Adam Gracyalny’s ears even though songbooks and choral singing are replaced by Chromebooks and lively conversation in the music room at Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) Grade School.
Gracyalny, who is the OLA music teacher, changes hats to conduct Code Club meetings. About 40 students in kindergarten through eighth grade are learning how to write code, how to create simple objects with 3D printing, and how basic concepts can empower them to do many things with a computer.
Thanks for support of fish fries, especially Good Friday dinner
To the editor:
On behalf of Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) Parish, I would like to thank everyone who supported our fish fries this past season.
In particular, we would like to thank those who attended and supported the Good Friday fish dinner. That night we served over 325 individuals and families, some of whom may not have had a good meal that day without your donations.