St. Patrick Church and School in McEwen held their 169th annual two-day Irish Picnic and Homecoming event to raise money for St. Patrick School July 28-29, at the campus picnic grounds. The event featured 18,000 pounds of barbecue pork slow-cooked over hickory bark coals for 24 hours, as well as 2,800 chicken halves. Wayne Hooper and Travis Deal bring more barbecue pork to the selling booth.

Mayor Karl Dean, from lef, Gov. Phil Bredesen, Room In The Inn Founding Director Charles Strobel and Jim Fleming, chair of the Room In The Inn Board, help Chris Carr, third from left, cut the ribbon to the new Comprehensive Center at the Room In The Inn on Eighth Avenu South in Nashville. Carr is one of the residents in the apartments in the new Comprehensive Center, which also houses classrooms, a kitchen, a dining area, laundry, message center and other services for the homeless.

The Serra Clubs of Nashville and Williamson County hosted their annual end-of-summer dinner for the seminarians of the Diocese of Nashville on Monday, July 31, at St. Philip the Apostle Church in Franklin. During the dinner, the Serra Club members were introduced to 25 of the 28 seminarians, including 10 new seminarians, and heard from Father Luke Wilgenbusch, director of Vocations, who spoke about changes coming in the process of forming young men for the priesthood. Seminarian Christian Hamrick shares a joyful moment with Woo Crockett, member of the Serra Club of Williamson County, and Jim Walton, member of the Serra Club of Nashville.

An icon titled "Mater Ecclesiae" (Mother of the Church) is seen in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Column in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican May 30, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Pope John Paul II Preparatory School starts the new year with a new leadership model and new leaders. Dr. Erick Chittle, right, is serving as the school's president under the new model, and Jennifer Dye, who has been part of the faculty since the school opened in the fall of 2002 is serving as the interim principal.

To better serve its Hispanic families, St. Ann School has implemented several initiatives for the upcoming schoolyear, including the hiring of Gemma Martin, Hispanic family coordinator, to help serve families, have a year-long professional development for teachers as they partner with Notre Dame University for a program that teaches them to be able to better serve non-English speaking learners, celebrating traditional Hispanic and Mexican feasts, and more. Anna Rumfola, principal of St. Ann School, leads a meeting with teachers before school begins on Monday, Aug. 7.