Cabrini students learn the sacred behind the dough

On a recent bake day, one table of students was carefully rolling and cutting cookies, while senior religion teacher Denise Theriot was at another table teaching students how to make rosaries, something she has done with students since 1999. 
 

“It’s part of our spiritual culture in New Orleans,” Theriot said, adding how she also teaches a religion lesson on St. Joseph. 
 

Seniors decorate the cookies, and senior Tiffani Clark was enjoying icing cookies in different colors and adding sprinkles. Clark laughed when recalling that her initial vision of the altar lamb was a real lamb. She’s since learned it is a cake, representing the “Lamb of God.” 
 

“I do like the symbolism about the bread crumbs – St. Joseph was a carpenter and it represents the sawdust of a carpenter,” Clark said.
 

Prayer intentions roll in
 

As the students work on the cookies, they are asked to make a special intention, Theriot said.
 

“My special intention is for my cousin’s Mimi, who had a stroke and is on life support,” senior Angelle Rodriguez said. “Her family needs my prayers.”
Rodriguez also has gained an appreciation for giving back to others.
“I’ve been happy to serve and help in any way I can through the St. Joseph Altar,” she said.
 

Sydnie Newton said feeding the poor and homeless was her intention this year.
 

“I feel like I am privileged in my life, and there are other people who are not, so I want to do anything I can do that’s good for the community,” Newton said.
Students learn the meaning behind everything on the altar and help make decorative breads representing St. Joseph’s sandals, the nails on Christ’s cross, fish and ladders.
 

“I ask if they have any skills, and we go from there,” said Judy Kelley, the altar coordinator.
 

Kelley, whose two older daughters are Cabrini graduates and whose third, Veronica, is a junior, leads all bake days in the school cafeteria. 
She also constructs the altar with the help of seniors. 
 

Started at home in gratitude
 

Kelley has had a home altar for 14 years, first making a promise to erect an altar if Jesus and St. Joseph would intercede on behalf of her son, who, at 18 months old was diagnosed with a blood disorder. When his illness turned out not to be leukemia, Kelley fulfilled her promise.
 

Kelley said God sent people to help her create the altar. Geraldine Piglia, whom she happened to meet in a coffee shop, “took me to her house and told me how to make the cookies and the breads and helped with the altar.”
 

Kelley’s husband Larry builds the three-tiered steps for her home altar and the altar at Cabrini. This year, volunteer Nancy Dupuy was on hand for bake days.
 

“Every girl gets to bake all the (different kinds of) cookies,” said Kelley, who began helping at Cabrini after her now-graduated daughter mentioned that her family had a home St. Joseph Altar. “It’s put on by the girls who have the three core values of respect, excellence and service. The altar is offering respect to God and service to the community. The girls are showing excellence by giving the time and doing whatever it takes to make it a success. The girls work hard and feel like the altar is their own.”
 

That’s a lot of cookies
 

Kelley estimates that 25,000 cookies are made each year, which equates to about 1,000 cookies every hour the classes bake in the cafeteria. Some bake days are held on the weekend. Students also make an annual scrapbook of the altar that is displayed on St. Joseph’s Day.
 

“I think it’s a bonding experience for them,” Kelley said. “They are learning about God in religion and St. Joseph, but they see that this is something they can do at home with their mothers, grandmothers and aunts.”
 

Parents and friends of Cabrini donate the necessary ingredients – flour, sugar, figs, sprinkles and eggs – and also their time and money.
 

Dads’ Club cooks meals
 

The Cabrini Dads’ Club gets involved by preparing the meatless red sauce and fish to feed visitors who stop by the courtyard after 5 p.m. They’ve been feeding around 300 people the past two years.
 

“This is a great group of girls and showcasing everything that Cabrini is about,” Kelley said.
 

Working on the altar has strengthened the faith of students and made them more aware of the needs of others.
 

“I’ve learned the importance of giving back to others and helping everyone,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve been happy to serve and help others in any way I can through the St. Joseph Altar.”
 

Christine Bordelon can be reached at [email protected].