Students at St. Anthony, Gretna, walk for peace

Story and photos by Beth Donze, Clarion Herald

On April 12, students, faculty and staff  at St. Anthony School in Gretna conducted their second annual Peace Walk in their school neighborhood, intermittently stopping to pray and sing. The walk was timed to mark the culmination of six weeks of parenting workshops hosted by the school and provided by the archdiocese’s Isaiah 43 parenting and mentoring ministry, a Catholic Charities program that focuses on helping young people, families and parishes to strengthen their peacemaking skills and to encourage fellowship among parents.

Students walked, some while holding aloft posters listing peaceful actions, such as “Forgive,” “Console” and “Hope.” “We do (the Peace Walk) to teach our kids to become instruments of peace – to teach them that when they go out into the world, they are the ones who are going to have to establish peace,” said JoAnna Russo, St. Anthony’s principal.