Maura Baker

Staff Writer

It’s Carlo Acutis’s first day on the job — answering prayers out of “Intercession Station,” a fictional creation by the team behind the “Tiny Saints Show” where the saints work to answer our prayers.

This is the pitch for the first arc of the animated series — pitched for production by the Tiny Saints company, famous for its charms featuring “cartoon-ified” saints and other Catholic religious figures.

Ben West, creative director of Tiny Saints and one of the brains behind the Tiny Saints Show, who has a background in the animation field, is particularly excited for the project as it begins to take shape.

“The big picture is that, as a brand, we’ve always told the stories of the saints, just in a very tiny way,” said Mr. West, “This is an opportunity to go a little bigger.”

With over $115,000 raised in two weeks for the campaign, the show is pacing to reach its goal, but support is still needed, Mr. West said, with everything from the concepts, modeling, animation and more all put together by Tiny Saints’ dedicated team.

“The opportunity is here in an independent space where we’ve got a crack team who’s ready to bring a really high caliber animation to life,” Mr. West said. “We’ve got a brand and a group of people who are really passionate about this for all sorts of reasons, both from a storytelling perspective and a faith perspective.”

Faith, of course, being one of the animated series’ primary missions, according to Mr. West, in a culture over-saturated with children’s cartoons lacking heart and conscience.

With the goal to release a “pilot” episode in the spring, Tiny Saints continues to raise funds to bring the show to life — raising money right from their webpage, https://www.tinysaints.com.

“We need people’s donations to make it happen,” said Mr. West. “But spreading the word really is what counts for a lot … we’re thankfully well beyond the halfway point.”

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

At the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Covington launched a restructured counseling program — CARES, which stands for the Catholic Approach to Resilience, Engagement and Support. Currently the program is being piloted in three diocesan elementary schools, Holy Cross Elementary, Covington; Mary, Queen of Heaven School, Erlanger and Holy Trinity School, Bellevue.

The program was implemented to meet the increasing number of students needing counseling supports, while acknowledging the limited number of counselors available to meet those needs. CARES uses a three-tiered system, ensuring that each child is, “seen, valued and supported not only in academics but also in their emotional and spiritual growth,” wrote Chris Goddard, executive director of Catholic Charities, in the Partners Newsletter.

Catholic Charities has always provided one-on-one counseling. It is still available as tier three and is the most specialized and resource intensive. The two added tiers provide counseling to the broader student populus and small groups.

Jessica Gangwish, counselor to the three pilot schools, said, “tier one is the classroom groups. They are interactive, age-appropriate lessons. It’s to help with developing skills like emotional regulation, self-awareness, decision-making, communication, relationship building, overall life and social skills. Then cultivating empathy and, something we’re really focusing on is resiliency.”

Tier one counseling is effective for about 80 percent of students according to a research article co-authored by Jannik Nitz of the University of Cologne, Germany and available on the National Institute of Health website.

“Tier two,” continued Ms. Gangwish, “are those supportive, additional, one-to-one check ins or small groups. Part of that is screening the kids to promote early identification and get some early intervening, recognizing skills where students are struggling.” According to the Nitz article on multi-tiered counseling, about 10 to 15 percent of a class would benefit from Tier 2 counseling.

Three months into the pilot program, “it’s been going really, really well,” said Ms. Gangwish. “The schools have been really receptive, the teachers are really receptive, and the parents have been really receptive as well.”

The tiered approach is not new to those in the counseling profession with many public schools using what is known as MTSS, Multitiered System of Supports. The primary difference between CARES and MTSS is the faith-based support provided through CARES.

“We make it a point in each session to incorporate the faith in any way that we can, whether it be coping using your faith with prayer or Scripture, going to Mass or talking with a pastor,” said Ms. Gangwish.

Karen Kuhlman, a Catholic Charities volunteer, wrote in the Partners Newsletter alongside Mr. Goddard, “By grounding counseling in a Catholic understanding of the human person, the program helps students flourish academically, emotionally and spiritually, equipping them to live out their faith with confidence and purpose.”

Within this new program, there is a heavy emphasis on instilling strong virtues in students from a young age as a form of prevention, allowing them to have these important skills to fall back on.

“Anything major that may come up, we kind of drilled those skills already to prevent anything further down the road. Instilling these skills that are essential life skills that you need as a student, a high school student, in college, in your work, just as basic life skills. Especially communication and managing emotion,” said Ms. Gangwish.

“We are building a system that strengthens not only academics, but also resilience, compassion and hope – qualities that shape the whole person,” wrote Mr. Goddard. “In this way, Catholic Charities is helping our schools prepare students not only for success in the classroom, but for lives of faith, hope and love — lives firmly rooted in Christ.”

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The grounds of Newport Central Catholic High School, Newport, were colored blue, October 8, following a celebratory color run in which students, faculty and staff celebrated their recent CAPE Blue Ribbon School nomination. Blue powder filled the air in celebration of this achievement as students ran around campus greeting faculty and staff. By the end, no one was spared of the blue powder, not even Ken Collopy, principal, who was doused in the celebratory powder by students.

Newport Central Catholic High School applied to be a National Blue Ribbon school in the fall of 2024 with the scores of the 2024 and 2025 graduating classes, both of whom tested above the national average in multiple categories.

“It speaks volumes on how hard our staff has worked and how hard our students have worked,” said Mr. Collopy, “our staff made a lot of intentional efforts to realign curriculum with standards, whether they are state or diocesan.”

Having back-to-back graduating classes qualify for National Blue Ribbon consideration is, “to my knowledge very uncommon,” said Mr. Collopy, as test scores must be in the top 15% of the nation to be considered. However, the back-to-back qualifications speaks to a changing culture at Newport Central Catholic, one where students have “bought in,” said Mr. Collopy.

“Our students bought into the process of ‘we aren’t testing just to test. We are testing to give data to our teachers to better meet our needs,’ and our teachers took that data and they did exactly that. They made adaptations in the classroom to help with their learning. I really believe that’s why we were able to achieve not only with the class of 2024 but also 2025,” said Mr. Collopy.

In a school assembly preceding the color run, Mr. Collopy addressed the students saying, “I ask two things of you every day, to show up with good effort and good attitude…we have not focused on attaining these numbers, the focus has been on just giving your best and looking to improve. That is what God calls us to go, give our best. It is not always easy; the results are showing that we doing this at an extremely high level.”

When schools apply to be considered as a National Blue Ribbon School, they are given the option to exclude certain scores. “We looked at various things including demographics, testing and services. We applied with everyone, we didn’t take anyone out,” Mr. Collopy announced, “These are students in our AP classes, dual credit, honors, also students in our St. Joseph Institute, regular level classes, student athletes, drama. All of those things made all of you National Blue Ribbon Students,” he told them.

Superintendent of Catholic Schools Kendra McGuire spoke at the saying, “This recognition really reflects the hard work and dedication of your school administration, your school staff, and especially you. We are hoping that this is just the beginning of the wonderful future here at Newport Central Catholic,” she said, “you truly are a beacon of light to everyone, and I know this is finally recognizing the achievements your school has made for decades. I look forward to this tradition of excellence to continue for many generations to come.”

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

For the last 32 years, eighth graders across the Diocese of Covington have been invited to participate in the Pro-Life Essay contest. Every year the students submit essays pertaining to the year’s theme to the Diocesan Pro-Life Office. And while the themes change each year one thing remains the same, each focuses on the dignity of life; what Faye Roch, director of the pro-life office, calls the “essence of the pro-life movement.”

While visiting Holy Cross Elementary School, Covington, Mrs. Roch unveiled the theme for this year’s essay contest, “Life, our Sign of Hope.” Quoting Pope Leo XIV, she explained the topic further, “how important it is that each and every baptized person feel himself or herself called by God to be a sign of hope in the world today.”

The students are being asked to examine two key points in their essays. First, an explanation of how the Church’s teaching on dignity of life from conception to natural death is a reflection of Jesus’ teachings. Second, how a young person can be a beacon of hope for those experiencing “hopelessness and emptiness,” and how they can inspire others to do likewise, she said.

For three decades the essay contest has been utilized as a tool to help students delve into the Church’s pro-life beliefs in an increasingly polarizing world, preparing them for the “controversial things that come up when you talk about pro-life,” said Mrs. Roch.

“I’m hoping I can give you some tools to have those conversations with people, especially when it comes to talking about the unborn,” she said. “That’s what we’re called to do, to have conversations. We are called to convert people through love, not through yelling at them, not through calling them bad names, to talk to them and do it through love.”

Each student was handed a small, silver anchor, which Mrs. Roch said was a reminder to them that they can be anchors of hope in this world. “You can be that person,” she said addressing the eighth graders,” who can be a sign of hope. Know that it’s not easy, and it may not always be popular. Just know that you, as a junior high student, have that power in you.”

Maura Baker

Staff Writer

Supporters of the FIRE Foundation of Northern Kentucky’s mission came together, Oct. 2, for an evening of inclusive education celebrated in Thomas More University’s Academic Center, Crestview Hills.

The evening, which began with an hour of socializing between guests, culminated in a program that expressed the foundation’s history and ministry — to make Catholic education accessible for all.

Officially established in November 2023, the FIRE Foundation of Northern Kentucky provides funding, training and personnel to Catholic schools for the purpose of inclusivity towards children with mental and developmental disabilities. Founded by parents who faced challenges with their own children’s education, the foundation has already provided vital assistance to St. Therese School, Southgate, with hopes to expand to more schools in the upcoming year.

With a goal of $300,000, the money raised will both continue to support St. Therese School but also allow for the FIRE Foundation’s model to support four other schools for the 2026–2027 school year.

“The FIRE Foundation is read to open the grant process to all of our schools to be able to meet their needs,” said Kendra McGuire, the Diocese of Covington’s superintendent. “But, in order to open the process, we need financial support to make this all possible.”

Schools in the Diocese of Covington are sponsored primarily by the parishes, with parishes contributing 30–70 percent of every collected dollar to their individual schools.

“That’s how important those Catholic schools have been to us,” Bishop John Iffert said in his closing remarks. “That’s how important we believe this strategy for passing on the faith is.”

The strategy of the FIRE Foundation, whose program originates in Kansas City, relieves the financial pressure from parishes while still allowing equal opportunity for children with disabilities.

“When we see a need, we work together to try to fill it,” Bishop Iffert said. “I’m very grateful for that.”

To learn more about the FIRE Foundation, or to make a donation, visit https://www.firefoundationnky.org.