The following individuals from the Diocese of Rochester have recently produced books and music CDs:
* Greece Athena High School varsity basketball coach Jim Johnson, a parishioner of Greece’s Our Mother of Sorrows Parish, and Catholic Courier Staff Writer Mike Latona cowrote A Coach and a Miracle: Life Lessons from a Man who Believed in an Autistic Boy. The book retells the story of the night of Feb. 15, 2006, when Johnson put Jason "J-Mac" McElwain into the game. The teen — who is autistic — went on to score 20 points in the final 3:11 of the only varsity match he ever played, and the story was picked up by news media locally and around the country. Johnson frames the game and season within his Catholic faith, and the book invites readers at the beginning and end of each chapter to try such self-improvement tasks as setting goals, writing a personal mission statement and serving others.
* Father Damian Milliken, an Elmira native who has served as a Benedictine missionary in Tanzania since 1960, has released a book, African Pilgrimage: Reports & Reflections from Tanzania, 1960-1988. The book details Father Milliken’s many experiences in East Africa. Book proceeds will support educational initiatives for young women in Africa.
* Nora Bradbury-Haehl and Bill McGarvey cowrote The Freshman Survival Guide: Soulful Advice for Studying, Socializing, and Everything In Between. Bradbury-Haehl is youth minister at St. Paul Parish in Webster, and McGarvey is a singer, songwriter and former editor-in-chief of the online magazine BustedHalo.com.
* Pete DuPre, a parishioner of Church of the Assumption in Fairport, has recorded a CD of harmonica music with pianist Mary VanHouten. The CD is a collection of sacred music and Christmas music.
* Joseph Beauchemin, a parishioner of Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Community in the Finger Lakes, has written Passion on the Mountain. The story takes place on Saranac Lake and is about the romance between characters Jeff Thorpe and Rose Jordan.
* Sixteen-year-old Kristina Jewell, a member of the faith community at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford and daughter of Deacon Tom Jewell, has released "Love or Butterflies" as the first single from "Grounded," her new CD of original music.
* Nick Varano, a parishioner of Waverly’s St. James Church, which is part of Blessed Trinity Parish, and his band Knights Of The Glad Countenance have released a self-titled CD of music ranging from pop to mystic.
* Deacon George Dardess coauthored Reclaiming Beauty for the Good of the World: Muslim and Christian Creativity as Moral Power with his wife, Peggy Rosenthal.
* Deacon Dardess also coauthored In the Spirit of St. Francis and the Sultan: Muslims and Catholics Working Together for the Common Good with Marvin Mich, director of social policy and research for Rochester’s Catholic Family Center. The two also cowrote a JustFaith module based on the book. The module lays out a plan for Muslims and Christians to form a faith community devoted to serving God and neighbor.
* Liana Eisenman-Wolford, a parishioner of Guardian Angels Church in Henrietta, wrote Growing (Up) in Faith: A Guide for Catholic Parents of Young Children. Eisenman-Wolford draws on her experience as a catechist, mother, and psychologist to provide age-appropriate ideas to teach the faith to children from birth through age 5.
