Brooklyn and Queens schoolchildren are expressing their excitement and enthusiasm about Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to New York by creating videos, drawings, and poems for him as well as performing good deeds in his name.

Children in diocesan elementary schools and religious education programs were given the opportunity to celebrate this historic visit and offer gifts to the Holy Father through a joint endeavor organized by the diocesan Office of Faith Formation, the Superintendent of Catholic School Support Services and Pastoral Communications.

Three project opportunities were presented to Catholic schools and religious education programs in anticipation of the pope’s arrival.

Marie Elena Giossi Photo 

In Pope Benedict’s Name: Blessed Sacrament School, Cypress Hills, raised $250 for The Society for the Propagation of the Faith during a St. Patrick’s Dress Down Day. Funds were collected in the pontiff’s name, part of a diocesan project for Catholic schools and religious education programs. Above, Amanda Lopez, Hugo Salguero, Destiny Nunez, Meera Montesdeoca, Danixza DeJesus, Christopher Bello, Kaylani Brown and Michael Rowe are pictured with Principal Mary Lou Celmer.

Nearly 70 schools and religious ed programs participated in the first project, called “In Pope Benedict’s Name.” Each school/program was invited to choose a charity, host a fundraiser and make a donation in the pontiff’s name.

The Faith Formation and Superintendent’s offices provided a list of 14 charities to choose from or students could select their own. Schools then created a certificate with the name of the school and the charity they chose as a “tangible representation” of their good works.

The second proposal drew 45 entries through which children could express themselves in poems, essays or drawings to the Holy Father. Children submitted personal letters, haikus and birthday cards.

Submissions from the first and second projects are to be bound in a single commemorative volume to be given to the pope.

Pastoral Communications oversaw the third endeavor – a student-produced video, 30- to 60-seconds in length, centered on the theme: Catholic School Students Light the Way.

“This was a great way for the children of the diocese to get involved and have a hands-on experience of the Holy Father’s visit,” said Gina Krainchich, director of operations for Pastoral Communications, which oversees The Prayer Channel.

Krainchich received 16 video submissions, “each delightful” in its own way.

Marie Elena Giossi Photo 

Kevin Krause, a sixth-grader at St. Bernard School, Mill Basin, raised $222 in His Holiness’ name for the American Heart Association’s Hoops for Hearts.

Children at St. Adalbert School, Elmhurst, expressed words of welcome to the pope in nine languages, spoken by the children themselves. Krainchich felt this was a “great idea to represent the diversity of the diocese.”

Boys and girls at St. Brigid, Bushwick, and Divine Mercy Academy, Ozone Park, gave tours of their respective schools. Their peers at SS. Joachim and Anne, Queens Village, and St. Helen’s, Howard Beach, explained the works of mercy they carry out in their communities, such as collecting food for the poor and working with the disabled.

But if the way to Pope Benedict’s heart is through his stomach, he’ll enjoy seeing the cake that Most Precious Blood School, Bath Beach, displayed in their video in honor of his 81st birthday, which he celebrated in Washington on April 16.

School children at St. Stanislaus Kostka, Greenpoint, closed their recorded message with three simple words that speak for all Catholics in the diocese — “We love you!”

These and other videos will be shown amid the papal coverage on The Prayer Channel, according to Krainchich, and will be posted on www.watchthepope.com, launched by Pastoral Communications to offer continuous coverage of the pope’s visit to the U.S. Viewers can tune in for pre-papal programming, live coverage while the pontiff is in Washington and New York, as well as a post-trip wrap-up.

Copies of the video clips will be given to Pope Benedict during his visit or shortly after he returns to Rome.

Linda Busetti Photo 

ST. ANSELM SCHOOL in Bay Ridge raised $2,118 in the Name of Pope Benedict XVI to be donated to The Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Sister Eileen Mary McMahon, S.S.N.D., principal, far right, poses with first-grade teacher Marie Nuner and students, from left, John Martinez, Lauren Donnelly, Janet Gonzalez, Erica Marie Liz, holding the certificate which will be bound in a book for the pope, and Thomas Donnelly.

Roses, doves and a golden cross decorate the certificate proclaiming the donation of Blessed Sacrament School, Cypress Hills, to The Society for the Propagation of the Faith. The school raised $250 with a Dress Down Day on St. Patrick’s Day. Boys and girls donated $1 for the privilege of getting decked out in green from head to toe.

“It feels good to give because you know that $1 is going to someone who’s going to be grateful for it,” said fourth-grader Danixza DeJesus.

While the school was proud to support the foreign missions in the Holy Father’s name, Principal Mary Lou Celmer noted that the school’s charitable spirit is manifest year-round.

She attributes that to second-grade teacher Mila Bienvenida who constantly encourages students to support the missions with prayer and spare change. Celmer also credited the late diocesan director of the Propagation of the Faith, Father John Brogan, who lived in the parish rectory, and celebrated the school’s Thanksgiving Mass every year.

Following Father Brogan’s death on April 5, students took up a collection and made a donation in his name to the diocesan Propagation of the Faith Office.

Whether or not the Holy Father is a fan of basketball, he’s sure to be a fan of students at St. Bernard School in Mill Basin. They scored big by raising $5,120 in his name to benefit the American Heart Association’s Hoops for Hearts program.

Physical education teacher Marianne Farrell led the project for first through eighth graders on Feb. 28 and 29 during regular gym periods. This is the 15th year she’s conducted a fundraiser for the American Heart Association, which she feels is a fitting charity for a fitness education class.

Students have relatives and friends sponsor them – and Farrell noted that some sponsor themselves with their own allowance money – and then they shoot hopes in honor of someone. This year, that someone was Pope Benedict.

The No. 1 fundraiser was sixth grader Kevin Krause, who brought in $222. “I am very happy it (the money) will go to help people,” said the young man, who was proud to shoot hoops in the pope’s name. Along with his contribution, the sixth grade class brought in over $800.

The younger set did its fair share as well. Kindergartners Christian Lopez and Amelia Cibelli raised $134 and $100, respectively. Second-grader Marquel Martin brought in $162, including sponsorships from the gentlemen at his barbershop.

The Student Council at Our Lady of Lourdes, Queens Village, raised $500 through two projects – a Feb. 14 bake sale and a March 13 dress down day, and donated the funds to Heifer Project International, a nonprofit organization aimed at helping end world hunger and poverty.

This charity was chosen, according to the Student Council moderator, fourth-grade teacher Barbara Glauner, because it gives livestock to poor families, who learn how to care for and breed the animals so their families can become self- reliant.

Individual OLL students also wrote poems and essays to welcome the pope. Third-graders Tiffanie Negron, Jaclyn Perry and Kayla Lewis collaborated on “I Wish,” a poem about the need for environmental conservation, human kindness and compassion, and world peace. Fifth-grader Clarissa Anglade’s poem describes the pope as “honest,” “loyal,” and “loving, caring.”

“This visit will be a time of both true renewal of faith and conversion, to turn toward God and away from ourselves as the center of all reality,” wrote eighth-grader Priya Panday, who composed a one-page letter to the Holy Father, as did seventh-grader Caitlin Cassidy.

Linda Busetti Photo  

ST. ROSE OF LIMA School, Rockaway, donated $6,000 to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in the name of Pope Benedict. Principal Theresa Andersen, right, poses with Sisters Fran Capich and Barbara Young, teacher Elizabeth Annese and students Zelenia Felipe, Dominic Cortez, Dennis Cortez, Leslie Lock, Sophie Delfeus, and Theresa Kavasansky.

“This is history in the making,” said Sister Mary Jane Rolston, O.P., from St. Pascal Baylon, St. Albans, who collected the signatures of 80 youngsters from the parish religious education program on parish stationary alongside the greeting, “Welcome and Happy Birthday!”

At St. Adalbert’s School, Elmhurst, the children teamed up with the Knights of Columbus in Belle Harbor and, in Pope Benedict’s Name, raised money through a bake sale to buy items to send to servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan. They filled cartons with cookies, toiletries, playing cards, cereal, cough drops, socks and anything they thought a soldier far from home might need.

The students were surprised and delighted, Principal Sister Kathleen Maciej, C.S.F.N., said, when they received “so many thank you letter sand pictures” from the soldiers. There are a few new pen pals. Among them is a young marine in Afghanistan, James McKeon, a graduate of St. Francis de Sales School, Belle Harbor, and Archbishop Molloy H.S. In his letter, McKeon wrote that as a member of St. Francis CYO basketball team he played many games in St. Adalbert’s gym.

In Rockaway, St. Rose of Lima seventh-graders Sophie Delfeus, Zelenia Felipe, Leslie Lock and Theresa Kavasansky were very excited about having Pope Benedict come to the diocese. They all planned to watch his visit on television.

If given the chance to meet the pope, Felipe said she would invite him to visit Rockaway to see the local landmarks, which she has studied as part of the school’s Aquinas program.

With the rest of the student body, they raised $6,000 through the school’s annual Math-a-Thon in the name of Pope Benedict to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Principal Theresa Andersen was very proud of the efforts which were led by mission club moderator Sister Barbara Young, P.B.V.M., pre-K teacher Elizabeth Annese and Sister Fran Capich, P.B.V.M.

Kate Oliver and Stephanie Cochrane were among the sixth-graders at St. Anselm’s School, Bay Ridge, who participated in making a video for the pope. They recorded the second-graders singing “Christ Be Our Light” and then fourth through eighth grade formed a human cross in the auditorium. “It’s exciting to think the pope will see it,” Oliver said.

Our Lady of Lourdes School, Queens Village, donated $500 to Heifer International in the name of the Vicar of Christ, thanks to the efforts of Student Council officers: Jay Alves, Erika DeO’Campo, Christopher Pena and Alexandra Boodram.

The 477 three-year-olds through eighth grade collected $2,118 to donate in Pope Benedict’s Name to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. All of the pennies and nickels added up, said Sister Eileen Mary McMahon, S.S.N.D., principal.

At Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, Sunset Park, kindergarten teacher Sister Eilish White, R.S.H.M., directs the school’s collections for the missions. She was happy to see the Heifer Project International on the list of the pope’s preferred charities. Sister Eilish is a native of Dublin. It is a custom within her own family to give donations to Heifer International at Christmas time rather than buy presents that no one needs.

Children from kindergarten to eighth grade at O.L.P.H. collected enough money to buy nine flocks of chickens, which will be sent to poor families in either South America or Africa.

Sister Eilish, who served as a missionary in Zimbabwe for three years, said that such a gift can “change the way of life” for a poor rural family in the Third World.

Anne Stefano, principal of O.L.P.H., said the project helps the children to “feel involved” with the pope’s visit. Stefano said the school children will gather in the auditorium to watch Pope Benedict’s arrival in New York on television.

Tiffany Galan, president of O.L.P.H.’s student council, said she expected it would be a “good experience to see” the pope. If she met the pope, Simran Patel said she would thank him for coming to the U.S.