Jesuits West

Lamont Newell, a senior at Verbum Dei Jesuit High School in Los Angeles, was accepted to 65 colleges and plans to attend Columbia University in the fall.

Lamont said one critical key to his success has been the teachers at Verbum Dei. “My biology teacher, she's actually one of the directors in the robotics [team]. She also nominated me, my sophomore year, to go to NASA in Houston, which actually sparked my engineering [interest],” he said.

Verbum Dei President Fr. Travis Russell, SJ, said “Great education is not a mystery. It is dedicated teachers, real relationships, corporate partners who believe in our students, high standards, and the formation of character. Lamont’s success is his own — but it also reflects the excellence and resilience of the entire Verbum Dei brotherhood."

Watch the Good Morning America segment: tinyurl.com/2v4sc4cd

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Fr. Michael Castori, SJ, of Jesuits West, to serve as the next bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. He will succeed Bishop Clarence “Larry” Silva, who has served since 2005.

Fr. Castori is currently rector of the Arrupe Jesuit Residence at Seattle University. He has also served as a theology professor at Santa Clara University; as the parochial vicar at All Saints Catholic Church in Hayward, California; and as the vicar for clergy for the Diocese of Oakland. Read more: https://ow.ly/zn5c50YVCcS