FORT PIERCE — It’s common to do it to pets and boats.

But cars?

If your 1970 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda is nothing short of divine, you may want to submit it to the Blessing of the Cars as part of their 10:30 Sunday morning worship service. You could bring your Smart Car, too.

Saints Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Church at 1002 Bahama Avenue is inviting residents to the event.

The car blessing will commemorate the Feast of the Prophet Elijah.

“Tradition relates that Elijah was carried up to Heaven in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 1:12),’’ the pastor, Fr. Michael J. Sopoliga, wrote.

Byzantine Catholics are among the 23 “Churches” within the Catholic Church, officials said.

The Byzantine Catholic Church in Fort Pierce celebrates the 4th Century Eucharistic Liturgy of the early Christians. The church’s Slavic kitchen also is known for great pierogies and stuffed cabbage.

So anoint your engine with 10-W-40 if it needs it and visit www.byzcath.org/fortpierce, or call (772) 595-1021, for more information.

By Matt Prichard, TCPalm.com

John Christopher Woods is hoping his photos and additional information about his birth parents he has been able to extract from the Florida Department of Children and Families will trigger memories in someone on the Treasure Coast, maybe even his mother or siblings.

Woods, born Jan. 16, 1961, at Martin Memorial Hospital, said he feels he is creeping closer to identifying and perhaps meeting his birth mother, but her name and location are still elusive. His mother was 24 when she gave birth to him and then gave him up for adoption. (more…)

INDIANTOWN — Wildfires had consumed more than 2,000 acres in Martin County by Tuesday morning, and firefighters were working to contain the fires that were burning for a third day, officials said.

There were as many as 10 fires that firefighters had to contend with late Monday and overnight, according to Melissa Yunas, spokeswoman for the state Division of Forestry.

Three single-engine air tankers were called in late Monday to battle the main fire that threatened the Indianwood mobile home community, according to Melissa Yunas, spokeswoman for the state Division of Forestry.
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The Baehrs — Derek, Kellyanne and their two young daughters are five months behind on their mortgage payments. They sometimes eat at a soup kitchen and shop at a food pantry. They expect to lose their three-bedroom suburban house before the end of the school year.
“This is just awful, and I know that we are not the only ones going through this,’’ says Kellyanne, 37, an accounting clerk. Derek, 40, is disabled. “We used to try to go day by day. Now we are just trying to get to the end of each day.’’

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Tristan Allegra

PORT ST. LUCIE — Students and staff at Mariposa Elementary School remember Tristan Allegra, 8, “very kind and helpful, cool and funny,” according to a counselor who helped them cope with the third-grader’s Christmas Day death.

“Tristan was a popular kid, very well-liked,” said Robert O’Neill, a St. Lucie County School District psychologist, one of three counselors who went to the school Monday and Tuesday as classes resumed after the holiday break.

Sign Tristan’s guest book.

According to a Port St. Lucie Police Department arrest affidavit, Tristan died after his mother, Eryn Allegra, of the 2200 block of Southeast Bowie Street, smothered him in his sleep early Christmas morning in a hotel room. She is held without bond on a charge of first-degree murder.

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By ANA X. CERON
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
JENSEN BEACH — Morning Mass at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church was going smoothly until Communion.

That’s when John S. Ricci took one of the Communion wafers and pocketed it, not only attacking their priest, but also their faith, parishioners told Martin County Sheriff’s deputies.

Ricci was supposed to consume the wafer – considered by Roman Catholics to be the body of Jesus Christ – to accept Communion, but when he didn’t, the Rev. Marco DeLeon called after him, parishioners said.

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