News Post
Unity Celebrated During Mass
St. Joseph’s Academy celebrated the annual Unity Mass on February 18. Father Trey Nelson, pastor of St. Jude Parish, was the presider. The Eucharistic celebration was held in the Academy Student Center.
Junior Jenna Braud welcomed the large gathering. “The central charism of the Congregation of St. Joseph is ‘That All May Be One,’” she said. “This charism does not express a desire to make everyone the same; rather, it is about celebrating the many gifts we have in our diversity and bringing all of those gifts together in serving the dear neighbor. Our common bond is that we are all children of God, equally loved by our Creator and deserving of equal love from one another.”
Sophomore MyKayla Cody lit the candle of remembrance to honor those members of the Academy community who have passed away since the last mass.
Sophomore Izie Walker read from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians.
Prayers of the faithful were offered in 11 languages representative of the SJA community. Lily May began the prayers with the Diocesan Prayer for Racial Harmony.
Participating students and the languages spoken were sophomore Cheri Nguyen, Vietnamese; sophomore Grace Courville, Portuguese; junior Camille Masterson, German; junior Tiana Khuri, Arabic; senior Gabriela Gallardo, Spanish; senior Charlotte Alexander, American Sign Language; senior Kenzie Stentiford, Mandarin; junior Edith Crow, Latin; senior Isabella Walton, French; senior Xiao Qing Liu, Cantonese; and senior Audrey Elliot, English.
Danielle Baird directed the Liturgy Choir. Cantors were juniors Grace Buras and Camille Masterson. Seniors Sofia Hodgson and Caroline Roussel were featured vocalists. Faculty member Stephen Barrios played percussion, and Angela Sneed was the keyboardist.
Following mass, faculty member Hugo Andricain shared information about a pilgrimage opportunity to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. Last year, he and Mission Integration Director Jade Spears experienced the trip to these significant locations in the Civil Rights movement, and the experience will be open to a small group of students during spring break.
Senior Gianna Lavastida closed the gathering by leading the singing of the alma mater.
Mindy Brodhead Averitt
Communications Director