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Twenty-Fifth Sunday of the Year
20 September 2009
Dear Friends in Christ,
1. St. Mary’s Catholic School has been awarded a National Blue Ribbon by the United States Department of Education, in recognition of our outstanding academic achievement. There are over 133,000 primary and secondary schools in the United States, and this year only 314 of them received a National Blue Ribbon. Of these 314 awards, seven are in South Carolina, and of those seven, two are Catholic schools: Christ Our King — Stella Maris School in Mt. Pleasant and St. Mary’s School. This award is testimony to the extraordinary effort made by our faculty, staff, parents, and students to maintain the very highest standards of academic excellence, athletic challenge, artistic expression, and character formation in the service of teaching the Gospel and preparing our students to live as joyful disciples of the Lord Jesus and faithful Catholics. For 109 years, our parish school has been the primary apostolate of St. Mary’s Church, and this Blue Ribbon award bears witness to the commitment of our entire community to the mission of St. Mary’s Catholic School. On 3 November 2009, Sister Mary John and Mrs. Therese Gallivan will represent St. Mary’s at the awards ceremony in Washington, DC, and inside the bulletin today you will find an insert with facts about our school and the Blue Ribbon award. Congratulations to everyone who made this achievement possible. All families in the parish are encouraged to place their children in our parish school, and this latest recognition of the strength of our curriculum is a welcome reminder that we are blessed to have a truly outstanding parochial school at St. Mary’s.
2. This Monday is the Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist. St. Matthew, also called Levi, was a tax collector (in the ancient world more like a loan shark than an IRS agent) who was summoned by the Lord Jesus to become one of the Twelve Apostles. St. Matthew also wrote the first of the four Gospels in the New Testament, and an ancient tradition tells us that Matthew preached the Gospel in Ethiopia, where he was martyred. Based on Ezekiel’s vision of the four living creatures (Ez 1:1-14) the symbol of St. Matthew is a man with wings (St. Mark’s symbol is a lion, St. Luke’s is an ox, and St. John’s is an eagle, all with wings), and these symbols adorn our pulpit and the reredos to either side of the tabernacle. 3. This Tuesday at 7 pm, the Greenville Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (the professional association of church musicians) will gather at St. Mary’s to celebrate Vespers and install their new officers. To lead the singing of Vespers, our adult choir will be joined by the choir of Christ Episcopal Church. Everyone is welcome to join us Tuesday at 7 pm for the solemn celebration of Vespers. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us.Father Newman