|
Bishop blesses St. Mary’s High School building
By J.D. Long-García, The Catholic Sun
December 20, 2007
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted led St. Mary’s High School staff and students in a celebration and blessing Dec. 11 of the new Virginia G. Piper Education Center.
“Catholic education strengthens your ability, as young people, here and now, ‘to manifest to the world the face of Jesus Christ,’” the bishop said, quoting Pope Benedict XVI. “How badly many of your peers need to see the face of Christ.”
The 35,000-square-foot center houses art and music studios, a 270-person auditorium and three computer classrooms.
“The new building bridges the tradition of St. Mary’s past and provides invaluable educational opportunities for the future students of Saint Mary’s,” said Mark Mauro, the school’s principal, thanking the center’s benefactors.
MaryBeth Mueller, superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Phoenix Diocese, noted that the building’s completion was 15 years in the making.
“Our job together is to provide an atmosphere where Christ is proclaimed,” she said. Mueller added that the new facility would continue the school’s tradition of forming moral citizens.
Students began utilizing the $8-million building Nov. 1. Drama students performed the play “Curtain Going Up” in the new facility the first week of December.
“We need you to live your faith enthusiastically,” the bishop added. “That means being a person of faith, a person of prayer and a person of love.”
|
