Anticipation was high as students gathered outside Angelus Academy in Springfield, waiting for the first time a bishop would visit their school. Bishop Michael. F. Burbidge was coming to celebrate the academy’s 25th anniversary Oct. 8.
“The bishop coming is significant,” said Jack Karako, an eighth grader who has been an Angelus Academy student since kindergarten. “We may not be a diocesan school, but we are still his school and we are part of the diocese.”
“We’ve never had anything like this before and it’s very special,” said Ana Jarvis, another eighth grader who also started in kindergarten.
The need for an independent Catholic school in south Springfield was great in 2000. “All the diocesan schools were full and if you were from a parish that didn’t have a school, it was difficult to get in,” said Jane Adkins, who was head-of-school for the first seven years. “We opened in a warehouse facility with 34 children and took the leap of faith.”
Now 167 students in grades K-8 are enrolled in the academy recognized as a diocesan-affiliated, independent Catholic school. “I consider this one of my schools,” said Bishop Burbidge, moments after celebrating Mass with the entire school. “We have our parish schools and diocesan high schools, but independent Catholic schools and homeschools are all part of different ways of handing on Catholic education and faith formation. Angelus Academy is part of my flock and it’s great to be united with them today.”
Bishop Burbidge began his homily by congratulating the students on their impressive singing during Mass. “It’s beautiful to see how well you sing,” he said. “I’m sure you please the Lord very much with lifting your voices in song and you participate so reverently. It’s very, very inspiring.”
Many older students sat next to younger students at Mass, reading the Missal and signing together. “We meet three times a day as a community in prayer,” said Joe Ammirati, head-of-school. “We try to instill in all the children a love for the faith, knowing that they may be the only Christ when they go out in the world to meet other people.”
Bishop Burbidge emphasized the theme of Christian unity in his homily. “Dear students, we pray for unity today because as we look around the world … we see division, people being separated, not treating one another as God’s family,” he said. “We are united in faith. That’s the whole reason that this school has existed for 25 years. And because we’re united in the faith that we proudly profess, this school and your parents want you to grow in your knowledge of the faith and of all the church teaches.”
Adkins, the founding head-of-school, was overwhelmed by the blessings that Angelus Academy has enjoyed in the last 25 years. “We never imagined this,” she said. “We just thought if this is what Our Lord wants, we’ll stay open and he has watched over us. It truly is a blessing to have been part of this, and today with the bishop coming — it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Hale can be reached at [email protected].
