Just a few years ago, Centurion Night of Worship was a small gathering in the chapel with typically less than fifty people in attendance. However, 2020 gave the event a major face lift. Due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, many of our usual events, such as weekly Mass and reconciliation or class retreats, were just not possible. But where there’s God’s will, there’s a way.

During November and December, over 100 students from St. Pius X Catholic School have participated in beautifying their schools’ Prayer Garden. 

Students from Sacred Heart School in Rockport created nativity scenes for a religion STREAM assignment. The class assignments were to be done online during the week of Nov. 30.

With love being the Church’s DNA, there are many different ways to love, and everyone can live this out in their own way. The bishop discussed four characteristics of God’s love. Of these four ways, I have found myself loving my students where they are at in their academics and personal lives.

Their world has been rocked. Their lives have been turned upside down. Their connections and encounters, with others, have been robbed by debilitating isolation. Their feelings of community have been shattered. Their sense of time distorted. Their minds and hearts are fraught with the unknown and frequent despair. This is the immediate world our youth struggle and attempt to navigate through during the ever-looming pandemic crisis. Still, they yearn for a different reality. Though the anxiety and loneliness rages on, they embrace that tiny but ever-critical glimmer of hope. Perhaps it is the hope that Pope Francis speaks of: “Let us never set conditions for God; let us instead allow hope to conquer our fears.”