Eleven students received the sacraments of initiation on May 24
Last year, students at St. Louis Catholic Academy discovered the power of a personal invitation.
This year, it happened again.
For the second straight year, the school welcomed a large group of young people into the Church on Pentecost Sunday, May 24. Eleven students received the sacraments of initiation at St. Josephine Bakhita Parish after encouragement from school staff, their families and fellow classmates. (Two more are expected to receive the sacraments soon.).
St. Louis Catholic Academy relocated to a new campus in the Carr Square neighborhood of north St. Louis in the fall of 2024, increasing its student enrollment to 181 in grades kindergarten through eight. At the time, three of those students identified as Catholic.
Last year on Pentecost, the school welcomed 18 students and family members into the Church. Some received the sacraments at St. Josephine Bakhita and others at St. Peter Claver Parish.
This year, the invitation began during an all-school Mass, when St. Josephine Bakhita pastor Father Mitch Doyen invited non-Catholic students to consider taking the next step. After blessing the congregation before Communion and speaking about Jesus’ prayer for unity, he asked students if they would be interested in joining the Church and receiving the Eucharist. Teachers wrote down the names of interested students, and school and parish leaders followed up with their parents.
Students this year received a combination of sacraments, including baptism, Eucharist and confirmation. The St. Vincent de Paul conference at Ascension Parish in Chesterfield donated first Communion dresses and veils, suit jackets and ties, blessed rosaries, and Miraculous Medal bracelets, among other items, for their big day.
Pentecost itself is a joyful celebration, but to have it accompanied by the students receiving the sacraments made it extra special, Father Doyen said.
“I have great confidence in the presence of God’s spirit in every human person,” he said. “When I am around these kids, I have no doubt it is the spirit of God already at work in them. Whatever we can do to cultivate that and have children step into that is our greatest responsibility.”
Alice Prince, director of evangelization at St. Josephine Bakhita, said the students’ interest in the Catholic faith has grown through personal relationships and by listening to them and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through them.
“It’s not like we evangelize through a megaphone,” she said. “We evangelize through a very personal encounter. And that personal encounter, it takes time, it takes walking authentically in who you are to know they are seen, known and loved by Jesus. That’s the secret sauce.”
