Our yearly start to Catholic Schools Week always begins with a concert performed by Christopher Kypros, and this past Sunday was no exception. Mr. Hammond and our Board Chair, Art Prince, started the week long celebration with these opening remarks:

Thank you, Steve.

I, too, welcome each of you here this afternoon to begin our national celebration of Catholic Schools Week. Six years ago this very day we gathered here to dedicate this beautiful campus and to dedicate ourselves to provide children an exceptional Catholic education. We covenanted at that time to devote ourselves to the total formation of your children through character and spiritual development, leadership training, academic rigor, physical well-being and an ethic of service. These are our six pillars of education.

The theme of this year’s Catholic School Week is Faith, Academics, Service. Know that they are lived each day here at St Patrick’s. Allow me to briefly comment on each.

FAITH –In our Tradition, the principle of sacramentality is fundamental. We see the presence of God in nature, objects, rituals and especially in people.  That is the Catholic outlook. Our religious education program was intentionally developed to help our students develop a relationship with God through prayer, religious education, community life and service.

Always remember that St. Patrick’s is authentically Catholic and warmly ecumenical.

ACADEMICS – That this young school, while in its infancy was accredited by SAIS and SACS, is almost unheard of. They are among the premier accreditation services in the country.  We have commenced applying to become one of the nation’s Blue Ribbon Schools. One reason we are not already a Blue Ribbon School is because we don’t yet meet the eligibility requirements; we are too young to be considered! We set high standards for our students and our faculty and staff are the most dedicated educators I know. They fully understand their responsibility for identifying, nurturing and celebrating the gifts of each of your children.

SERVICE – Catholic Tradition teaches that faith without works is dead. The lack of works is what separated the sheep and goats in Matthew’s Gospel story about Judgment Day. The service projects our youngsters are involved with here at St. Patrick are too numerous for me to share. The genesis of many of our service projects are from the ideas of the student body. We believe that helping one another is not just an expression of our faith; it’s good citizenship. Again, an ethic of service is one of our six pillars of educating your children.

If I may continue a bit on the themes of faith and academics, we believe a very important part of the total formation of your children is exposing them to the arts. Our Church for millennia has used the arts for faith and academics. A thousand years ago, most people were illiterate. So they were taught and catechized sensually. Stain glass windows and even ditties were visual and auditory means to teach. We at St Patrick continue our Church’s long tradition of supporting the arts. With no equivocation, I believe we have the best art, music and theater teachers in Hampton Roads.

Because the arts are so important, we always begin Catholic Schools Week here at St Patrick with our very own Chris Kypros’ concert.

I thank you for your attention and for choosing to spend your Sunday afternoon with us;

Please sit back, and let us begin this week of celebrating Catholic Schools with a piece by George Gershwin!!!

Ladies and gentlemen -  -  -  Chris Kypros.

The 8th Grade class is hosting a Servant Leadership Dinner to celebrate four exceptional members of the community. We invite you to attend on Sunday, March 6th from 6:00 – 8:00 pm in our dining hall.

The recipients of this year’s Servant Leadership Awards are:
Betty Dean Brown from Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church
Pat Walsh from Sacred Heart Church
Robert Pretlow, Jr. from the Basilica of St. Mary’s of the Immaculate Conception
Kent Johnson from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Reservations may be made by calling 440-5500 and the dinner is $10 per person or $75 per table of 8. Please join us and help us celebrate the selfless work done by these outstanding servant leaders in our community. All proceeds go towards the eighth grade legacy of the Fourth Station of the Cross.

Sacred Heart Church—June 5, 2009

By Charles V. McPhillips

Young ladies and gentlemen of the Saint Patrick Catholic School Class of 2009, I have had the great privilege and the true joy, as Chairman of your school, to address you on many occasions over the past four years. With great admiration for all of your growth and achievements, I cannot help but suffer a tinge of melancholy on this last occasion I have to address you. Especially after you have just survived the ordeal of polishing your Journey Portfolios and making your Grad at Graduation presentations, it would be only fair if I finally shared with you my own personal Journey Portfolio.

I stand before you in the very Sacred Heart Church where I was baptized in September 1959. It is the Church that my grandfather, a native of County Monaghan, Ireland, helped to build in 1925 as a member of the Parish Building Committee. My father was baptized here in February 1927 and my parents were married here in October 1958.

Like your parents, my parents sent me to Catholic elementary school, the old Blessed Sacrament School at 37th and Colley, where I learned most of what I know about the Catholic faith. Like Kailee Cunningham, I went on to Norfolk Academy for high school. I loved it so much I stayed an extra year. Then, like the smartest boys in this class will eventually do, I matriculated at Hampden-Sydney College. From there, just as the craziest people in this class will likely do, I attended law school, in my case the University of Virginia—so that the rest of my life would be tormented by watching my team blow big leads in crucial ACC match-ups.

I have been blessed in my career and fortunate to travel on some exciting adventures. Indeed, Theresa and I just returned from Africa, where we visited the Cape of Good Hope. Fast approaching age 50, it seems that my life is now crossing that Cape, leading me to wonder what I will discover on the other side, and why, after traveling so far, I am back here at Sacred Heart, right where I started.

Class of 2009: I pray that you will explore this world and enjoy far-flung adventures. I wish for you a full, exciting and successful life. Spread your wings and soar like an eagle. But I pray that you too will return safely to the place of your baptism. By that I do not necessarily mean, as for me tonight, the same physical place, but the same emotional and faithful place to which your parents and godparents brought you with such hopefulness on the day of your baptism.

Remember, as you purchase your ticket to explore the wide-open life that lies before you, to book a round trip.

After all, a one-way ticket, one that’s only about seeking pleasures and riches—one that’s all about you—is a ticket that will inevitably lead you into a dead end. You will not find happiness or meaning there. You will have wasted precious years and a small fortune going nowhere.

Along your route, you will encounter the secular scribes and pharisees of self-help and self-indulgence, whether in the movies or on TV, whether “twittering” or “texting”, who will tempt you to believe that “it” is all about you. By “it“, they mean the meaning of life.

I confess, Class of 2009, that I am not learned or profound enough to divine “the meaning of life.” Being somewhat old fashioned, I am not much on meditation, gazing at my navel or singing Kumbaya. And I am simply not bright enough to answer all of the riddles, reconcile all the contradictions, decipher all the codes, and solve all the equations necessary to discover the “meaning of life.”

I can, however, with God’s help, examine the meaning of my own life. Mark my words, Class of 2009: you will never be satisfied by all of your adventures, by all of your acquisitions, or by all of your pleasures; they will disappear with the morning mist, unless you also acquire meaning in your life.

The meaning of your life. Not the meaning of the universe. Not the meaning of existence, not the meaning of some abstraction called life. No one who ever walked the earth (other than Jesus) has ever solved those mysteries. Please take no offense, but none of us here is Jesus.

But through Jesus, his Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit, each of you has been given a precious, but temporary gift. It is your earthly life and it is yours, but only for so long as God gives it to you. As you later cross your Cape of Good Hope, wherever that may be and whenever that crossing may occur, you will appreciate how precious this gift really is. The gift includes God’s grace upon your life, and God’s answers to your prayers, but in the end it will be your decisions that will determine the meaning of your life.

It is yours, but it is not about you. It is yours, but —I would submit—it is about what you decide to do for others.

In my case, blessed by the selfless teamwork and guidance of great friends, and navigating by prayer, I found meaning for my life in the founding of Saint Patrick’s. I find it in you, Class of 2009, in the impressive young adults you have become, in the leaders you are destined to become, in the bright future you offer for our parishes, our neighborhoods and our City. I pray that I might continue to find such meaning for my life whenever, by God’s grace, I overcome my faltering nature to work for a better community. Too rarely do I rise above my selfish flaws, but when I succeed in doing so, it brings me here, back to this place and the promise of my baptism.

You may certainly prefer a different life than mine and you may find a more profound meaning for your life than I did for mine. I pray that your life will take you wherever you dream to go. Return often, however, to where you started. Return also to your Journey Portfolio; keep it up in some fashion going forward; analyze where you have been heading; and, by virtue of your own reckoning, chart a future direction that will bring real meaning, real purpose and real happiness to your life.

Not all of your chosen life will be smooth sailing. The seas are especially treacherous when you approach the Cape of Good Hope. The turbulent waters conceal rocks and other dangers. One must therefore be well prepared to navigate that Cape. Many unprepared ships and crew have been lost in those fearsome waters. Be prepared, Class of 2009, for none of us knows the day or hour when we will round that Cape, filled with hope that God’s embrace will await us on the other side.

So as you depart tomorrow on the next leg of your journey, prepare well Class of 2009, prepare well each day for what I pray will be a full and happy life. Prepare well for a lifetime of Grad at Graduation presentations made privately with our Lord, as the meaning of your life is decided by what you decide. May you safely cross the Cape and then return home to the peaceful, holy waters of your baptism.

Thank you and may God bless and hold the Class of 2009 in the palm of His hand.

Charles V. McPhillips
June 5, 2009

Good morning, Irish Wolfhounds, and congratulations on another outstanding year.

It was a year in which Saint Patrick’s received full, joint accreditation in a certificate hand-delivered by Dr. Eddie Kerson from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Southern Association of Independent Schools, or as 3rd-grader Payton Randolph put it, we got his “stamp of approval.” It was also the year in which you were the first Catholic school in the country to be declared a Glasser Quality School, by none other than Dr. William Glasser himself. Our first graduating class, the Class of 2008, received numerous academic honors in their first year of high school. And, to top it all off, the 8th grade class performed exceptionally well in their Grad At Graduation presentations, demonstrating the well-rounded fitness to move forward on their path to becoming future leaders in this community.

Not bad for a four-year old school. If you were a musician, I would yell, “Encore”. It is my happy opportunity to sing your praises.

Actually, one of the great regrets of my life is that I simply cannot sing. It is also one of the greatest regrets of those who have heard me try to sing. Indeed, my singing voice is so dangerous that I doubt I could get it through the security checkpoint at the Norfolk Airport. Being sensitive to criticism, I prefer to be known as “melodically challenged.”

But, in my mind’s ear, I am constantly filled with song when I reflect on the last ten years as we struggled to create Saint Patrick’s and now to see what a great creation it has become. The song I hear is beautiful; the music must come from the heart – all of yours. Based on all of the dedicated but joyful work of our faculty and staff, the generosity and sacrifice of so many parents and friends of the School, and the cheerful conduct of our students that sets this School apart, I know I am not alone in hearing a song,

Let us build a house where love can dwell
And all can safely live
A place where saints and sinners tell
How hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions
Rock of Faith and Vault of Grace
Here the love of God shall end divisions
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

I congratulate you, Wolfhounds, on the long strides you took this year toward becoming the best Catholic school in the country. But I am most proud when I hear from newcomers and visitors, close-by neighbors and those who have travelled some distance, people of considerable means and people of modest means, folks from all walks of life, that they all feel welcome, sincerely welcome, in this place. That comes from your warmly greeting them, looking them in the eye and shaking their hands, and standing up when they visit your classroom.

It’s your saying, by your friendly welcome, that we are called to love and respect our neighbor. That we at Saint Patrick’s will do unto others as we would have them do unto us. That we see the God-given good in someone who is willing to visit or join our school community.

Can there be any doubt that you and I are following Jesus’ example when we warmly and sincerely welcome someone into our Saint Patrick’s home? To quote my very favorite hymn,

Lord of all kindliness, Lord of All Grace
Your Hands Swift to Welcome, Your Arms to Embrace

So, Wolfhounds, spread out and spread the good news, tell your friends and all those you meet, that Saint Patrick’s was built upon a hope, a dream and vision that we would become the best, most welcoming Catholic school in the country. And when you return in the Fall and when you new graduates come back to visit, let us declare that, in addition to being SACS/SAIS accredited, and a Glasser Quality School, and a school from which our graduates have gone on to excel, that we have become, and are dedicated to remaining, the School of Cead Mille Failte, the School of a 100,000 Thousand Welcomes, making us the most genuinely welcoming school community anywhere. I am nowhere near the educator that Dr. Eddie Kerson is or that Dr. William Glasser is. But I do consider myself the leading authority on the vision that built Saint Patrick’s. If you will do what I have asked, it will be my honor to declare that you have fulfilled the vision that built Saint Patrick’s.

May the Lord of all kindliness, may the Lord of all Grace, hold you and all who visit and join us, in His Embrace.

Charles V. McPhillips
June 6, 2008

Father Bulinda, Father Klem and Father Metzger: thank you for celebrating such a beautiful Baccalaureate Mass on behalf of the very first graduating class of Saint Patrick Catholic School, the Class of 2008, here in the very location where 150 years ago, in 1858, Father Mathew O’Keefe and his faithful parishioners raised this lapidary and soaring Phoenix (called St. Mary’s) from the ashes of St. Patrick Catholic Church.

Young men and ladies of the Class of 2008, it is difficult for me to pick out just a few words for utterance this evening that you will remember tomorrow morning, much less allow to influence your lives in the years to come.

In elementary school, high school, college, and law school, I heard eloquent speakers at graduation masses, baccalaureate services and commencement exercises, but if you asked me tonight what any of them said, my best guess would be, “eat your vegetables”, “sit up straight” and “mind your mother”.

I doubt I can improve upon any of those memorable and valuable words, but nonetheless let me offer just a couple.

The first one is Debt.

Now, debt is not necessarily good or bad. It can actually be good, if it is used for productive purposes, resulting in something valuable that will long outlast the debt. For example, my fellow Trustees and I borrowed a fair amount of money to build Saint Patrick’s, and we are repaying that loan every month. Your parents may have taken out a mortgage to purchase your home. In each case, as long as the borrower can afford to repay the loan within a reasonable time, the enduring value of what the debt financed justifies the borrowing.

Debt can be an unhealthy thing, however, when what the borrower purchased with it is consumed or dissipates in value well before the debt is ever repaid. Or when the borrower runs up a debt he cannot afford. Much of our country’s credit card debt would fall into these categories. It is a debt that chains you down.

If I wanted to worry you (which I would never do), I would mention that, thanks to the profligacy of my generation, each of you is in the bad kind of debt up to your eyeballs.

That’s because your share of the $9 trillion national debt is $30,000 per person—and growing. And that debt does not include the $45 trillion deficit in Social Security and Medicare currently projected over your lifetimes. Your share of that additional debt is a mere $150,000 each.

What to do under the staggering weight of that kind of unhealthy debt?

Your parents would be upset with me if I advised you to take all your savings and play the lottery. No, we must pray that the education you received at Saint Patrick’s and that you will receive in high school and beyond, will prepare you well for a productive future. If your generation is to see better times (and if my generation is ever to see a Social Security check), then you will need to think critically, solve problems responsibly, act creatively, communicate articulately, forge productive relationships, serve others selflessly, and lead with integrity—in other words, you will need to embody the traits, and exhibit the talents, of the Saint Patrick’s Grad at Graduation.

Based on my faith in you and the other Saint Patrick’s graduates to follow you, I am optimistic that we will climb out of the hole created by the “unhealthy kind of debt”.

That will leave only the “good kind of debt” that, whether you realize it or not, you have drawn on your own account over the last several years. It’s the type of debt that was given as a gift and no one will ever ask you to repay. It is the debt that has purchased the bright future lying before you.

I assume you realize—but do you really appreciate?—the sacrifice in time, energy and resources that your parents have made to provide you with a Saint Patrick’s education over the past several years. I seriously doubt that any of your parents have presented you with a bill, or asked you to sign a promissory note, but perhaps you might acknowledge this debt with a hug before you go to bed tonight. Your parents have used this debt to purchase a gift for you that will continue to benefit you—and bring you happiness—when you reach their age and beyond.

I hope you will also consider what you owe your teachers, who have worked longer, harder hours for less pay at Saint Patrick’s than they would have in most other schools, because they believe in the sacred mission of this Catholic school, because they believed in you, and because they believed it worthwhile to identify, nurture and celebrate your God-given gifts. Gifts that have grown and will endure over a lifetime.

Please remember too these pastors and the other priests who have volunteered their time to visit you at school, to say Mass and to support the growth of your faith. Could there be a gift of more lasting value than the gift of your faith?

Although, as I confessed earlier, I cannot remember what any of my graduation speakers said, I will never forget what my old high school headmaster, J.B. Massey, used to say to me, usually when he was disappointed with my performance in some activity. He would say, “Chuck, the worse thing I could ever tell you is that I don’t expect much from you.” Think about that statement for a moment. “The worse thing I could ever tell you is that I don’t expect much from you.”

Well, young men and ladies of the Class of 2008, in light of all that you have been given and all that you have accomplished, I pray that you will take it as a compliment when I tell you that, in fact, I do expect a lot from you.

When you came to visit me in my office a couple of weeks ago, we discussed a project where, as a class, you did not live up to these high expectations. On this happy and hopeful evening, I feel no need to describe this disappointment again—do any of you?

No, I wouldn’t think so. And I sense that each of you is the type of person who fully intends to repay all of the good debt you have incurred at Saint Patrick’s—the only way you can—by remembering and living out the one other word I would ask you to remember from this evening.

That word is “duty”. Duty is an old-fashioned word. It does not necessarily sound glamorous or fun. But contrary to some of the messages in today’s culture, the truth is that doing one’s duty is the only path to a successful and happy life. The most miserable, weighted-down people I know are the ones who forsook duty for selfish gratification, who never repaid the debt that enabled them to indulge their empty pleasures. These people are profoundly unhappy and enslaved because, somewhere in their conscience or soul, they feel trapped by their failure to use their God-given gifts for anything of lasting value.

By contrast, those who discharge their duty are the happiest, most fulfilled, free-est people I know. Benjamin Franklin, a free spirit if ever there was, claims to have been guided by a verse from Proverbs, Chapter 22, that his father often read to him as a child: “Seeest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before Kings.”

In telling the Parable of the Faithful and Wise Servant—where we are reminded that we do not know the day or the hour when the Son of Man will return— Jesus tells us that all the gifts we receive create a solemn duty on our part: “From those to whom much has been given, much will be expected.” That was Jesus’ way of saying that he expects a lot from you (and me).

I implore you, Class of 2008, for your sake: fulfill your duty to worship God, to love your family and to serve your Church, your friends, your neighbors, your city and country. Fulfill your duty to tell the truth and to act with integrity. Fulfill your duty to use your gifts, develop your potential, and apply your talents to make this City (or whatever corner of the world you ultimately live in) a place of greater justice, a place where the sacredness of human life is upheld, and a place where the duty we all owe—to love our neighbors as ourselves—is fulfilled and celebrated daily.

We gather for a wonderful celebration this weekend. Class of 2008: we celebrate your accomplishments. But we also celebrate the lasting joy, peace and freedom that are purchased only by doing one’s duty, as God gives each of us the light to see that duty. Your education at Saint Patrick’s has prepared you to see that duty more clearly. In performing that duty, you will retire the debt that no one else can retire for you. As I am sure you have already figured out, that’s because it is a duty you owe to yourself. In performing that duty, therefore, you will set yourself free.

Amen and may God forever hold the Class of 2008 in the palm of His hand.

Remarks by Charles V. McPhillips, Chairman, James-Barry Robinson Trust
January 29, 2006 

Bishop DiLorenzo, Gathered Clergy, Congresswoman Drake, Mayor Fraim, Honored Guests. Thank you for being here to celebrate this great occasion with us. Please don’t think me rude, however, if I take this opportunity to address my remarks to our schoolchildren.

Children: I am Charles, a sinner, the most unsophisticated and unworthy of all the faithful of God, yet I have been given the privilege of addressing you on this historic day.

Some of your parents will recognize that I just borrowed from our School’s patron saint. In his Confessions, Saint Patrick expressed his wonder that an unimportant little man — “Ignorant Patrick”, he called himself — had been chosen by God to deliver, to the Irish, the Holy Word of God.

Far less worthy than Patrick (and some might add, far more ignorant), I have the honor of conveying, to you Irish Wolfhounds, the same message that, as a young slave, Patrick received in a dream, beckoning him to a saintly destiny:

“Behold, Your Ship is Ready”

In August, on Granby Street, you boarded a sturdy old boat, and you have been brought safely here. Then, as now, you embarked on a voyage of the mind, of the body, of the spirit, learning basic lessons and exploring great truths, honing your character, lifting your hearts. Today, for your onward journey, we christen a glistening new vessel, one built with the finest modern craftsmanship, outfitted with the latest electronics, navigated by an excellent principal at the helm, and manned by an outstanding crew in your classrooms.

“Behold, boys and girls, your ship is ready”

Here at Saint Patrick’s, we talk a lot about gifts. God made each of you gifted in some way; and whether your special gift is in math, in science, in language, in music, in art, in athletics, in exhibiting leadership, or in lovingly coming to the aid of others, please know that we dedicate these buildings and these grounds to one very important use: to help you find that special gift, to nurture it and, when you cross Saint Patrick’s Green one day at graduation, to celebrate that gift like Mardi Gras has come to Norfolk.

Of course, the most important thing about a gift is what you do with it. Do you store it away or do you put it to work? Do you hoard it or do you share it? Do you clutch onto it, holding onto that gift for your own selfish pleasure and benefit, or do you use that gift to please and serve others?

You and the entire Saint Patrick’s family, myself included, have been given a tremendous gift: these beautiful buildings to learn and perform in, our sports fields (eventually) to run and play on, this blessed ground to pray and dream upon.

How, then, will we use this gift?

Let me ask the grown-ups too.

Will we Catholics who built this School, and who run this place, warmly invite our friends from other traditions to join us, to knit their souls with ours, in order to share the blessings of our common faith?

Will we welcome friends from other Catholic schools, other religious schools, other independent schools, and the public schools too, to come here to exchange the best ideas and share the best techniques for lighting a fire in the hearts and minds of schoolchildren?

Will those of us who live in comfort be willing to work (and sacrifice) so that this very special place always remains welcoming and accessible to folks from all walks of life — white, black, yellow and brown, rich and poor?

And will you, our students, measure your future success solely by what you get and accumulate, or, instead, by what you get and share with others? How many of you will use your gifts to help your neighbors, to better this City, to serve your God?

Children, let me ask each of you to close your eyes for just a moment and picture the block your family lives on. I bet you see at least one house, perhaps the biggest and fanciest one on the street: it’s always dark, shuttered, sealed up like a tomb. You hesitate to retrieve a ball that rolls onto its front yard for fear that some snarling old man will storm out, chasing you away with an upraised cane.

But, keep your eyes closed just a moment longer. You also see a home on your block — I hope it’s yours — where the front door is open and the lights shining, the welcome mat is always out, you can see friends and neighbors inside, you can hear laughter, you can feel love.

If you haven’t already, children, open your eyes. Now look around at all your family, friends, neighbors and guests gathered here. See how bright and happy and loving this house is today. Dream of how bright and happy and loving we can make Saint Patrick’s for all the days of your lives.

Now, I know it is 2006. I know that, in this day and time, security must be ever-present and everyone must sign in at the front desk. We must be forever careful. Our children must be protected.

But I pray O God, in this house built of hopes and dreams and visions: Be Thou our Hopes, Be Thou our Dreams, Be Thou our Vision. And let this School become that brightly lit, welcoming home, full of love, laughter and song, drawing nearer all who pass by, inviting in all who wish to enter — to find and nurture and celebrate those gifts with which they have been endowed by You. And, I pray O God, all will feel welcome in this place where, Lord, You will hold them, all of them, in the palm of Your hand.

Remarks by Charles V. McPhillips, Chairman, James-Barry Robinson Trust
August 31, 2005

Gathered though we are for a celebration this evening, let us begin with a moment of silence to remember, in our hearts and prayers, our brothers and sisters who have suffered so greatly over the past several days in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast, especially those who have lost their lives, and to ask God’s protection of the relief workers and volunteers who are coming to the assistance of so many people in such great distress.

[Moment of silence]

Amen.

Let us build a house where love can dwell, and all can safely live,

A place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive.

Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace;

Here the love of Christ shall end divisions:

All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

We sang those words at our Groundbreaking last September, and how appropriate that we repeat them tonight, as we celebrate a very special occasion, a very special birth.

My name is Chuck McPhillips, the Chairman of your new school, and a parishioner of Blessed Sacrament. On behalf of my fellow Trustees—Ed Power, Don Price, Art Prince and Bill Hagan—our principal Steve Hammond, our dear friend, John Tucker, and our entire faculty and staff, it is my honor to welcome you tonight as, figuratively speaking, we baptize this infant school.

We are grateful to Father Dan Klem, Pastor of Sacred Heart, for agreeing to preside at this evening’s mass, to Father Ernest Bulinda of St. Mary’s, for concelebrating with him, and to Father Joseph Metzger, Pastor of Blessed Sacrament, for hosting us tonight and offering his homily on the Holy Word we are about to proclaim.

After six long years of chasing hopes and dreams and visions, how profoundly grateful we are that God has shed his grace upon us, with the gift of this special new school.

We are also most thankful that all of you, coming from various denominations, have gathered here tonight in friendship and taken something of a leap of faith by attending at the birth of our new school. Indeed, you have helped to bring a new Christian family into being. Together we shall build this family a house—a home—on the firmest of foundations, the rock of our Christian faith.

You know, we are quite excited about the beautiful campus we are constructing. But the truth is that other schools can have nice buildings and grounds, too. We are justly proud of our state-of-the-art technology, but, truthfully, other schools can buy the latest computers as well. And even though we have recruited an incredible faculty and staff, we must concede that we do not own a monopoly on good teachers.

What ultimately sets us and other excellent Catholic schools apart from other good schools, what really makes this new school special, is the blessing we are all about to receive from tonight’s liturgy, from the liturgies to follow, and from the gifts which our schoolchildren will receive every day by discovering, and nurturing, and celebrating, in word and deed, their faith in Christ.

Through God’s grace, therefore, we join together this evening to christen Saint Patrick Catholic School, and in the words of the hymn, to proclaim from floor to rafter:

All are all welcome, all are welcome, all welcome in this place.

September, 2004

The Barry-Robinson Trustees, along with The Most Reverend Francis X. DiLorenzo, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond, and school children representing Blessed Sacrament and Sacred Heart Catholic Churches, broke ground today on what will become Saint Patrick Catholic School—the first Catholic elementary and middle school to reside on the west side of Norfolk in 20 years.

Saint Patrick will provide a challenging academic program, rooted in the Catholic faith, for children of all socioeconomic backgrounds from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

The groundbreaking ceremony, held on the future 16.5 acre campus of the school in the Larchmont section of Norfolk, where 90,000-square-feet of handsome school buildings will reside, consisted of remarks from Charles V. McPhillips, partner, Kaufman & Canoles, P.C. and chairman of the James-Barry Robinson Home for Boys Trust; Bishop DiLorenzo; and The Honorable Paul D. Fraim, Mayor, City of Norfolk. Other participants included the Barry-Robinson Trustees: William C. Hagan, II; Donald F. Price; Edward V. Power; William A. Prince; The Reverend Daniel N. Klem, Pastor, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Norfolk, Va.; The Reverend Joseph H. Metzger, III, Pastor, St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, Richmond, Va. (formerly Pastor of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Norfolk); The Reverend Monsignor Thomas J. Caroluzza, Administrator, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Norfolk, Va.; Diane Bialakowski, Diocesan Superintendent of Education; and Juanita W. Dillard, parishioner, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.

Approximately a dozen school-aged children from the Tidewater area parishes also shared in the launch of the new school. The big news made during the ceremony was the announcement that Saint Patrick’s has appointed its founding principal, Stephen J. Hammond. Hammond is currently headmaster of Battle Ground Academy in Franklin, Tenn., a prestigious independent school near Nashville built in 1889 that educates students in grades K-12. He previously served for 17 years as the Superintendent of Schools for the Catholic Diocese of Nashville. DiLorenzo shared his first public remarks in Hampton Roads since being installed in May 2004 as Richmond Diocese’s first new bishop in 30 years. “Saint Patrick Catholic School is an important addition to the Richmond diocese,” said DiLorenzo. “I am so delighted that this new institution will lay a faith-based foundation of academic excellence for hundreds of Norfolk families.” Slated to open in Fall 2005, Saint Patrick Catholic School is expected to be one of the most technologically advanced Catholic schools in the country. The project includes:

• A primary instructional facility, consisting of two stories of 24 elementary and middle school classrooms, full-service computer and science labs, a suite of music rooms, a large art room and facilities to accommodate pre-school children
• State-of-the-art library and media center, with capacity for over 14,000 hard volume books, a computer lab for electronic research, a parent resource center, and a distance learning room for videoconferencing, teleconferencing and various interactive disciplines
• 8,000-square foot, 350-seat performing arts auditorium
• 4,000-square foot, 215-seat dining hall
• 15,000-square-foot, 400-seat gymnasium
• Junior and regular lacrosse/soccer fields
• Two baseball/softball fields

Tuition at Saint Patrick’s will be affordable. Need-based scholarships will also be available. The goal of the Barry-Robinson Trustees is to make Saint Patrick’s accessible to families from all walks of life.

Founded in 1933, the mission of the James Barry-Robinson Home for Boys Trust is to help children and to support excellence in Catholic education in Norfolk. In recent years, the non-profit organization has awarded grants for renovations, technology and other capital improvements at Holy Trinity School, Saint Pius X School, Christ the King School and Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School. The Trust also furnishes tuition assistance for low-income students at the three existing Catholic elementary schools in Norfolk.

Enrollment applications for Saint Patrick Catholic School are being accepted for the Fall 2005 semester and can be completed electronically from www.stpcs.org. Applications can also be obtained by calling (757) 440-5500.