Blessing of Throats on St. Blaise Day at our school We are in that Lenten archipelago between solemnities: St. Patrick (which is a first class feast in San Francisco), St. Joseph, and the Feast of the Annunciation. Last Thursday I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by skiing in the Sierras with a true Irishman, on Saturday I celebrated St. Joseph’s Day by offering Mass for a true Israelite (one of our Jewish catechumens), and this Friday I will celebrate the Annunciation by welcoming the firstborn of a new Mother (Maggie Tuttle, leader of our Young Adults, married another Young Adult, the Australian Simon Takita, and will have her first child on March 25). I rejoice in the panoply of cultures and characters that find a home at my beloved parish. No one is more multicultural or inclusive than the Catholic Church, “here comes everybody” in the words of the Irish novelist James Joyce.
Our school also welcomes everybody, and not only that, it pays for them. The cost of educating a student at Stella Maris Academy, San Francisco’s only Catholic Classical Integrated K-8, is running about $20,000 a year for each of our initial fifty students. 70% of these students cannot afford to pay full tuition, so the $800,000 shortfall this year is covered equally by godly benefactors ($400,000) and parish income ($400,000). Our plan, of course, is to increase enrollment and so bring down the per student cost, but for the first two or three years the Academy will be a significant financial commitment to parish and benefactors. God reward those who have made possible what the Archbishop hopes is the first of many classical Catholic schools in San Francisco.
We just produced our first video since the school opened. It portrays the students, the teachers, and the culture of the Academy in living color. Have a look at this beautiful 3 minute 48 second work of art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCJRly1jzyM
If you like what you see, send this link to your friends so they can rejoice with you about what is happening in San Francisco. We need more students and we need more benefactors, and I know God will provide both. Get the word out, and if you have the means, make a gift to the school through our parish website, HERE (under “Stella Maris Academy Supporting Gifts”).
Our school also welcomes everybody, and not only that, it pays for them. The cost of educating a student at Stella Maris Academy, San Francisco’s only Catholic Classical Integrated K-8, is running about $20,000 a year for each of our initial fifty students. 70% of these students cannot afford to pay full tuition, so the $800,000 shortfall this year is covered equally by godly benefactors ($400,000) and parish income ($400,000). Our plan, of course, is to increase enrollment and so bring down the per student cost, but for the first two or three years the Academy will be a significant financial commitment to parish and benefactors. God reward those who have made possible what the Archbishop hopes is the first of many classical Catholic schools in San Francisco.
We just produced our first video since the school opened. It portrays the students, the teachers, and the culture of the Academy in living color. Have a look at this beautiful 3 minute 48 second work of art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCJRly1jzyM
If you like what you see, send this link to your friends so they can rejoice with you about what is happening in San Francisco. We need more students and we need more benefactors, and I know God will provide both. Get the word out, and if you have the means, make a gift to the school through our parish website, HERE (under “Stella Maris Academy Supporting Gifts”).
Burning the Palms on Mardi Gras at our school
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