Merry Christmas!

 Yesterday we all gathered at Saint Anthony Church in Manchester for our annual Advent/Christmas Mass.  Every year on the last day of school before Christmas vacation, we travel to a local church for Mass.  For the past three or four years we have been joined by the students of Saint Joseph Regional Junior High School.

Father Richard Dion, the pastor of Saint Anthony's, celebrated our Mass and was assisted by Deacon Paul Leonarczyk.  Deacon Leonarczyk is the father of Mary '14 and is the chancellor of the Eparchy of Newton of the Eastern Catholic Church.  Seminarian Jeff Paveglio, who will ordained a priest in 2014, also assisted along with a number of Trinity students who were the altar servers.

The church was beautifully decorated and the music from our choir was majestic.  We continued our custom of having one of our readings proclaimed in a foreign language and our first reading was read in Chinese by Iris Zhou '13 (Saint Joe's).  Mr. Maurier '72 continued his long tradition of singing "O Holy Night" in French following Communion.  As always, there were not many dry eyes in the house!

Mr. Mailloux '72, Mrs. Trachim, Ms. Kudrick, Mr. Gorski '58, Mr. Maurier '72

Last year we began a new tradition of honoring a member of our community, past or present, at this Mass. In 2011 we honored Sister Frances Lessard, CSC, Trinity's first assistant principal.  This year we honored Ms. Betty Kudrick of our math department.  Ms. Kudrick is celebrating her 40th anniversary as a teacher at Trinity this year and is the longest serving female teacher in Trinity's history.  Mr. Gorski '58 introduced Ms. Kudrick and we presented her with a plaque and a bouquet of flowers.  Ms. Kudrick then said a few words.


The award is called the Bishop Leo O'Neil Award, named after the eighth bishop of Manchester.  Bishop O'Neil died in 1997 and was a beloved bishop.  We named the award after Bishop O'Neil because were it not for him, Trinity High School would no longer exist.  In the early 1990’s, Trinity High School was on the verge of closing due to low enrollment and financial difficulty.  

One morning, Bishop O'Neil unexpectedly visited Trinity.  He stopped into a number of classrooms that day, chatted with students, and asked them about their school.  

Many years later, we learned that on that very day Bishop O’Neil was attending a meeting of the Diocesan Finance Committee which was deciding on whether or not to close Trinity High School.  Bishop O’Neil told the committee that he had visited the school that day, he saw what it was all about, and despite its financial troubles it would remain open.  

Following Mass we all returned to Trinity's gym for a big Christmas party before all heading our own ways.  

Here's wishing all a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year!