RCIA Mass

Jesuit High School president Fr. Richard C. Hermes, S.J. celebrated a special Mass in the Chapel of the Holy Cross on May 9, during which 18 Jesuit students received sacraments of initiation, including 12 who were baptized and six who were received into full communion with the Catholic Church.

The students were accompanied by their godparents and confirmation sponsors, typically either a close relative, friend, or Jesuit faculty member. Many more family and friends also were there to support them. Afterward at a reception in the Antinori Center for the Arts, they received gifts from Father Hermes and from the campus ministry department - director Jimmy Mitchell, assistant directors Thomas Killackey and Mr. Peter Bell, S.J. Campus ministry leads Jesuit's RCIA program – the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

Jesuit received special permission to celebrate these sacraments from the Diocese of St. Petersburg, and from the pastor of the parish in which Jesuit is located, Rev. Msgr. Mike Muhr of St. Lawrence Catholic Church. The 18 sacraments is the most celebrated during a single Mass at Jesuit.

Those who received sacraments on May 9 were:

Baptized – Henry Bravo ’26, Kenneth Brown ’26, Nolan Dooly ’27, Hayden Gilmore ’27, Brock Glover ’27, Lucas Hernandez ’26, Luke Mezher ’25, Max Morgado ’27, Brady Santo ’27, Richard Scott ’26, Brock Stepp ’27, and K.J. Vazquez ’27.

Received into full communion – Austin Blewitt ’26, Bo Bunch ’25, Austin Hamilton ’25, Traynor Little ’26, Nick Malatin ’25, and Cannon Murtagh ’26.

Since 2010, a total of 122 students have been baptized or received into the Church at Jesuit, including 75 in the past four years, of which 34 will be students at Jesuit during the 2024-25 school year: Reed Biemiller ’25, Evan Clark ’25, Jonathan Coleman ’25, Jordan Encinosa ’25, Logan Hardin ’25, Landon Paolillo ’25, Zayden Saldin ’25, Geoffrey Torkelson ’25, Alex Campbell ’26, Jack Garrity ’26, Tristan Kelly ’26, Andrew Kozlowski ’25, Ronan Krummrich ’26, Nate Pento ’26, C.J. Pinder ’26, and Brady Simmons ’26, in addition to the 18 who received sacraments on Wednesday.

Nearly 200 downloadable photos from the event are available at this link. Also, 50 images were posted to the Facebook page Jesuit High School of Tampa.