Sacraments of Initiation

Jesuit High School president Fr. Richard C. Hermes, S.J. celebrated two special Masses in the Chapel of the Holy Cross on Thursday and Friday (May 13 & 14), during which 14 students were baptized and eight were received into full communion with the Catholic Church.

The 14 who were baptized are: Hayden Bunn '24, Ryan Denison '22, Zach Mintz '22, Aiden Clark '21, Luke Knight '24, Drew Woodaz '24, and Wade Woodaz '22 on Thursday, and then Ryan Feocco '21, Cooper Kasper '24, Liam Maloney '24, Zach Aweshah '23, Joshua Newman '23, Teejay Weaver '24, and Cooper Stack '23 on Friday.

The eight who were received into full communion with the Catholic Church are: Joe Doherty '22, Max Livingston '24, Hunter Newton '24, and Reese Newton '24 on Thursday, and then Sean Corrigan '24, Luis Kortright '22, Sam Prabhakaran '21, and Jack Earnest '24 on Friday.

Jesuit received special permission to celebrate these 22 sacraments from the Diocese of St. Petersburg, and from the pastor of the parish in which Jesuit is located, Fr. Dan Kayajan of St. Lawrence Catholic Church. 

The students were accompanied by their godparents and confirmation sponsors, typically either a close relative, friend, or Jesuit faculty member. Other family and friends were also there to support them. Afterward at a reception in the cafeteria they received gifts, including one from Father Hermes and one from the campus ministry department - director Jimmy Mitchell, and assistant directors Dan Angel and Matthew Kuizon '11. Campus ministry leads Jesuit's RCIA program - the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

Since 2010, a total of 69 students have been baptized or received into the Church at Jesuit, and 23 of those will be students at the school in 2021-22: Lawson McLeod '22, Caleb Williams '22, Nicholas Wolf '22, and Gavin Young '23, in addition to Bunn, Denison, Mintz, Knight, the Woodaz brothers, Kasper, Maloney, Aweshah, Newman, Weaver, Stack, Doherty, Livingston, the Newton brothers, Corrigan, Kortright, and Earnest.

Please view below a photo slideshow from Thursday, and below that is one from Friday.