Final Celebration: Holy Mass of Thanksgiving
Date/Time
Date(s) - May 5, 2022
12:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Categories No Categories
As the school year drew to a close, the ITS family gathered together one last time for a Holy Mass of Thanksgiving on May 5th to mark the final 10th Anniversary celebration. The Mass was celebrated in Davis Chapel on Reynolda Campus under the patronage of St. Joseph Freinademetz, an intercultural specialist in China in the 20th century. This was truly a full circle occasion as our 10th Anniversary festivities started last September with the feast of St. Jerome, the patron saint of translators from the 5th century. The Mass was multicultural; thanks to some talented students, we had lively guitar and percussion accompanying singing in Chinese, Spanish, and English. There were readings and responses in the three languages as well, and Father Marcel Amadi gave a fitting homily on the meaning of eucaristia, the tower of Babel, and the Pentecost.
The celebration continued after the Mass with a catered luncheon and desserts from around the world. Students, faculty, and alumni ate their fill, laughing and chatting, reflecting on a momentous year. Dr. Furmanek’s poppy seed cake was definitely a favorite! Each of us also picked one of St. Joseph Freinademetz’s sayings, transcreated by Jiayu Gao, one of our current students, from a bowl and read aloud his words of inspiration for the upcoming year. Finally, Dr. Burgos shared the gift of music, playing us traditional vallenato and cumbia songs on his accordion, accompanied on guitar by another current ITS student, José Salinas Valdivia. It was impossible to stay seated, and we all rose, dancing and clapping joyfully to the beat.
Videos from the Mass are available on our YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/
Brief lunch interviews with faculty and students can also be found on our channel. If you do not have time to watch the entire liturgy, you can see parts of it – the bilingual English/Spanish Psalm and Alleluia, the beautiful homily of Father Marcel Amadi, Intercessions for all of us in the Universal Prayer, the Offertory Song in Chinese, or the final remarks by Dr. Furmanek.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
It has truly been an honor being a part of this special cohort and partaking in the many anniversary festivities. Here’s to the next ten years of ITS!
