Epiphany Catholic School rededicates to future — and to Mary
Faces of anticipation and contemplation as second-graders Cisco Head and Gianna Foster await their roles in the crowning of Mary at the rededication Mass celebrating the completion of renovations to Epiphany Catholic School in Normal on April 30. The Catholic Post Online/Paul Thomas Moore
By Paul Thomas Moore
of The Catholic Post Online
NORMAL — In a world of change, Epiphany Catholic School in Normal is moving into the future in Jesus’ Name, while holding Mary’s hand.
That was the message illustrated during the rededication Mass giving thanks for the school’s renovations and new additions at Epiphany Catholic Church on April 30.
Msgr. Eric Powell, pastor of Epiphany Parish, fields answers from schoolchildren at to how much they think the extensive multi-year renovations cost. The guesses ranged from $100 to $20 million. He said the latter would be about right in today’s dollars. The Catholic Post Online/Paul Thomas Moore
“Spaces are important . . . . but the most important thing is the rededication of our hearts and minds to the mission of Catholic education.” — Msgr. Eric Powell
He traced the beginning of the project back to 2005, gratefully acknowledging “the generosity of the people of the parish and the friends of the school.” Beginning with renovations to the church, in 2010 they started to “work their way” through the school, finishing with the junior high this spring.
NAVIGATING CHANGE
Msgr. Powell said that in a “rapidly changing world” Catholic educators must not only “confront the changes, but have to navigate them, and create the way forward.”
As a reliable compass for navigation, Msgr. Powell referenced the message of the day’s gospel, in which Jesus offered his very Peace. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” (John 14:27)
Among the students present were the Epiphany second graders who had recently received their first communion. Msgr. Powell invited them to be willing to seek and to offer the Lord’s peace – particularly in times of disagreement with classmates.
Epiphany Catholic School’s 2024 communion class took part in the opening procession of the school’s rededication Mass on April 30. They were accompanied by their second-grade teachers (and siblings, from left) Jami Monge and Julie Lohr on either side of Msgr. Powell. The Catholic Post Online/Paul Thomas Moore
“You are the most important part of the school” — Msgr. Powell’s reminder to the students in every classroom he visited on rededication day
The 2024 communicants had processed in to crown Mary at the beginning of Mass, and now Msgr. Powell reiterated for them Mary’s place in the plan of peace. He shared when he sometimes feels “out of peace” he goes to the cemetery and prays the rosary as he walks. “That calms me down, because you realize, hey, a lot of things don’t really matter — God alone matters.”
Msgr. Powell blesses the junior high Lyceum (from the Greek for secondary school), the most-recently updated building on the Epiphany Parish campus. The Catholic Post Online/Paul Thomas Moore
Following the rededication Mass, Msgr. Powell proceeded to the nearby school buildings and blessed the spaces and rooms one by one. He gave every classroom of students from Pre-K to grade eight the same commitment: “You are the most important part of the school.”
