By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
Archbishop Curley Notre Dame students recite the Lord's Prayer during the Mass.
Archbishop Thomas Wenski distributes Communion to Archbishop Curley Notre Dame ninth-grader Tanisha Jean, 15.
Archbishop Curley Notre Dame 6-8 eighth grader Dimitris Biamby receives a blessing from Archbishop Thomas Wenski during the opening of school Mass.
Members of the Archbishop Curley Notre Dame Knightingales choir, Staika Chenet, 16, Cindy Blanc, 16 and Genesis Johnson, 13, sing during the opening of school Mass.
Photography: MARLENE QUARONI | FC
MIAMI | A longtime tradition continued this year at Archbishop Curley Notre Dame Prep, as Miami's archbishop celebrated the annual opening of the school year Mass at the archdiocesan high school.
Like last year, the Mass was celebrated at Notre Dame d'Haiti, the church now occupying the former home of Notre Dame Academy, the girls' school that merged with all-boys Archbishop Curley High School in 1981. Notre Dame d'Haiti is also where Archbishop Thomas Wenski spent the better part of his priesthood - 18 years - ministering to Miami's Haitian Catholic community.
In his homily, the archbishop told the students that being a Christian disciple is the equivalent of setting out on "a great adventure." He said true, longlasting happiness means "making a difference," and that's what Christ calls his disciples to do.
"Discover your mission in life; discover the reason why God put you here on earth," Archbishop Wenski told the students. "Wake up and don’t miss out on the great adventure of being not just a student at a great school but also of being a disciple of the one who is the reason this school exists for you: Jesus Christ."
Archbishop Curley Notre Dame is celebrating 62 years of "Faith, Family, and Excellence" - its motto - during the 2015-2016 school year.
Its spiritual theme for this year, according to Principal Douglas Romanik, "is our recognition that we represent a family here at ACND. We are all interconnected as one body. This year, we will strengthen our familial bonds with one another in our school community but also reach out to the surrounding communities to exhibit who we are and why ACND represents what it is to be the body of Christ."
The school also is planning the following events to which all alumni are invited:
- homecoming reunion on Saturday, Oct. 10;
- annual golf tournament on Friday, Oct. 14;
- open house on Saturday, Oct. 24;
- Alumni Doubles Tennis Challenge on Nov. 14; and
- Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 9, 2016.
