The Sentinel of the Saints

We are now more than halfway through our school year here, in Syracuse, NY, and so far, despite over 90 inches of snow, we have only had two “snow days.”In this letter, I would like to introduce you to the priests who work here at the academy and give you an idea of the activities we have at the academy. We have four priests stationed at the school: Fr. Gregory Post, who hails from San Francisco, CA, was ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1972(!), mak¬ing him now the longest-running SSPX priest. With Father here, it gives the students a chance to learn about the early days of our Order, but I think they like Fr. Post best for the many jokes he has for them! Father David Hewko, our 2nd assistant, is originally from Ogdensburg, NY. Father was ordained in 1992 and gives the young boys of our school the opportunity to go on many hikes, swims and other related activities. Father Helmuts Libietis comes from Mother England. He was ordained in Winona in 1994. Father is well known to many of you for his work in organizing the Legion of Mary around the United States. Finally, I come from East Chicago, Indiana, and I also (by God’s Grace) was ordained in 1992. We are no longer a bunch of young priests, but hopefully we have grown in wisdom.

At the academy, obviously studies play a primary role in education, but applying what we learn in our Catholic Faith after school is just as important! “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20; 2:26). We have several cultural days at our academy, where we learn about our European ancestors, especially how they incorporated the Catholic Faith into their daily lives. This past December, we had Ukrainian Day in conjunction with the Feast of St. Nicholas. Fr. Hewko gave an interesting talk about the effects of Commu-nism in his ancestral country. The high school boys and girls performed some interesting dances for all in attendance. In March we celebrate the Italian culture on the feast of St. Joseph. In addition to cultural activities, we offer three sports for the young men of the high school: soccer, basketball and lacrosse. Often our boys have to compete against schools that are much bigger than ours, so we work to instill good sportsmanship in our boys and encourage them to play with heart/p>

The temptations common to our youth, such as rock-‘n’-roll and other lower forms of culture coming from the modern world, are often very strong. Original sin exists even in Traditional Catholics! Often we need a “bridge” to bring students to a higher form of culture. This year our young ladies performed My Fair Lady, directed admirably by our English/Latin teacher Meg Stevens, who had to fill in at the last minute for both performances due to illnesses of two girls! Some of the high school boys and girls had the opportunity to sing a polyphonic Mass by Josquin Dez Prez the weekend of New Year’s Eve, along with a group of singers with whom I meet twice a year to learn more about sacred music. It gave the students a chance to experience Church sacred polyphonic music at its height

Of course, we do our best to instill a love of the Catholic Faith in all we do, especially with our catechism classes, days of recol¬lection, Mass attendance, frequent confession and communion, and daily contact with the priests. Many of our young men and women are in the Junior Legion of Mary, performing weekly acts of charity in the Syracuse area. Some of our young men are also in Fr. Hewko’s Commandos of Christ the King. We now have approximately 170 students in our academy, and our teaching staff is numbered at 26. We have a beautiful school and a small rectory attached to it. The move we made to Warners, along with all the expenses of running the school, has put a great financial strain on our parish. But all the sweat and tears are worth the effort to spread the faith and save souls. We beg you for your continued generosity, both spiritual and material, and we thank you for all the donations that you have made to us

Sincerely yours in Christ, Fr. Stephen Stanich

Fall 2009 preparations for an open air Mass in downtown Syracuse Public Square on the feast of Christ the King.

Fr. Beck at Benediction during his vist to BVM Academy in February of this year.

A scene from the children’s play on the life of St. Nicholas. Here St. Nicholas sails through a storm to Myra.

Second Grade classroom altar on “Ukranian Day,” imitating the popular use of icons and candles in Ukranian divine worship.

BVM Academy occupies an almost hundred-year-old, 60,000 sq. ft. facility that sits on more than 40 acres of land. Beautiful as it is, the annual maintenance of the building and the operational costs of the school require many donations of time, material and money. Though many cutbacks have been made to trim and economize the budget, BVM Academy, just like many other schools, feels the adverse effects of escalating prices, increasing unemployment, and the general malaise of the economy at large. Our school is a private school and, as such, does not benefit from outside support by way of taxes or foundations. The running costs have to be met by tuition payments and fundraising alone. The priests, staff and students of BVM are not idle in the face of such difficulties. Many sacrifices have been made to offset and soften the blows of the current economic situation. Several fundriasers have already been held, but we still need to raise over $100,000 to help meet our running costs. Would you please help us in our endeavors to raise the necessary funds. We are organizing a Jog-a-Thon to raise those funds. Everyone at the school will participate—priests, staff and students. All will put forth their best efforts—from our seventy-year-old priest down to our five-year-old Kindergartners. They will run or walk as far as they are able within the time limit of one hour. Please be generous in supporting their efforts! Each lap will be one-fifth of a mile. The average walking speed for an adult is either 2 mph (slow walk), 3 mph (brisk walk) or 4 mph (very fast walk). The average jogging speed for an adult is either 5 mph (slow jog), 6 mph (brisk jog) or 7 mph (very fast jog). The averages for younger children will be lower. How many laps can a participant complete in an hour? Walking the entire hour would result in 10 laps (slow) to 20 laps (fast) being completed. Jogging the entire hour would result in 25 laps (slow) to 35 laps (fast) being completed. Please call the school at (315) 320-4085 to find out how to increase or possibly double your pledge with a Corporate Matching Sponsorship. Also visit our website at www.bvmacademy.org for updates on school information and pictures.

Spring Brings Science to BVM Academy. Students from 7-12th grades participated. 7th and 8th Graders concentrated on First Aid - researching head wounds, fractures, and more under Nurse and teacher Mrs. Kathleen Amato.

High Schoolers separated into Physics and Chemistry. The school gym saw electric cars, catapults, batteries from oranges, and home made bottle rockets. What a mess!