The weeklong celebration of the new St. Martin de Porres High School kicked off with 10 a.m. Mass at the nearby St. Vitus Church. Bishop Nelson Perez was the celebrant and Father Joseph Boznar, St. Vitus pastor, concelebrated.
After Mass, the bishop led the nearly 400-member student body, faculty, staff and members of the school?s board of directors down Lausche Avenue two blocks to the new building, which the bishop blessed.
During his homily, Bishop Perez quizzed students about what makes their school so special. Among their answers were it?s family-oriented, it?s a community, the new building, wonderful teachers, the salad bar, college preparation and the corporate work-study program.
Bishop Perez connected the role of the school with the Gospel message of the Good Shepherd.
?I?m a city boy, so there were no sheep where I grew up, so I didn?t understand what a shepherd did,? he said. He told the students while visiting the Middle East in January, he spent some time sitting on the side of a mountain and watching a local shepherd.
?Where he walked, the sheep walked. They gathered around him. Sometimes he?d sit and the sheep would stop and would graze. When he started to walk, so did they. But sometimes a sheep strayed and the shepherd would nudge it to get it back with the flock. This really helped me understand the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd,? he said.
?This school is like your flock. It started as a dream by people who didn?t even know you, but they had a desire to be a good shepherd, to be in your midst,? he said, explaining that Jesus loves us through others, ?through people you?ve never met -- through this school
