On Friday, Sept. 10, Regis High School began the 2021-22 academic year with the celebration of the Mass of the Holy Spirit, a cherished tradition in Jesuit education. Held in the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, the Mass marked the first time the Regis student body and faculty and staff gathered together in full since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regis Principal Fr. Anthony D. Andreassi, CO, served as the primary celebrant and was joined on the altar by History Teacher Fr. Arthur C. Bender, SJ, ’67 and Director of Mission and Identity Fr. James Ferus, SJ. More than two dozen Regis students volunteered as lectors, Eucharistic ministers, altar servers, musicians, ushers, and gift bearers.

“Let us pray at the start of a new school year that the Spirit will be spoken in a multitude of tongues and a multitude of ways at Regis — in our classrooms, on our playing fields and gyms, in our debates and musical performances, and in the simple ways we connect with one another in peace and friendship,” Fr. Andreassi said during his homily. “If we live our faith this way, then we will hear in the murmur of the multitude everything that the Spirit wants to teach, and we will truly begin to be taught and to learn everything — the everything that truly counts.”

Following Fr. Andreassi’s homily, petitions were offered by Regis students, faculty, and staff in a variety of languages. The Regis community remembered in a special way Matthew G. Leonard '80, Gregory J. Trost '93, and Paul J. Battaglia '96, the three Regis alumni who passed away 20 years ago in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Before Mass concluded, Interim President Christian Talbot ’93 addressed the student body, encouraging them to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit, especially in times that call for moral courage.

“The point of your Regis education is not simply to make you smarter but also to form your spirit and your moral and ethical compass,” Talbot said. “And so, as you go forth this year from this day, every time you have some sense of fear, pray to the Holy Spirit, look inside you for that moral courage. And when you feel that courage, know that that is immediate evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life. And with that moral courage, we all go forth to set the world on fire this year.”

The Mass followed several days of orientation sessions in preparation for the new school year. After Mass, the Class of 2022 gathered in the quad with their classmates and the faculty and staff for the annual Senior-Faculty Luncheon. Classes begin on Monday, September 13.