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The OLSWA Student Body of the 2008-2009 Academic Year

The Ninth Annual Academy Graduation was celebrated with great joy and solemn splendour. About 400 people filled Saint Hedwig’s Parish as the graduates, faculty, academic senators, priests, and deacons processed into the church accompanied by the music of the Academy Choir and the local children’s Sparrows Choir.

 

Fr. David May offering the 2009 Graduation Mass

The principal celebrant and homilist of the Graduation Mass was Fr. David May, Director General of Priests for the Madonna House Apostolate. Located in Combermere, Ontario, Madonna House is a lay community of consecrated men, women, and priests, who are devoted to caring for the physically and spiritually needy through their love and service. Fr. May preached on the life of St. Athanasius, emphasizing the importance of fidelity to Church teaching in an age which rejects Christ and the gospel of life. Our faith is no mere intellectual discussion, he emphasized, but a matter of life and death. He also spoke about Saint Anthony and the importance of The Desert, not as a physical getaway, but as a time of silence in which people can encounter God and come to know themselves. Fr. David concluded by saying that people meet God in simplicity and service and encouraged everyone to witness to the gospel without fear.

After the final blessing, Dr. Christine Schintgen, Interim Academic Dean, and President David Warner awarded the three levels of Certificates in Christian Humanities—first, second, and third-year. A total of 41 students received a basic, associate, general, or three-year certificate with concentrations in a particular liberal arts discipline. This ceremony was followed by a luncheon celebration with toasts by our President, local major John Hildebrandt, and MPP John Yakabuski. Miss Maja Polic, Dean of Students, then gave an award to one student from each year of OLSWA’s program for having demonstrated exceptional integrity, zeal, and generous witness of love to others throughout the academic year. The first-year award went to Michael Hayden, the second-year award to Maggie Dorris, and the third-year award to Benjamin O’Brien. Finally, Dr. Schintgen awarded six scholarships and bursaries to different students: Click here for the List of Awards and Award Recipients.

Elizabeth Enright, holding her scholarship plaque, posing with Dr. Keith Cassidy

Maggie Dorris embraces Miss Maja Polic, Dean of Students, after receiving the Second-Year Award

Following the awards, Dr. Keith Cassidy was welcomed as the incoming Academic Dean for the 2009-2010 academic year. Dr. Cassidy is not only a recently retired faculty member of the Department of History at Guelph University, but a former member of OLSWA’s Academic Senate. His daughter Maureen gave a warm welcoming speech in which she made the surprise announcement that his seven children were together funding an annual OLSWA scholarship in honour of their father and his new deanship. Elizabeth Enright, the ever-cheerful, hard-working, and self-giving head of the largest female household on campus this year, was the first to receive the Cassidy family award for a student who has demonstrated excellence in both History and pro-life work.

Greg Gassman celebrates three years at OLSWA with his family

Mr. John-Paul Patenaude, outgoing Chairman of the OLSWA Board of Directors, receives a gift from Dr. Warner

The Academy especially honoured Fr. David May and the Madonna House Lay Apostolate by awarding them with the first annual Culture of Life Award. OLSWA publically commended the community for their inspirational commitment to the restoration of culture and building a civilization of love. The award came in the context of Madonna House recently returning the Order of Canada due to the scandal of its recent recipient. Special thanks were also given to four departing members of the Academy—to Mr. Jean-Paul Patenaude, Chairman of the OLSWA Board of Directors, to Mr. Kevin Ashenbach, full-time professor of Literature and Writing, to Mrs. Jen Hayden-Baklinski, director of the Don Bosco Drama Programme, and to Miss Elizabeth O’Brien, Faculty Secretary and director of the Academy Writing Centre. The remaining students, faculty, and staff bid farewell to the departing class of third-year students and wish them the very best as they begin work or pursue further studies.