Students from St. Jude Regional Catholic School embraced their faith and different cultures during their International Day Celebration and a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Wilton Gregory on Feb. 3. The Mass at the Shrine of St. Jude in Rockville, Maryland, that closed out Catholic Schools Week featured songs in Swahili, Hindi and Spanish sung by the student choir.

During his homily, Cardinal Gregory discussed St. Ansgar, a missionary who later became the archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen in northern Europe, and whose feast day is Feb. 3. 

"Sometimes people think missionaries have it pretty easy. All they have to do is stand up and go into an environment and proclaim the Gospel. But occasionally, missionaries are pretty seriously under attack because people often don't want to ensure the Gospel of Jesus Christ or they reject the Gospel,” Cardinal Gregory said.

The cardinal pointed out that not all missionaries are martyrs. 

“He (St. Ansgar) lived for years and eventually became a bishop. Now sometimes I think that's a suffering job too. But Ansgar became the bishop of many, many peoples in Scandinavia. And there he proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and many people came to believe. Many people came to enter the church because he was such a good and holy and effective missionary,” Cardinal Gregory said.

He told students that Pope Francis was in Africa performing missionary work, like that of St. Ansgar who is known for taking part in an effort to bring Christianity to northern Europe.

The responsorial song was in English, Polish, Spanish, Tagalog, Italian, and Amharic by various St. Jude students, in keeping with the international theme. 

Cardinal Gregory encouraged the students to be missionaries in their own lives.

“We can be missionaries in our home and in our neighborhoods and in our families as we proclaim through Jesus Christ by being friendly, honest (and) generous,” the cardinal said.

Jeanne Donatelli has been the principal at St. Jude Regional Catholic School since 2021, following her work there as vice principal. She has served at the school for more than 20 years, including as a teacher. She was joined at the Mass by her mother Jeanne Warrington, daughter Elizabeth Sheahan, and two-year-old granddaughter, Lucy Sheahan. The four generations have been part of the Shrine of St. Jude Parish since Donatelli was first hired as a teacher.

Donatelli introduced her family to the parish when her daughter, Elizabeth, started preschool there in 1997. She joined the school as a teacher in 2000. 

"There are probably no words to describe it. This parish is amazing. It's warm, it's welcoming, it's just loving. Father [Paul] Lee is one of the best pastors that I've ever come across. He's welcoming with the children and wants the children to be part of it, he wants the families to be part of it. It truly is a family, and that's what the school is. And the church is a family, the church and the school work together as a partnership. He calls us all the beacon of light on the hill, which we all are,” Donatelli said. 

Warrington, who raised her family in Rockville, said that Catholicism has helped her navigate misfortunes in her life. 

“I’ve lost a son, I’ve lost a granddaughter, I’ve lost my husband. I’ve had a lot of crosses to bear, and without my faith, I wouldn’t have been able to carry it. I’ve been very blessed with a beautiful family who takes very good care of me,” Warrington said. 

Sheahan, who attended St. Jude’s until eighth grade, has remained loyal to both the school and parish.

“It was fabulous. I loved every second of it. My brother and I both went here, we have numerous friends that are still our friends from all those years here who were even at my wedding. I had my wedding here. It was just a great foundation to our Catholic faith and just our tradition,” Sheahan said. She continued her Catholic education at St. John’s College High School in Washington and Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg. 

“It’s so fun to come back and now have my daughter come back here one day and have the same opportunities that I got,” Sheahan said. Her daughter and husband were both baptized at St. Jude’s. 

Following the Mass was St. Jude’s International Day Celebration in the school’s ballroom. Students pre-kindergarten to eighth grade gave performances of different countries while dressed in traditional garb, including a Highland Fling from Scotland, Tinikling from the Philippines, and the Punjabi Bhangra Dance from India. 

Katharine Balog, the assistant principal at St. Jude Regional Catholic School, organized the International Day Celebration. The event includes decorated posters and tables featuring home-cooked cuisine from countries for students to try, along with other cultural accoutrements, so the planning begins in August. 

“I always joke around that planning my wedding was easier than planning this because there are so many moving parts,” Balog said. “But it always comes together beautifully.” 

Her fourth-grade class covered Ireland this year.

"I keep Ireland every year. I love teaching about Ireland, especially because we're a Catholic school, so there are so many ways we can incorporate faith into the studies. We talk about early Christianity, early saints in Ireland, the artwork, the castles, there's so much history that I can bring in and also teach about our faith as well," Balog said.  

Learning about different countries and cultures is not just reserved for a history or language class, however. Balog noted, ”We try to implement (it) in everything. We implement it obviously in music, the teacher teaches about songs from that country and dances. The art teacher always teaches about art movements from that country. Even the math teacher, the science teacher, we're trying to incorporate every little bit we can. So in science, [the instructor] is teaching them about scientists from that part of the world. We teach them about literature from that country. We have them reading short stories from that country. So we try to give them these little mini-lessons throughout the year." 

Isabella Grijalba graduated from St. Jude Regional Catholic School in 2020 but came back to take part in representing Colombia for the International Day Celebration there.

“We are doing El Carnaval de Barranquilla, it includes a bunch of different dances from different parts of Colombia, and it’s just a way to show the different cultures that we have because Colombia is so diverse geographically and so diverse in so many ways,” Grijalba said.

The carnival is celebrated in Colombia in February and lasts four days, leading up to the beginning of the Lenten season. Grijalba said she hopes that people will learn about the beauty of Colombia (and) “the joy that Colombia really brings people. If you ever get to visit, it’s just gorgeous and the community, too, is very gorgeous and very strong. It’s just overall very joyful, so I hope the carnaval spreads some joy out in the world.” 

The table from Colombia featured salpicón (a fruit-based beverage), Colombian coffee, chorizo (sausage), as well as arroz con leche (rice pudding) and mini arepas, Grijalba’s favorites. 

Alex Lopez, a father of two current students at St. Jude’s also represented Colombia at International Day. He said events like this are important to embrace the diversity present at the school. 

“This is a really big part of the school, that we do International Day… We are a very diverse school, so as you can see, it’s a lot of countries around. And we want to celebrate that with everything that we have as a culture, to show the school, the parents, and the community how diverse we are,” Lopez said. 

During the International Day event, St. Jude’s students visited all of the booths to mark off their 'passports,' a program with a map of all the flags of the countries represented at the event.

Ayla Barish and her sixth grade class at St. Jude Regional Catholic School studied Greece this year. 

The table for Greece served a cake, along with pita and hummus. Barish worked on the costume committee for her class. They decided to wear white and blue shirts, representing the colors of the Greek flag, and she and her classmates did the traditional Sirtaki dance.

“The dance we did, I think having the inner circle was very nice. It symbolized what International Day is all about. Having two different parts and having all the different dances really symbolizes what we are and who we are as a whole and not just different people. Everyone is together and we're all at home," Barish said.