Celebrating a May 25 Baccalaureate Mass for Archbishop Carroll High School’s Class of 2022, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory urged the graduating seniors to “apply all of the moral and ethical wisdom that they have thus gained” as they take on adult responsibilities.

“Remember carefully the things that you have learned. We want your tomorrows to be informed by the values that we have attempted to share with you,” the cardinal said. “This is where honor and risk meet in today’s ceremony – that your tomorrows will be informed and shaped by your yesterdays.”

Cardinal Gregory celebrated the Mass in the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Archbishop Carroll High School is a Catholic coeducational school in the District of Columbia sponsored by The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.

“I pray that you will remember why your parents sacrificed to provide you with a Catholic education and all of the principles of faith and morality that you have discovered within Archbishop Carroll,” he told the graduates.

The Mass – offered for the 80 young men and women in the graduating class, along with the families and friends – was celebrated the day before the high’s school’s May 26 commencement exercises.

The cardinal told the graduates that “there is perhaps no more noteworthy step … than leaving their high school years to enter the seriously adult-world of college and the workforce.”

“Not to grow, not to mature, not to leave our yesterdays behind is in fact to stop living,” he said. “We want you to remember that you are a valuable and unique individual and well loved by your family and friends and by the Church.”

He urged the graduates “to recall the mistakes that you may already have made in the past so that you will not repeat them tomorrow.”   He also told them to “take heart that you have been able to weather all those challenges from yesterday” and to be “confident that you will be equally successful in your tomorrows.”

Overall, Carroll’s Class of 2022 earned a total of more than $9 million in college scholarships as 100 percent of the class has gained admission into a two- or four-year college or university. Ester Ventura was the valedictorian and Victoria Ruiz was salutatorian for this year’s senior class.

Senior Ruth Mogus was awarded the Cardinal’s Medal, which was presented to her at the Mass.

The Cardinal’s Medal is awarded annually by The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, to a graduating senior from each of the archdiocesan high schools –Archbishop Carroll High School and Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School. The student, selected by the high school president, exemplifies traits that model solid Christian values that are practiced, a growing Catholic spirituality, and commitment to service as a peer minister.  The awardees are recognized because they are a model for other students and faculty, demonstrating a lively Catholic faith, rooted in the beliefs and traditions of the Catholic Church.  

Each year, the medallion is emblazoned with the coat of arms of the current archbishop of Washington.  The Cardinal’s Medal, along with a $1,500 scholarship, is awarded by the archbishop of Washington (or his designee) at the annual baccalaureate Mass for each school.

Cardinal Gregory told the graduates that their parents have “great pride at what you have achieved,” but they are also feeling “exhilaration and parallel anxiety” in watching their child graduate from high school, much like they experienced seeing their child take their first steps or gain their driver’s license.

 “Those twin emotions fill the heart of every parent present here this afternoon because they know that this day is a monumental threshold of maturity for their sons and daughters,” he said. “Because like each previous moment of growth, graduation comes with a residual moment of peril in the future challenges that will await these young men and women.”

In praying that the graduates “continue to mature in ways that bring many future moments of pride for your parents and all those who love you,” Cardinal Gregory also prayed that “the risks of the future will be successfully navigated as you have obviously done in the past. “

“May each of you know only happiness, success, and good fortune all the days of your lives,” he wished the graduates.