Gregory the Great Academy is looking for a few good men! Now accepting applications for the 2015-16 academic year.
“Saint Gregory’s taught me that life is an adventure. Like all good adventures, life has an end and consists of joys, sufferings, victories, and defeats. Through pure friendships and classical education, I was exposed to beautiful truths and a sense of wonder that I had never encountered. Through expeditions, battles, poems, and songs, I realized that happiness and greatness are both real and attainable. Through constant exposure to scripture, liturgy, daily prayer, and examples of self-sacrifice, my faith became who I am instead of a series of external acts that I was required to do. I believe that man’s end is union with God and that the adventure lies in making it there with joy and integrity. Over ten years ago I was dropped off at Saint Gregory’s, and my life has been an adventure ever since.”
Jeremy M. Gay
Class of 2007
First Lieutenant United States Marine Corps
It is your face, O Lord, that I seek; hide not your face. -Psalm 27:8-9
On Friday May 22nd, 2015, Brother Innocent Smith O.P. (formally Philip Smith, SGA Class of 2004) was ordained a Priest of Jesus Christ by The Most Reverend Charles John Brown, Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland. Innocent Smith was one of eight men who received Holy Orders at the Church of St. Dominic in Washington DC.
The Dominican community of the Eastern Province celebrated the occasion in style, hosting an evening reception for the families and friends of those who had just been ordained.
The following evening, Fr. Innocent offered his first Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Washington DC. The liturgy was beautiful and very emotional for Fr. Innocent’s friends and family members.
Philip Smith graduated from St. Gregory’s in 2004. He enrolled in the University of Notre Dame the following fall, taking a double major in Philosophy and Music. During his college years, Philip discerned a vocation with the Order of Preachers. After graduating from Notre Dame in 2008, he joined the Order’s Eastern Province of St. Joseph as a novice, taking the name of Innocent after the first Dominican Pope, St. Innocent V.
After a formational year at the Novice House near Columbus, Ohio, Innocent took temporary vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and began his formal studies at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C. Innocent thrived at the House of Studies, and involved himself with several projects there in addition to his formal studies. These have included the publication of a new Dominican Hymnal and the re-founding of Dominicana a print/online journal of Dominican thought and theology. In the spring of 2013, Br. Innocent took his final vows as a Dominican and he was ordained Deacon in March 2014.
Please keep Fr. Innocent in your thoughts and prayers this year as he begins to fulfill his priestly vocation. His first assignment is to the Dominican community at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, in New York City where he has already begun to serve as vicar.
“Saint Gregory’s taught me that life is an adventure. Like all good adventures, life has an end and consists of joys, sufferings, victories, and defeats. Through pure friendships and classical education, I was exposed to beautiful truths and a sense of wonder that I had never encountered. Through expeditions, battles, poems, and songs, I realized that happiness and greatness are both real and attainable. Through constant exposure to scripture, liturgy, daily prayer, and examples of self-sacrifice, my faith became who I am instead of a series of external acts that I was required to do. I believe that man’s end is union with God and that the adventure lies in making it there with joy and integrity. Over ten years ago I was dropped off at Saint Gregory’s, and my life has been an adventure ever since.”
