Catholic Schools Week is in full swing and in order to celebrate, the Holy Cross Council and Liturgy Committee hosted a Mass on Jan. 29. However, this was no ordinary Mass. 

Interviewed on Jan. 17, Mrs. Katie Lewis, Holy Cross Council coordinator, said, “The Mass is going to be awesome,” referring to the specifics of the Catholic Schools Week Mass.

The council welcomed Fr. Dennis Strach back to preside over the Mass. Because he is bilingual, the Mass was celebrated in both English and Spanish. 

Fr. Strach serves as the associate director of vocations for the Congregation of Holy Cross at Notre Dame. While he is presently stationed in South Bend, he travels all over the U.S. to different Catholic schools in order to help teenagers discern their vocation that God has planned.

Finally, according to Mrs. Lewis, students were asked to dress up for Mass, not in typical Winterfest attire such as mismatched clothes, but rather in Sunday’s best.  “Instead of a traditional dress up day,” said Lewis, “you either have to be in your uniform or you have to be dressed up. There (were) no sweatpants, no leggings. You have to be dressed up.”

The goal of this Mass was to determine how students and faculty would respond to wearing formal clothes during school Masses.