By Aidan Heafy ’25
RAMSEY, NJ – The Don Bosch Prep community celebrated its Opening School Mass on Tuesday, September 24th. Fr. Lou Konopelski celebrated the Mass, joined by his Salesian confreres and assisted by Deacon Doug Fitzmorris.
Fr. John Langan, who took over from Bro. Travis as Coordinator of Youth Ministry, prefaced the liturgy with a long explanation of the importance of the Mass and especially its celebration as a united community. Fr. John acknowledged that the experience of the Mass is very different from many of the gatherings we have at Don Bosco Prep and encouraged students to say a short prayer whenever they found themselves losing focus.
The opening song was a rousing Gospel hymn, “Every Praise”, led by Jordan Reyes, who inspired students, faculty, administration and staff to get into the rhythm and spirit of the song.
The first reading was from Paul’s letter to the Romans, in which Paul encourages believers to have hope because Christ gave up his life for all of us. The Gospel was from Chapter 10 of Luke, as Christ explains how even the wise and learned can be blind to spiritual truths – “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do….’”
Fr. Lou Konopelski’s homily began with a story from the life of St. John Bosco, involving Don Bosco’s first encounter with 13-year old Michael Magone. The encounter occurred late one foggy autumn evening while Don Bosco was waiting for a train – hearing a voice of a young person leading his peers in a game, Don Bosco approaches him, questions him about his life, and offers him an alternative way of life and future. Despite some hesitation, Malone agrees to learn a trade. Fr. Lou equated Michael Malone‘s experience with that of each student at Don Bosco Prep. Each student is receiving the benefit of a good education so that he can have a happy and productive future. Fr. Lou’s advice to students for achieving that goal focused on staying close to Christ and staying close to Mary.
After Fr. Lou’s homily, Fr. Abe blessed twelve Seniors as Eucharistic Ministers, placing a wooden crucifix around each Senior’s neck, Several of the new Eucharistic Ministers were assigned to distribute Communion later in the Mass.
For the Prayer of the Faithful, two Seniors – Sonny Nagle and Hunter DiTrano – shared the responsibility of reading the prayers and eliciting the community’s response to each petition.
After Communion, but before the closing prayer, DBP’s Principal Jeff Wojcik recognized this year’s five National Merit Commended Students – Adrian Payne, Robbie Elko, Maxim Maslov, Tiernan Burke, Nicholas LoBrutto. Thomas MacDougall, Don Bosco Prep’s National Merit Semi-Finalist, was also recognized.
The Mass ended with the singing of the familiar Don Bosco song – “Don Bosco: Friend of the Young and the Poor.”
