Faith and Family: Grandparents’ Day Mass Pilot Parents and Students: InService Together

Written by Ryan Martin-Spencer, Director of Mission Integration, Liturgical Coordinator

On Friday, November 18, 2022, the OLP community welcomed 450 grandparents and grandparent figures to campus for our annual Grandparents’ Day Mass. Grandparents were invited to arrive early to relax, enjoy refreshments, and share in conversation with each other while taking in the beautiful views of Mission Valley from North Terrace before Mass in the Holy Family Event Center. The full Event Center was brimming with energy and love as students excitedly flowed in to find and sit with their grandparents. Msgr. Richard Duncanson, OLP Board of Trustee member, celebrated the special mass and reflected upon how he has gotten to know multiple generations of many families, including quite a few present at Grandparents’ Day, throughout his years as a pastor accompanying families through weddings, baptisms, funerals, and other important events. The theme of the mass was, “Stand By Me,” and Msgr. Duncanson spoke beautifully about the love between grandparents and grandchildren, and how grandparents embody selfless Christ-like love, always standing by and supporting their grandchildren. Students offered prayer intentions of thanks for their grandparents and grandparent figures, while also remembering, in prayer, grandparents and grandparent figures who have passed away, leaving a legacy of loving care.

After Communion, Msgr. Duncanson led the community in a special blessing of grandparents and then OLP senior Paulette Vazquez and her grandmother, Erendira Vega, shared a remarkably touching and heartfelt reflection about the strength of their relationship and their unique bond. Paulette shared, “My grandmother, in short, is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. My life would not be the same without her as she is the glue that holds my family together. She is my biggest inspiration, my number one fan, my biggest supporter.” After her grandmother, Erendira, spoke about her love and support for Paulette, they shared an emotional embrace, deeply moving all gathered in the Event Center.

The legacy of love, family, and faith from Grandparents’ Day nourishes and enriches our OLP community each year. Truly, grandparents and grandparent figures embody unifying love in the genuine way that they bring families together and emanate their inspiring unconditional love outward to the wider community. At OLP, we give thanks for the love, support, generosity, and presence of all grandparents and grandparent figures in our students’ lives.

Students at the Academy of Our Lady of Peace have served our n eighbors with compassion in a remarkably wide variety of ways for countless decades, both locally and internationally . From migrant and refugee families and youth, to people experiencing homelessness and hunger, OLP students have followed their hearts to share God’s unifying love with our dear neighbors. Truly, the deep and rich legacy of service is part of the fabric that constitutes OLP.

The Pilot Parents program provides OLP parents and guardians with opportunities to meet, connect, and support the OLP community based on shared interests. The recently established Pilot Parents “Faith and Service Crew” continues the OLP legacy of service this year by inviting OLP parents, guardians and students to volunteer in service together.

In December of 2022, a group of OLP parents and students, from multiple grade levels, served meals to guests at Fr. Joe’s Villages in downtown San Diego. Serving together with other pairs of parents

Written by Katie Wilson, Service Learning & Retreats Director

and students enriched the sense of community and family within OLP, even though the parent and student pairs did not know each other very well before meeting at Fr. Joe’s. Current Parent Siobhán Downing shared that her daughter Elisabeth (Class of 2025) and she were amazed at how much the OLP volunteers were able to assist the Fr. Joe’s staff and accomplish in just two hours. Meeting the guests at Fr. Joe’s and recognizing Christ’s presence within them touched and moved the OLP parents and students. For the Downings, serving at Fr. Joe’s was “such a great way to help light the world with the love of Christ!”

A growing number of OLP parents and guardians have expressed a desire to serve alongside their children through the Pilot Parents program, with more opportunities to serve being offered in the Spring semester. Parents and students serving together beautifully embodies what it means to be a member of the OLP Pilot family.