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Friday, March 29, 2024

Catholic preschool leads to baptisms

Anna Wilgenbusch
Hollis Norman, 5, receives the waters of baptism April 15 from Pro Ecclesia Sancta Father Joe Barron, associate pastor of St. Mark in St. Paul. Hollis is among five children from three families who were baptized in the same ceremony, inspired along with their parents by the staff at St. Mark’s Preschool.
Hollis Norman, 5, receives the waters of baptism April 15 from Pro Ecclesia Sancta Father Joe Barron, associate pastor of St. Mark in St. Paul. Hollis is among five children from three families who were baptized in the same ceremony, inspired along with their parents by the staff at St. Mark’s Preschool. COURTESY JACKI BLOMMEL, ST. MARK PRESCHOOL

April 15 was not a usual morning in the Perszyk household, and Beckett, age 5, was highly aware of it. Clad in a small white suit, he sat down on a living room chair, pulled out his play phone and pretended to call Pro Ecclesia Sancta Father Joe Barron, associate pastor of St. Mark in St. Paul, to make sure all the details of his baptism were in order.

His excitement was echoed in other families who attend St. Mark’s Preschool in St. Paul.

Gaél Mejia, age 3, woke up and said, “I can’t wait to get baptized, I’m so excited!” according to his mother, Giselle Mejia.

Five children from three families, all of whom have at least one child who attends the preschool, were baptized at 10 a.m. on April 15. Their baptisms were largely a result of the preschool staff’s effort to infuse the school’s curriculum with the Catholic faith.

St. Mark’s Preschool was part of St. Mark School, a kindergarten through eighth-grade institution in the Merriam Park neighborhood of St. Paul. When the school closed in 2019 due to financial and enrollment challenges, the preschool decided to stay open despite only having 11 students at the beginning of 2020.

Since then, the preschool’s enrollment has grown to 51 students. Its 4- and 5-year-old classrooms are already full for the 2023-2024 school year. Some openings are available in the 33-month through 4-year-old classrooms.

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Although teaching children about the tenets of the faith has been a longtime goal of the preschool, the preschool’s director, Gayane Manukyan, said that she had not foreseen a group baptism of the children.

“The purpose of our preschool is educating the whole child, not only physically but also spiritually,” said Manukyan, who has directed the preschool for the last three years. “It wasn’t our goal to make sure to baptize these children at St. Mark, (but) for sure our goal is and always will be to make sure these children are loved by the teachers and that they know that they are loved by God.”

Families and children gather with Pro Ecclesia Sancta Father Joseph Barron on the steps of St. Mark church in St. Paul before five preschoolers from three of the families are baptized. JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Each family had a distinct path to the baptism font of St. Mark church.

Kirsten Norman, the mother of Hollis, age 5, and Shae, age 3, said that although they are not active members of a Catholic parish, she and her husband, Andrew, have always wanted to baptize their children.

“When we found St. Mark’s school, Hollis flourished and started to express excitement and interest in the Church. (Hollis) is always excited to tell us all about what she learns in Atrium and during Father Joe’s weekly lessons,” Norman said. Atrium refers to the area in which Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a Montessori-based method of teaching Catholic fundamentals, is taught on a weekly basis.

“When the school started talking about the potential for a group baptism, we knew it was the perfect opportunity,” Norman said. “Both Hollis and her sister, Shae, were excited at the idea of getting baptized with the other students and have been counting down the days for the last two weeks.”

This was Hollis’ second year at the preschool. Her sister will begin during the school’s 10-week summer program, which includes an abundance of outdoor activities and field trips. Currently residents in the Macalaster-Groveland area, the family hopes to attend St. Mark’s in the future.

Caitlin and Brian Perszyk, who live in Shoreview with their two children, Beckett, 5, and Delaney, 2, who also was baptized, learned about St. Mark’s Preschool through a friend at Beckett’s previous child care facility. Although Brian’s father was raised Catholic, neither Caitlin nor Brian was raised in the Catholic Church. They remain faithful Christians.

“It’s been really cool for Beckett to come home and talk about (the Catholic faith), and get us to have more conversations about it,” said Caitlin Perszyk.

Delaney has a rare, fatal genetic disorder, which results in a five- to 10-year life span and causes her to lack control over her body. Learning about the Catholic faith has helped Beckett to understand his sister’s diagnosis and the path ahead of her, Caitlin Perszyk said.

“Our daughter has a terminal diagnosis, so it’s been a special thing for Beckett and Delaney, (he) talks about Delaney going to Jesus,” Perszyk said.

Delaney’s medical complications make it difficult to commute to St. Mark church as a family. They hope to attend Mass on a regular basis in the future.

“The family we have built here, we will stay close with,” Perszyk said.

For Giselle Mejia, the mother of Gaél, age 3, and Theodore, age 13, the baptisms of her children signified a huge step in her journey toward Christ.

A single mother, Mejia was baptized into the Catholic Church but did not receive any other sacraments after her mother fell away from the faith. She has been on a long journey back to God ever since.

Mejia was at a park in the Lexington-Hamline neighborhood, where she lives, with her son Gaél when another mother praised St. Mark’s Preschool. She noted the preschool, and a year later, when Gaél was old enough to enroll, Mejia toured the school and knew that she wanted to send her son there.

“Immediately, I was just like, this is so beautiful. This is the place,” Mejia said.

Once she saw the faithful Catholic environment at the preschool, she began to inquire about the adjacent church.

“When I stepped into St. Mark’s I had this beautiful sense of peace, and it just made me want to keep going back,” Mejia said.

After speaking with the pastors of the parish, Mejia received her first Communion and confirmation at this year’s Easter Vigil at St. Mark. Her older son, Theodore, was baptized during the vigil.

“I want to thank each of you for your beautiful ceremony and for caring for every detail, every drop of water, everything big and small in the sacred night and holy Sacraments of the Easter Vigil. Indeed, it changed me, healed me, and brought me an abundance of heart and renewal of spirit where there was lack,” wrote Mejia in a letter to the priests of St. Mark on April 9.

Mejia said that due to the preschool, her family has established a prayer life and recovered a sense of ritual in their lives. They now pray as a family before meals and before bedtime.

“The service boys and the pastors instill a really positive male role model,” Mejia said. Especially given the absence of Theodore’s father, Mejia sees the priests as contributing to a healthy understanding of fatherhood for her sons.

Father Barron, who visits the preschool on a weekly basis to teach the students about the saints, realized that there was potential for a group baptism after one child, John Nieto, 4.5 years old, told his parents, Megan and Johnny, that he wanted to be baptized. He was baptized on Oct. 29, 2022.

“After we were talking, he said, ‘Father, when I grow up I want to be a priest, too,’” said Father Barron. “Whenever he sees me, he gives me a high-five.”

While 50% of the preschool’s students are practicing Catholics, the other half of the student body comes from non-practicing Catholic or non-Catholic families. All of the children who were baptized on June 15 are from the latter category.

To receive the sacrament of baptism, the parents and children are required to attend a baptism preparation class. The parents also must intend to raise the child in the faith, Father Barron said.

“Knowing the school here, and also the families here, I think it is safe to say that there is a very good chance that they will be practicing their faith,” Father Barron said. “I really hope to continue the connection between the church and the preschool.”

“Maybe this is a tradition to come, every year,” Father Barron said.

 


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