CHARLOTTE — Beaming faces filled St. Matthew Church Wednesday, as 290 graduates of Charlotte Catholic High School’s Class of 2023 came to celebrate and give thanks to God.
St. Matthew Church in south Charlotte was filled nearly to capacity with graduates in their trademark red gowns – all smiles with their family, friends and teachers around them for the traditional baccalaureate Mass before they graduate Friday night.
Grads said they had a lot to give thanks for.
Jaden Petras and Mira Scharr said they were grateful for the friends they made and the experiences they had at Charlotte Catholic, and now they are really looking forward to college.
Petras will study mortuary science at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, and Scharr is headed to Appalachian State University in Boone to pursue a degree in studio art.
“I’m looking forward to making new friends in college,” Scharr said.
“I’m looking forward to having a more flexible schedule, and more choices in the classes I take,” Petras added.
Fellow grad Gavin Hood said he met a lot of great people during his time at Charlotte Catholic, where he played defensive tackle on the storied Cougars football team. He has earned a scholarship to play at Elizabeth City State University, and he’s looking forward to taking the lessons he learned at Charlotte Catholic with him:
“Teamwork, giving it your all, pushing through a lot – I got injured and had to work through that. I learned a lot.”
During the Mass Father Timothy Reid, the diocese’s vicar of education for Catholic schools, encouraged the graduates to take the life lessons they learned at Charlotte Catholic and use them to become effective witnesses of Christ as they go out into the world.
College, work, their lives ahead – adulthood means making choices about what kind of person you want to be, Father Reid said in his homily. “What kind of person are you going to be? Are you going to live your Catholic faith with fidelity?”
“As you go out into the world, don’t lose your Catholic faith,” he told them. “We want you, graduates, to go out into the world and to excel and to be the very best that you can be. But as Christians, we know that we should go out into the world and excel not for our own glory, but for the glory of God and in service to our fellow human beings.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle. Photos by Troy Hull.
