Atonement Senior is Baptized

The Atonement Academy community celebrated the baptism of one of their senior class students on January 25. Upper school students packed the Baptistry after Holy Mass to witness and support their classmate and friend. As Father Phillips remarked in his blog, "What makes this particularly special is that she travelled here from China to go to the Atonement Academy Upper School. She found our school by searching on the internet, and made all the arrangements to come to this country -- not an easy process! She was raised with no religion, and when she arrived she didn't speak any English. Now she is getting ready to graduate, speaks fluent English, has done very well academically, and has freely embraced the Catholic faith...Her name is Tara (a shortened form of her Chinese name) but she has taken Maria as her baptismal name (after Maria Goretti). What a time to rejoice!" Pictured with Tara are Father Phillips and Deacon Orr.