Bishop Carroll students attended their first all school Mass celebrated by new school chaplain Father Sam Brand on Friday. Fr. Brand, a 2006 graduate of Bishop Carroll, discussed the beating heart of Carroll.

Sophomore Kate Martin mentioned the importance of this first meeting of the student body. “The first all school mass is a big deal. It’s the first time the whole school is together and also the first time most of us got to meet Father.”

In his homily, Father talked about how excited he was to be at Carroll, almost getting no sleep the night before having to preach. He went on to talk about how he wanted to kick off the school year by asking the Holy Spirit to guide the students in their studies. Father Sam mentioned the “beating heart” of Carroll being the chapel and encouraged students to visit often.

Along with this being his first Mass for Carroll, Father Sam had the unique opportunity to celebrate it in front of his former teacher and chaplain Father Jarrod C. Lies. Father Lies was the priest at Carroll when Sam Brand was in attendance. Father Brand jokingly said that he had brought Father Lies here to “grade his homily” and Father Lies replied with “So far so good!”

Students are excited to have Father Sam here at Carroll, and sophomore Sarah Brittain thinks he’ll do just fine, saying “I’m excited for this school year so we can get to know Father Sam better. He seems like a great fit for Carroll!”

Other Students had this to say about Mass:

“I laughed to myself when all of the freshman were looking around with their eyes wide because I know that that’s what I did.” – Keegan Steinwetz 10^th grade

“I thought Mass was very beautiful. The music was very pretty and I have missed it.” –Faith Seely 10^th grade

“Father’s homily was great. I am glad that we get to celebrate Mass regularly.”- Addie Gorges 9^th grade