66th May Crowning held at Our Lady of Bethlehem

Columbus Our Lady of Bethlehem School and Childcare celebrated its 66th May Crowning Mass on Tuesday, May 9, in the school’s backyard.

The school’s May Crowning tradition was started by the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus. The sisters founded Our Lady of Bethlehem Convent in Columbus in 1956 and opened Our Lady of Bethlehem School as a kindergarten the following year.

The school has since expanded to offer a Catholic Infant and Toddler Program, Totally Terrific Twos, Preschool and Pre-Kindergarten.

The Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus first celebrated the May Crowning Mass in 1957, the year the school was founded. Our Lady of Bethlehem has celebrated a May Crowning Mass every year since.

“We know that our boys and girls come to know Jesus through Our Mother Mary,” Lori Dulin, principal of Our Lady of Bethlehem School and Childcare, said in her opening remarks.

The May Crowning Mass was celebrated by Father Kyle Tennant, parochial vicar at Columbus St. Cecilia Church and chaplain at Columbus Bishop Ready High School. 

The Mass was celebrated in memory of Elizabeth Irish Greve, a tireless volunteer whose children attended the school; Dorothy A. Laferty, a great grandmother of a current student and the grandmother of the school’s office manager; and Cathy Lee Porosky, the mother of a longtime Our Lady of Bethlehem employee.

Children in the school’s Totally Terrific Twos through Kindergarten programs participated in the May Crowning.

The Mass began with a student-led procession. Banners used in the procession were the originals made by the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus. Each child placed a flower on the Marian altar in front of the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The children sang the hymn “On This Day, O Beautiful Mother.”

The first reading, responsorial psalm and Gospel acclamation for the Mass were read by children in the kindergarten class. The children also read the prayers of the faithful and brought up the gifts of bread and wine during the offertory.

For the Gospel reading, Father Tennant read the story of the Annunciation from the Gospel of St. Luke. The reading recounted the angel Gabriel appearing to the Blessed Mother and announcing that she was to be the Mother of God. (Luke 1:26-38)

Father Tennant spoke directly to the children in his homily. He began by asking the children how they prepare to run a race. He asked if they start running a race by lying on the ground or sitting in a chair, to which the children shouted, “No!”

Father Tennant affirmed that they were correct. To run a race, they needed to be standing up or bending over and ready to go, he said.

In the same way, he told the children that the Blessed Mother’s “heart is so open to God, and she loves Him so much, that she is ready to say ‘yes.’ Just like you have to be ready to run a race, when Mary is visited by the angel and God asks this great thing of her, (to be the mother of God,) she is ready to say ‘yes.’”

Father Tennant told the children that Mary is also ready to help them. He recalled the Gospel story of the wedding feast at Cana, when the wine ran out and Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine while Mary was present.

Father Tennant said, “Mary is the one who notices. Mary is the one who looks around, and she sees all the people around her, and she loves them so much that she sees exactly what it is that they need. And, she is ready to help the people that she sees, who need her help.”

That is the reason Mary is the mother of the Church and “our mother – because she is ready to say ‘yes’ to God, and she is ready to say ‘yes’ to us,” he said.

Father Tennant encouraged the children to bring their needs to the Blessed Mother, who sees their needs and is always ready to help them.

“Whatever we need, whatever we need to ask her for, whatever help we need, or our friends need or our family needs, we can bring them to Mary, and she’s ready to help us.”

He said that Mary also shows her children how to respond to God and how to be ready to say “yes” to God and others as she does.

Father Tennant recalled the first reading of the Mass from the Acts of the Apostles, when many of Jesus’ disciples were gathered together with Mary in the upper room after Jesus’ death. He told the children that they, too, can be ready to say “yes” to God and others by staying united like the disciples did.

“We are gathered together as the Church – as the Body of Jesus – with Mary, His mother,” Father Tennant said. “We stay ready to say ‘yes’ to God and to help others by staying together as a church, … as one family, one school, one Church.

“Then, we are ready to do whatever God is asking us to do, so that everybody can know that God loves them. And, so does Mary.”

After the homily and prayers of the faithful, the kindergarten class walked to the front of the congregation and surrounded the statue of the Blessed Mother. They sang the hymn “Immaculate Mary,” while the rest of the students remained seated and joined in singing the hymn.

During the third verse of the song, kindergarten student Mary Roland, this year’s May queen, placed a crown of flowers on the statue of the Blessed Mother. Kindergarten student Austin Harrington served as the crown bearer.

The students sang the hymn “Hail, Holy Queen” during the offertory and the hymn “Here I Am, Lord” during communion.

After communion, the student body stood up for the recitation of “The Angelus.” A few kindergarten students led the prayer, while the other students responded with the “Hail Mary” three times in the prayer.

After the final blessing and dismissal by Father Tennant, the student banner bearers led the procession back to the school building. The students sang the song “New Hope, New Hope” as they walked out.