Monte Flowers, Memphis Catholic Class of 2008

Senior Portrait

I met this young man last year when he started donating to Memphis Catholic and the Jubilee Schools. I thought it was so cool that this young alum was already giving back to his alma mater to help others receive the same opportunity he received. Even though I had spoken with him several times, I really didn't know much about him besides being a fantastic young man, a graduate of Memphis Catholic, and somehow associated with the Wharton Family.

I like to learn about people, who they are and what makes them tick. I wanted to learn more about Monte Flowers. So, he agreed to be the subject of this blog.

Monte was born in Memphis on July 4, 1989 to Cheryl Flowers and Wilbur Walton. He grew up in a very Catholic family as a member of St. Augustine Parish going to church every Sunday. His grandfather, Walter Flowers, Jr. made sure of it. Monte said that his grandfather was the rock of the family and instrumental in making sure the family attended church. Monte was baptized and received first communion at St. Augustine, and was confirmed at Immaculate Conception.

Life changed for Monte when he joined Boy Scout Troop 143 at St. Augustine. That's when he met Scout Master Ruby Wharton. From that time on, Monte became part of the Wharton Family. From age eleven to thirteen, he spent the summers with the Whartons. Monte believes scouting was essential to his development. He learned to respect himself and his community through this organization. He also developed a special fondness for the Boy Scouts of America as a result.

Starting in 8th grade, he became a member of the Wharton household. AC (former mayor of Memphis) and Ruby Wharton (principal of The Wharton Law Firm) became Monte's parents. They made sure he attended Memphis Catholic, and held the same expectations for Monte as they did Alex, Andre, and AC III; their own biological children.

Ruby Wharton was there to make sure Monte succeeded academically and spiritually. Monte said that the Whartons encouraged him to participate in school and church, and that they were very hands on. His relationship with the Whartons strengthened his faith and desire to participate in activities such as being a member of the parish council at St. Augustine. His sense of duty has been strengthened through the example of the Whartons.

Law School Graduate

Monte graduated from Memphis Catholic in 2008 and was the class salutatorian. He went on to graduate from Hampton University, one of the top historically black universities in the world.  He earned a B.A. in History, a minor in Leadership Studies, and was ranked 10th in his graduating class. He graduated in 2012 and was accepted to the University of Tennessee School of Law in Knoxville. He graduated from law school in 2015. Upon graduation, he was employed through the US Federal Honors Program working with the EEOC. Since May of this year, he has been working at The Wharton Law Firm.

Starting in the 8th grade, Monte attended Memphis Catholic. His first day at Memphis Catholic was during the summer practicing for the upcoming football season. He was nervous about attending a new school and didn't think he would fit in or succeed. The first person he met that day was Devin Walker, another incoming 8th grader. Devin introduced himself to Monte and they have been good friends ever since. Funny how things work out.

Class of 2008

While at Memphis Catholic, Monte was very active participating in football, track, baseball, basketball, Knowledge Bowl, drama club, campus ministry, student government, and a member of the National Honor Society.

"A Life for Others" was his philosophy in high school. As president of Catholic Campus Ministry, he helped to raise funds for disaster relief victims and for annual food drives.

Education That Works program started at Memphis Catholic when Monte was entering his junior year. His first internship was at FedEx Express working in the human resources department. He enjoyed FedEx so much that he asked to return to FedEx Express for his senior year where he interned in the FedEx Express IT department.

Dani Ray Barton, former staff member at Memphis Catholic, had this to say about Monte. "With Monte, from the first time I met him, he had clear and definite plans for his future. With many teenagers, that changes weekly. Not with Monte. He always knew and maintained that target and as we know now, has achieved those goals and more. I also remember the hilarious phone calls we would get from Mrs. Wharton and the mayor because Monte would always manage to forget about some after school activity or event he needed to tell them he was attending."

Deacon Ted Schreck, Director of Education That Works, said this about Monte: "He lolly gagged around the school on his very first day of internship and missed the bus to go to FedEx Express. He was sent home to Mrs. Wharton with a make up day. Beside that event, I was so impressed by his passion for law, for family, for his faith. He would serve on the altar for Mass and carried himself so professionally and with genuine love and passion."

Dawn Rose, English Teacher at Memphis Catholic, said, "He was always polite, helpful, and had a smile on his face. He made friends easily and was always there to help out where needed. He liked a good joke or prank as well."

Monte Flowers is a proud graduate of Memphis Catholic. He is a fantastic young person and models the way we should all be academically, spiritually, and as a member of the community. Everything he has become he attributes to his faith and the Whartons. He said that he could never repay the Wharton Family for what they have done for him. They are his godparents, mentors, and supporters.

Future Lawyer

It is because of the Wharton Family that Monte works so hard to become well educated and to become a lawyer. He sees law and education as mighty tools for helping individuals and groups escape poverty and misery. He wants more for other generations than he initially received himself.

Monte is on a mission to make Memphis a better place for those most in need. Thanks to the Wharton Family, his own hard work, St. Augustine Parish, and Memphis Catholic, Monte Flowers has the ability to be the change he wants to see.

Fun fact about the Flowers Family:
Monte's mother, Cheryl Flowers, is a Memphis Catholic graduate from the Class of '72. His three uncles; Walter, Jr., Ronald, and Paul Flowers are graduates of Fr. Bertrand.

Thank you Monte Flowers for taking the time to share your story.

God bless you,
Didier Aur

Join The Fun: 2017 Wings of Jubilee

Until last year, I had never been a part of any cooking contest. Even though I was a cook at The Loft Restaurant during my high school years, entering a cooking contest never entered my mind until last year when I entered a team in the 2016 Wings of Jubilee.

I am fully committed to the mission of the Jubilee Schools and the philanthropic work of the Blue Streak Scholarship Fund. When Blue Streak decided to hold a hot wings cooking contest (Wings of Jubilee), I decided that I would enter a team not in an attempt to win a trophy but to support the Jubilee Schools and join the fun.

Had I ever cooked chicken wings before? No. Do I enjoy eating chicken wings? Yes, but not hot wings. I like mild wings with just a little bit of dry rub and not the dripping wet use a roll of paper towels type wings.

I hoodwinked my good friend, Philip Schulte, from Jefferson City, MO to come down and help me cook. He had never cooked wings before so it was all new to him as well.

The first time we cooked chicken wings was for last year's Wings of Jubilee. Philip and I concocted our secret recipe the night before the Wings of Jubilee. The sauce was created on a trial and error basis. We had no idea how most people even cooked wings. We marinated the chicken wings all night in our newly created secret sauce hoping we had created something good to share the next day.

Come the morning of the Wings of Jubilee, we set up our team tent with lots of food and drink. We fired up our grill and started cooking chicken wings for the first time ever. We had a lot of fun and our team tent was full through much of the day with lots of friends and family. With several live bands and lots of kids games, the place was hopping.

With the 2017 Wings of Jubilee rapidly approaching, Philip and I decided to enter our team once again. We helped raise money for the Jubilee Schools while having a great time supporting another Blue Streak event. This FUN-raiser was well worth it and we are ready to go again.

We stepped out of our comfort zone and ended up having a great time! It didn't matter that we had no idea what we were doing. We just said "YES" and had lots of fun.

We challenge all Jubilee and Blue Streak supporters to do the same for this year's Wings of Jubilee. Enter a team and invite your friends and family to come out for a day of fun. Enter a team from work and use this opportunity to treat your employees and clients to a fun day out and also as a thank you for being a part of your organization.

Here is a partial list of teams already entered:
Blue Streak
Rytech
Duncan William Asset Management
Skrydetka Kurczaka (Polish for chicken wings)
Northwestern Mutual
R.J. Young
Peggy & Mike Callahan
Wingy Dingy
Wing Dingers
Ray Fracchia
Neil's Music Room
Knights of Columbus (Matt Sorg)
Riko's Kickin' Chicken
Central BBQ
New Wing Order
Jonathan & Brittany Aur
901Q
Wing of Fire: T.J. Mulligan/Pinch
Memphis Catholic

Click here for the Wings of Jubilee website.

Click here to register a wings cooking team.

Click here if you would like to sponsor the Wings of Jubilee.

It is about having lots of fun with friends and family while supporting the Jubilee Schools. It is also about trying something new. Glad I did last year and looking forward to it again this year. Hope to see you out there having fun.

God bless you,
Didier Aur

Change Your Stars!

We can all recite lines from our favorite movies years after we first watch them. From Moonstruck's "I'll come to your funeral in a red dress" to Caddy Shack's "See your future. Be your future." to Forest Gump's "Sometimes, I guess there just aren't enough rocks," we can all remember movie lines.  One line in particular from the movie A Knight's Tale has stuck with me because I see parents live this line every day. The line is "Change your stars and live a better life than I have." In the movie, this advice comes from a father wanting something better for his son. "Change your stars."

I have seen this line play-out in real life so many times; parents wanting better for their children. To make certain their children's education is a top priority, so many of our Jubilee parents struggle and sacrifice to help their children. It is a common recurring theme, parents doing all they can to change their children's stars.

Matthew Kelly once said, “We become the stories we listen to.” I hope you become part of this story.

The White Family

This Jubilee story began in 2003 when Mr. & Mrs. White were introduced to the Jubilee Schools. The Whites wanted a better life for their three children, and were willing to sacrifice everything to make sure DeWayne, Jeanne, and Jennifer changed their stars. They wanted a better life for their children and believed enrolling all three in Jubilee Schools would make the difference they wanted to see.

I first met this wonderful family when I was principal of Holy Names Catholic School in North Memphis. The Whites knew their children needed extra academic help they were not receiving in their local school. They heard about the Jubilee Schools from a relative, and paid a visit to Holy Names and Little Flower to learn more about the Jubilee Schools. It was not long before DeWayne, Jeanne, and Jennifer were enrolled in Jubilee Schools.

The Whites are not Catholic, but they knew in their hearts that Catholic education was the best option for their children. Even though they lived in the Westwood neighborhood in South Memphis, they enrolled DeWayne and Jeanne at Holy Names and Jennifer at Little Flower because she was not yet old enough to attend Holy Names. Back then, Mrs. White worked near Holy Names.

All three children quickly experienced success at the Jubilee Schools and their Jubilee Scholarship helped pay for part of their education from elementary through high school graduation. Mr. & Mrs. White were extremely happy with the Jubilee Schools and the Catholic School system, and were willing to work extra hours to be able to keep their children in the schools.

DeWayne White

DeWayne excelled at Holy Names. He was part of the first graduating class, and was hand-picked as one of ten Holy Names students to spend a week at Switchback Ranch in Roscoe, Montana. This is his greatest memory from Holy Names. It is one of mine as well. He attended Bishop Byrne and graduated in 2010. DeWayne didn’t intend to go to college. So, he started working at Dollar General and then moved over to Target where he has worked for four years.  He is a new employee trainer. He changed his mind about college when he discovered that with a college degree, he can move into a managerial position. He enrolled in college and is now on track to graduate from Lemoyne-Owen in 2018 with a Bachelor's of Business Administration in Management.

Jeanne White

Jeanne also graduated from Holy Names and followed her brother to Bishop Byrne. She was nervous about attending Holy Names but soon came to love it. One aspect of Holy Names she enjoyed was all the children were treated the same.  She graduated from Bishop Byrne in 2012 and attends Lemoyne-Owen. She is scheduled to graduate this December with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in Finance. Lemoyne-Owen requires their business majors to intern at a local business. Jeanne’s internship was at AIL Logistics Solutions. She is ready to graduate and move into the next phase of her life with college diploma in-hand.

Jennifer's path to high school graduation was very different from

Jennifer White

her siblings. She first attended Little Flower for 1st and 2nd grade and then Holy Names. After the 5th grade, her mother's job changed so she no longer worked near Holy Names. Jennifer transferred to St. Augustine for her 6th grade year. She then attended Bishop Byrne until the school was closed. She attended Memphis Catholic her senior year and graduated in 2015. Jennifer’s one year of internship at Memphis Catholic was at American Residential Services. In Jennifer's words, she "loved the internship at ARS." She is currently a junior at Lemoyne-Owen and studying early childhood education. Jennifer is scheduled to graduate in May of 2019. Through Lemoyne-Owen, Jennifer has interned at UC-Riverside working on the business side of education. Even though she is not Catholic, Jennifer participated in the March for Life in Washington. Because of her excellent conduct at Bishop Byrne, an anonymous donor funded her trip to Washington.

For Mr. & Mrs. White, the education their children received exceeded their expectations so much so that their relatives followed suit and started sending their children to the Jubilee Schools and Bishop Byrne.

Brandi Flynn, a cousin, enrolled at Holy Names. Brandi graduated from Holy Names and Bishop Byrne. She is also at Lemoyne-Owen and is studying early childhood education. Several of their relatives also attended St. Augustine and Bishop Byrne.

DeWayne, Jeanne, & Jennifer

DeWayne, Jeanne, and Jennifer work while going to college. Their parents paid for their Jubilee and Catholic education, but the children are responsible for paying for their college education. Three children, three Jubilee scholars, and three soon-to-be college graduates. "Change your stars and live a better life than I have."

When asked where they will one day send their own children to school, all three without hesitation and with a smile said, "We will send our children to Catholic Schools." Now that needs to be a line in a movie.

To support the Jubilee Schools, please click here! Please consider being a Jubilee sponsor and support our work in helping to change the stars of Jubilee students. Thank you.

God bless you,
Didier Aur

Are You a Philanthropist?

"A philanthropist transforms the social wellbeing of others through generosity." - McCabe Callahan

Finding the philanthropists who want to transform the social wellbeing of our students in the Jubilee Schools is our goal.  These are the folks who are going to make the difference needed to change lives by providing our students with the opportunity for hope and success.

The current development team for the Jubilee Schools has been in place for less than eleven months. We are searching our way through the development process and in many cases starting from scratch. We have experienced many successes and I want to focus on one of these successes.

We, as a development team, were asked by the Jubilee Schools board of directors to meet several objectives with one major objective being to increase the number of new philanthropists to the Jubilee Schools. They gave us no specific number mainly because there was no real data to go by in setting a number.

We began the process by first cleaning up the database. If a person in our database never contributed to the schools or participated in any activities, they were removed from the database. We then worked to update contact information for the folks in our database to make sure they would be receiving communications from the Jubilee Schools office.

This was a long and tedious process that removed about 2/3 of the names from our database. We want philanthropists and volunteers in our database who are engaged in our mission and not a bunch of names of important people who aren't a part of our Jubilee School mission.

The next task was to set a goal for the number of new philanthropists to the Jubilee Schools. We still didn't have a formula to use so we set an arbitrary goal of bringing in 500 new philanthropists. We had no idea if this was achievable so we set a plan to get this done. We have to have a plan in order to achieve a goal.

The most important part of actually doing development work is to create engagement. To create engagement, we developed first time events and organizations such as the Wings of Jubilee, Tails of Jubilee, Blue Streak 1,000 Club, and Memphis Catholic Alumni Association. We asked the Memphis Catholic Hall of Fame to become more involved with the school. Blue Streak created CatholicTree.org to help the Jubilee Schools raise funds for non-budgeted items such as SMARTBoards, iPad charging carts, and even a new flag pole for Memphis Catholic. This week we will have our first ever End of the Year Bash at Neil's Music Room.

We also created the Jubilee Employee 10x10 Challenge to encourage new philanthropists to join our efforts. In the 10x10 challenge, we asked all Jubilee School employees to donate a minimum of $10 and/or pray one decade of the Rosary (10 Holy Marys) for the schools and ask 10 other people to do the same.

Between the Jubilee Schools and Blue Streak, we are currently at 450 new philanthropists on our way to hopefully reaching our goal of 500.

Part of the plan is not for a one time donation but for our philanthropists to become recurring donors. If we receive one time donations, that is nice but it doesn't transform the social wellbeing of our students. The idea of transformation takes place over time and with a lot of dedication. It doesn't happen overnight. We need the philanthropists to join and help lead our team. These folks are leaders and we need their commitment and ability to make a positive difference.

We are creating engagement so we can bring people on board to support our mission. From there the transformation can take place.

We could sure use your help in transforming the social wellbeing of our students. If you are interested in being a part of the transformation, please feel free to contact me. There are many ways you can help. Let your philanthropic heart and desire to transform the social wellbeing of the Jubilee students lead you to be the change you want to see in the world.

God bless you,

Didier Aur

Record Year for Blue Streak!

Blue Streak donations to the Jubilee Schools:

2004- $21,550
2005- $72,414
2006- $120,000

Students at De La Salle

2007- $190,406
2008- $120,000
2009- $63,698
2010- $100,000
2011- $100,000
2012- $110,000
2013- $220,000
2014- $0
2015- $177,000
2016- $184,280
2017- $292,733.89 & counting!
Total- $1,771,675.89

Our Blue Streak adventure has been a pretty incredible journey since the first check presentation to the Jubilee Schools back in 2004. I remember Tom Dorian and I having our heads shaved as a fundraiser thanks to Kevin and Pam Callahan. What I discovered from this and other experiences is the passion behind the work of Blue Streak.

Students at Our Lady of Sorrows

Since that inaugural year, Blue Streak has donated over $1.7 million to the Jubilee Schools. This year, our goal has been $250,000, which would set a record and beat our 2013 donation of $220,000. With that being said, we not only reached our goal, but are now less than $8,000 from reaching $300,000 for the year!

At this stage of the school year, ideas are like the Gobi, energy is at brown-out level, with no recess time in sight. Nevertheless, being rapacious for the Jubilee Schools, my mind is fixated on $300,000.

The pinnacle is before us. Can we ascend to the summit (Not sure why I'm using mountain climbing metaphors)? We have two weeks left in this fiscal year, which ends on June 30th. It is going to be tough because we do not have any events planned and people are getting tired of hearing from me. I know this because my phone ain't ringin' and my inbox ain't dingin'. Outgoing communication is an echo and responses scant. But, I ain't givin' up!

Students at St. John

Hence, I'm using this blog to reach out to my fellow Blue Streakers in soliciting support to finish the year by accomplishing the outlandish; raising $300,000 for the Jubilee School! This would be an incredible achievement considering we first believed $250,000 would be unreachable. Because of the mind, heart, body, and soul of Blue Streakers involved in helping those most in need, obtaining $300,000 is now in my mind doubtless. The passion of the Blue Streakers for the Jubilee Schools is awe-inspiring.

So, this is just a simple ask, plea, request from me in the name of every Jubilee School student to the several hundred people out there who support Blue Streak. This is our last chance to make a difference for the 2016-17 school year.

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. Silence won't help. Action will. Not sure what else I can do. So, I'm reaching out for help. What can you do? Spread the word and bring others onboard. The finish line is near. Time to sprint.

"Let your light so shine before all that they may see your good works." - Matthew 5:16

If you are able to help, please click on the Blue Streak logo below to donate. 

Thank you to all who have helped make a positive difference in the lives of Jubilee students and their families as well as enabling Blue Streak to achieve a record breaking year!

God bless you,
Didier Aur

Measuring Success: Class of 2017

"Coming together is the beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."

This post is dedicated to the Memphis Catholic Class of 2017 and the faculty and staff members I have had the pleasure and privilege of working with over the past two years. (#1 below is a list of successes achieved by the Class of '17)

Memphis Catholic Class of 2017

Henry Ford said that, "Coming together is the beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success." Success is no accident and there is no secret to success. Success happens when you put your mind, heart, body, and soul into your actions no matter how great or small. It is the result of preparation and hard work. And, success isn't achieved in a vacuum. It takes teamwork.

Administrators, teachers, and staff members work together at Memphis Catholic to educate the nearly 270 students in grades 7-12. These educators have earned a combined 44 degrees from 18 different colleges/universities with 13 educators having earned a master's degree or higher. 13 of these degrees have been earned at the University of Memphis and 10 from Notre Dame. (#2 below is a list of colleges/universities the members of the Class of '17 will be attending)

The reason for the previous paragraph to say these educators came together from everywhere to teach at Memphis Catholic. "Coming together is the beginning."

Principal Kevin Kimberly is one fantastic leader. Is he a taskmaster? Does he expect excellence from his staff and students? Is he intelligent? Is he a no excuse and no nonsense person? Is Memphis Catholic better because he is the leader? Does he love his team and students? And, does all this pave the way to student success? The answer to all these questions is resounding YES! He holds the parents to the same standards as the students and his staff. No one gets a free-pass with Mr. Kimberly. You earn everything you get. He is the leader of the school and he leads from the front. He makes sure that everyone and everything stays together and moves forward. "Keeping together is progress."

Working together is the culture that has been created at Memphis Catholic. Our high schoolers learn to work together through the Education that Works (ETW) program. Even though we are not a Cristo Rey school, we follow their model in that all our high schoolers have an internship. After four years of high school at Memphis Catholic, our graduates will have had four-years of internships (#3 below is a list of all the ETW sponsors). Our students work in some of the top businesses in Memphis. They learn the importance of working as a team. And, they learn at a young age what it takes to succeed in the business world. They work with highly educated and motivated mentors. They know it takes hard work and teamwork to succeed and they aren't afraid of success. "Working together is success."

Is there one reason more than any other the students of Memphis Catholic are succeeding? Yes, there is one reason and it is that the school is Catholic! We are a school of faith. We educate our students because we are Catholic/Christians! We believe God loves us and our schools are here for a reason. We believe that Jesus Christ suffered and died for our sins.

Jesus said in order to inherit eternal life, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Luke 10:27) This is what we do in mind, body, heart, and soul.

Our community is very diverse with students coming from 35 zip codes in the Memphis metropolitan area and 9 different countries. The majority of our students are African-American (58%) with 26% Hispanic/Latino, 7% Caucasian, 5% African, 4% multi-racial, and 1% Asian. Many of our families are either one-parent families or encounter significant financial hardship, or both, but the goal of this school is to provide a Catholic education for students who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford it.

The successes achieved by the  Class of 2017 are outstanding and it mirrors the successes of the Class of 2016. The culture has been created and the wheels are in motion to ensure continued success.

Thank you to everyone who plays a part in helping our students succeed from donors to the faculty and staff to the parents to the students to the volunteers to those who pray for us. Thank you.

1. Statistics from the Class of 2017:
35 Seniors
100% graduation rate
100% 4-year college acceptance rate
100% college attendance rate
67 unique colleges
$3.54 million in scholarships
19 Tennessee Hope Scholarships recipients
28 Attended Memphis Catholic H.S. all 4-years
7 attended Memphis Catholic for 6-years
13 National Honor Society members

2. Colleges attending:
10- University of Memphis
4- Southwest Tennessee College
3- Christian Brothers University
3- Philander Smith College
2- Mississippi Valley State University
2- University of Mississippi
1- Austin Peay State University
1- Carson-Newman University
1- Cumberland University
1- Fisher College
1- Freed-Hardeman University
1- Kentucky Christian University
1- Lane College
1- Maryville University
1- Spalding University
1- University of Oklahoma
1- Voorhees College

#3. Education That Works Sponsors
A to Z Construction Services
Adams Keegan
ALSAC
American Residential Services
AutoZone
Baptist Memorial Health Care
Cargill Cotton
Cloverleaf Animal Hospital
FedEx Express
Gerber Taylor
Greystone Servicing Corporation
Interactive Solutions
Kroger
Landmark Community Bank
Le Bonheur
MLG&W
Monogram Foods
nexAir
Pediatric Dental Group
ReTrans
Rhodes College
Southern Eye Associates
St. Paul Gift Store
RGT Management
Southeastern Asset Management
The Day Foundation
Thomas & Betts
Wharton Charitable Trust
Plus 10 Family and Individual Sponsorships

If you would like to join our list of sponsors for Education That Works, please contact me. You will be helping to make a positive difference in the lives of our students.

God bless you,
Didier Aur

Build a Cross and Spread the Faith

I am constantly on the lookout for new, fresh, and innovative ideas to improve our schools. Every chance I get, I visit schools to see what good things are happening and figure out how I can take those good things and apply them.

Last year while visiting my daughter in San Antonio, I stopped by St. Pius X Catholic School to look at their facilities. In the middle of their courtyard, they have a seven foot tall cross made of tiles and each tile was created by one of their students. Like that State Farm commercial where the lady said, "I saw it and I was just like I have to have it."  I saw the cross and I was just like I have to have it!

St. Pius X in San Antonio

I took several pictures of the cross and texted them right away to Carrie Sealey.  Carrie is a teacher at Memphis Catholic.  She is very artistic and highly creative.  I knew she could organize the students and staff to design the tiles.

I'm that guy who comes up with all these ideas but need lots of people to help to make the ideas come to fruition. Well, Carrie took the idea and ran with it.  She recruited her father, Cary Mills, to build the cross and Cary recruited Billy Truemann, a Memphis Catholic graduate, to help him. McKenzie and Pair Glass Company donated the aluminum for the frame of the cross and Paint a Piece donated everything else needed for the construction of the cross including the tiles.

Memphis Catholic Students Creating the Tiles

The cross consists of 276 tiles painted by the students and staff.  Once the tiles were painted, they were fired at Paint a Piece. The tiles were painted as part of a Catholic Schools Week activity. The
students and staff were asked to paint what the mission of Memphis Catholic means to them and how they plan to carry out that mission.

Fr. Kirk Blessing the Cross

Even though the conception of the idea occurred last year, the actual work began in February with the painting of the tiles and ended in May when Fr. Thomas Kirk blessed the cross during a Mass at the Memphis Catholic outdoor chapel. It has taken great teamwork to accomplish this project and now the community garden is almost complete.

The picnic tables  and benches of the outdoor chapel were stained by the seniors as their legacy project from the Class of 2017.  The seniors donated money for the project and the Midtown Home Depot and Behr Paints made a very generous donation to this project.

The outdoor chapel has been completely rebuilt. An altar, ambo, and credence table were added as well. A ninth grade initiative, led by teachers Rebecca Rosa and Tim Hankins, raised the money to add these to the outdoor chapel. Derrol Jowell, the super-talented maintenance man, built everything from scratch.

Memphis Catholic Cross

After all work was completed, we decided that two more items are needed to really make the project complete.  We need to add electrical power next to the altar and cross by running lines underground to these two areas. When a large number of people are present, we set up our sound system so everyone can hear the Mass. It would be a lot easier if we didn't have to run extension cords every time we have Mass.

And, we would like to add lights to the cross so that it is visible 24/7 by everyone visiting the school and/or driving down McLean. It would be a great way of making Christ visible to all. You never know when you will touch a heart. Kind of hard to touch a heart in the dark.

"God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." - 1 John 1:5

Cary & Patsy Mills

We want you to join us. It is never too late to be a part of this project. It is a great way of evangelizing our faith. A couple of hundred people have come together to make this happen. This is my invitation to you to join our team. Please click on Catholic Tree to donate to Light Up The Cross! and accept my invitation. All are welcomed!

"Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 5:16

God bless you,
Didier Aur