25th Sunday A
75th Anniversary // Immaculate Heart of Mary School
Baynesville, Maryland
September 20 2026
Congratulations and Gratitude
I am delighted, and more than delighted, to celebrate all of you the 75th anniversary of Immaculate Heart of Mary School here in Baynesville. To some of you, 75 years might sound like a long time. For someone my age, it’s not long at all! Whatever our perception, this anniversary is worth celebrating.
If ever there were a pastor who demonstrates how to support and encourage the growth of a parish school, it has to be your good pastor, Father Jeff Dauses. He works in close cooperation with your excellent principal Sue Surine, and her team of administrators, teachers, volunteers, the school board, and most important of all, parents. Let’s express our deepest thanks to this great team!
But no mention of Immaculate Heart of Mary School would be complete without a laser-like focus on the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales. When I learned that the Oblate Sisters agreed to serve at IHM, I rejoiced. Meeting Sister Susan Louise Eder was for me like uncorking Champaigne! She and her fellow Sisters brought the gift of their religious life and they are indeed superb educators. Sister Frances Carol Eder is Sister Susan Louise’s sibling, and she is the STEAM instructor and teaches 5th grade religion. Sister Audrey Frances Moran teaches Spanish and the 4th grade. With us today is Sister Ann Elizabeth Eder, the Provincial of the Oblates. Let’s express our warmest thanks to the Oblate Sisters!
Workers in the Vineyard from the Beginning Until Now
As I thought about all those who sustain and advance the mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary School, past and present, I began to see them in light of today’s Gospel. The Gospel is about the laborers whom the owner of the vineyard hired at different hours of the day – at 9 o’clock, noon, 3 o’clock, and 5 o’clock. I think you can see where this is going! The owner of the vineyard who did the hiring is ultimately the Lord. It is the Lord who raises up leaders in his Church for ministries of service. The hours of the day when the owner went out looking for laborers might represent for us today the different periods in the history of IHM School, from 1951 until the present moment.
Hired at 9 a.m. was Msgr. I. Mitchell Cartwright, your founding pastor. Under his leadership, IHM school opened in 1951, and shortly thereafter, moved into the original eight classroom building now used for kindergarten and religious education. Also hired early in the day were the Sisters of Mercy who led and staffed IHM school until 2004. With us today is Sister Fran DeMarco who taught in the school for many years and served as co-principal. Let us thank the Sisters of Mercy for untiring labors to form and educate generations of young people in this community!
Hired at noon and at 3 were the pastors who succeeded Msgr. Cartwright – Msgr. Art Bastress, Father Joseph McManus, and Father Michael Carrion all of whom we remember this day in our prayers and affection. Msgr. Michael Schlupner is with us today; he is among those hired at 3 o’clock, serving here as Associate Pastor. These priests, working with the Sisters of Mercy, oversaw the various expansions and renovations of the school building to accommodate the growing parish and school population. Those hired at 5 o’clock are the present leadership of the school – Fr. Jeff, Principal Sirene, the Sisters, administrators, and teachers. The day is not done. They are still laboring. And we are grateful.
The Nature of the Work
Let us pause for a moment and think about the work they are doing. What does it look like? What does it mean? Well, let’s begin with this: They are creating optimal opportunities for learning, first by preparing themselves well with degrees and certification. They have welcomed some 350 students representing a diversity of faiths and backgrounds, with 22 students on average per class, a 20:1 students to teacher ratio. They are skilled at bringing out the best in our students – for example – 99% of IHM 8th grade graduates are accepted to their first choice high school.
But that’s not the whole story, not by any means! A few weeks ago, on the first day of school, I visited IHM. What I couldn’t miss was the sense of mission – the excellent work of the team at IHM is driven by their love of Christ and their desire to help their students discover God’s truth and love by handing on the faith, not merely as abstract doctrine, as the key that unlocks their future, here and hereafter. Indeed, they are shaping the moral imagination of their students. Before learn algebra, they learn mercy. Before they engage in social studies, they learn how to care for those in need. While our country debates civic education, IHM forms consciences. While commentators talk about social capital, this school is building communities of trust. While our culture worries about polarization, this school teaches its students to see Christ in one another. This is what these laborers do, day in and day out, the vineyard that is IHM.
True Recompense
And what is the recompense for such labor? In the Gospel, laborers received a denarius, the usual daily wage. At IHM, they receive something much more precious. The true reward for their labors is neither silver nor gold but rather the joy of helping you, our students, to become the persons God created you to be, the joy of helping you develop your God-given talents, the joy of helping you discover what God has in mind for your life, and the joy of preparing you for that adventure.
It is for you and for your future that this school exists and our greatest joy today is to see how enthusiastically you are responding to all that is offered to you here at IHM. To see you growing in faith and in your relationship with the Lord, to see your academic progress, you ability to make friends and work together, you growing physical strength, and to see your many talents – this makes us all very happy and very proud of you – and this is what makes IHM a truly great school!
In our joy, let us turn to Mary whose Immaculate Heart is full of love for all of us. On this anniversary day, we entrust this beautiful parish and school to her, that through her intercession both may continue to flourish now and in the future, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!