HSP Campus Minister Honored at Archbishop's Education Banquet

We are incredibly proud of Beth Van de Voorde, Consecrated Woman of Regnum Christi and Upper School Campus Minister, who was honored at the 2018 Archbishop’s Catholic Education Banquet on January 27th for her service to Catholic education. The banquet is an annual event hosted by Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory during Catholic Schools Week, and recognizes the contributions of faculty and staff at each independent and archdiocesan Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

Beth has been a part of the HSP community since 2010, when she joined the Lower School campus ministry team. In 2015, she took over campus ministry at the Upper School.

Along with her six siblings, Beth grew up in a Navy family, transferring to stations around the world--including Manama, Bahrain--before settling in Northern Virginia. There, she met Regnum Christi and became involved in high school missions, leading younger girls groups, and met the consecrated women. "As a child, I remember meeting a Dominican sister--she was so happy, and I wanted to be just like her," Beth relates, "but in high school, I quickly put that idea behind me."

But as she grew in her prayer life and came to ask God what he wanted for her, Beth felt clearly the call to belong totally to Christ. In 2006, she professed the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience as a Consecrated Woman of Regnum Christi.

In the 11 years since then, Beth's older sister, Alison, joined and made her final vows as a Servant Sister of the Home of the Mother, a new religious congregation in Spain. Her younger sister Grace, now Sister Mary Grace of Jesus, made her temporal vows with the cloistered nuns of St. Dominic’s Monastery in Linden, VA. Her father was ordained a permanent deacon in the diocese of Arlington in January of 2015, and one of her brothers is married with two precious boys (and final arrangements being made to adopt their third). "My family is one of the greatest blessings in my life," Beth says. "Even with oceans between us, we still try to stay connected and help each be who God calls us to be."

In reflecting on her years at HSP, Beth says, "They have been an experience of the hundredfold promised by Christ to those who leave all to follow him. How else would I have been so enriched in coming to know these students, families, and such generous and dedicated coworkers! It’s been a blessing I will always cherish, to be able to walk alongside them and witness the hand of God in their lives. I am humbled daily by the mission to serve them."

Kyle Pietrantonio, Head of School, shared his gratitude for Beth's years of committed service, "Beth approaches even the most daunting of tasks with an obvious peace and joy in her ministry. We could not ask for a more exemplary model for our students of what it means to pursue holiness and the love of God. I'm so grateful for her witness in the lives of our students and faculty."

Established in 1996, Holy Spirit Preparatory School is an independent Catholic school in Atlanta, Georgia, that combines the best traditions of Catholic education with those of a classical preparatory school. Serving students ages six months through twelfth grade, the young school has become known for its strong Catholic identity and its integrated program of academic and spiritual formation. In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education named Holy Spirit Prep a Blue Ribbon School. In 2017, the Catholic Education Honor Roll recognized HSP as a national leader in Catholic identity and academics for the sixth consecutive time.