As of July 1st, Fr. Antony passed the torch to Fr. Elijah to be the new pastor of St. Peter Indian Mission Parish and School on the Gila River Reservation!
“I’ll be making sure that the students are in an environment where they are going to encounter the Lord, and that they're going to become disciples so that they can be sent out by the time they're ready to graduate.”
St. Peter’s continues to be the only high school on the vast Gila River Reservation that spans nearly 600 square miles. We are so excited to have our first high school graduating class in 2027!
The graduation rate on the reservation is low, with most adults never graduating high school. “Having a high school on the reservation is a really big deal,” Fr. Elijah said, “It's an opportunity for the students to continue to be at St. Peter's where they can be formed in their faith.”
Our high school students have the opportunity to take specialized classes at the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) in the mornings and return to St. Peter’s in the afternoons for academic classes. Some students have specialized in welding, who were first introduced to welding by Dcn. Lawrence, who taught a welding class to the freshman in 2023. These students
will receive a welding certificate from EVIT which will help them move into this career path. Some of the graduating seniors have also talked about going to college and others have talked about the military.
As these students prepare to graduate and experience a new season, we reflect on the words in Isaiah 43:19 which says, “See I am doing a new thing…I am making a way in the wilderness.” The Lord is also preparing the St. Peter’s community for a new season. Sr. Martha Mary Carpenter concluded her time at St. Peter’s at the end of the last school year. She served St. Peter’s for 40 years as a teacher and principal of the grade school.
Fr. Elijah said, “I’m grateful for Sr. Martha’s faithful service and for everything that she's done at St. Peter’s...I’m just trying to be faithful to what God’s doing and carrying forward the groundwork that Sr. Martha already laid.”
Another new thing is that Fr. Elijah, Fr. Paul, and Dcn. Lawrence have moved to St. Peter’s part-time to be a fatherly presence to the students. “We all want to be more present on the campus to the kids,” Fr. Elijah said. “We can really build relationships…and really help them come into a relationship with the Lord.”
Most recently, we saw 19 students grow in relationship with the Lord at the Steubenville Youth Conference where they had powerful experiences with Jesus.
If you’d like to learn more about St. Peter’s, visit: spimcs.org.