In the beginning of the school year, there are new faces to learn, new classes to attend and new books to read, and a yearly tradition at Loyola aims to aid that transition period.

Mass of the Holy Spirit is a gathering of the entire Loyola community meant to prepare the campus not by getting supplies or organizing calendars, but by bringing everyone together with prayer.

The mass is so important to the Loyola community that classes are cancelled during the time it is scheduled, so that everyone has the opportunity to attend.

The tradition has been celebrated in colleges and universities for centuries, but each school has their own way of doing the mass.

“What we try to do is celebrate all the gifts of all the different parts of the Loyola community in the mass,” Ken Weber, university chaplain for Loyola, said. “Now, obviously you can’t do everything, but that’s the reason the clubs and organizations come and sit together, athletic teams, faculty, staff and all students.”

The College of Music and Fine Arts takes a prominent role during the mass. Ballet students perform during the service, and orchestra students and staff provide music during the service.

Professors of performing students said they feel that Loyola’s Jesuit values, which are based on service, allow students to show their skills.

“As a professor, I really like to have my students in those situations,”  Jean Montès, director of orchestral studies at Loyola, said. “It not only validates the work we do but allows them to experience the impact that they can make in the community around them.”

This year, the mass falls on the anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks in New York.

“We are going to be singing a kyrie, asking Gods’ forgiveness for all of those tendencies in all of us that lead to violence or gratification, which is part of the root of the tragedy of Sept. 11,” Weber said.

Students who have already attended the mass said they feel it serves as a good unifying activity.

“We don’t have that many campus activities in the church,” Tai Teamer, management and marketing junior at Loyola, said. “It was good to have a mass and have all of the organizations come together.”

Weber said the mass isn’t just for clubs or people already established at the university, but for anyone who hopes to grow roots in Loyola’s community.

“I hope that first-year students or people that are new to the community leave the Mass of the Holy Spirit with a feeling that ‘Wow, Loyola really is rooted in a spiritual identity,’” Weber said.

Weber also said he feels like New Orleans is a great place to have a mass that involves big music and visuals.

“New Orleans is a place of pageantry and spectacle, and that’s just part of the culture,” he said. “The Catholic church is no stranger to spectacle and pageantry all for the glory of God. It’s a perfect place to do a big mass like that.”