Left Photo: Canon Patricia Orlando gives the newly baptized students their first Communion. – Photo courtesy of Canon Patricia Orlando | Right Photo: The Rev. Garrett Puccetti (L), Mrs. Dena Hoy (C) and the Rev. Canon Patricia Orlando (R) with the newly baptized students – Photo courtesy of Canon Patricia Orlando

Mrs. Dena Hoy has been bringing 13-15 special needs students from Bainbridge Academy to a special Thursday noon Eucharist and lunch at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando, since September 2024. On February 13, five of them were baptized during the weekly service.

Hoy, a speech-language pathologist who has an adult son with high-functioning autism, founded the school in 2009. “We remodeled our pediatric therapy building in September 2009 into a small school for autistic children called the Village Academy,” she said. “In 2019, I decided to change our focus from working exclusively with autism to working with students with learning disabilities and changed the name to the Bainbridge Academy. All of the students have been diagnosed with ADHD and a learning disability. Some have high-functioning autism, some have minor cognitive challenges, one is legally blind and a couple are bipolar. All have had negative educational experiences.”

Hoy put the students on the path to baptism two years ago when she and her husband, Steve, began attending confirmation classes taught by the Rev. Canon Patricia Orlando, canon priest for spiritual formation and pastoral care at the Cathedral.

“We chose to be confirmed because of the relationship I had formed with Canon Patricia,” Hoy explained. “She is and always has been so welcoming and caring. She invited us into her home and provided instruction we needed to be confirmed.”

An article Hoy read last year inspired her to take the students on a faith journey. “The article said young people turn to social media like TikTok, not faith,” she said. “Very few of our parents attend church regularly, and our students had not attended church services, read the Bible, or participated in youth group activities or community services. Youth anxiety and depression have been on the increase ever since COVID-19. Our student population is particularly vulnerable to anxiety and depression, given their diagnoses and learning disabilities. I wanted to find a way to bring faith, comfort and hope into our students’ lives.”

Canon Patricia Orlando assists Father Garrett Puccetti in the service of Holy Baptism during the Thursday Eucharist. | Photo courtesy of Canon Patricia Orlando

Two or three months later, she called Orlando. “I told Mother Patricia that all the students form a prayer circle and say the Lord’s Prayer together every morning and that I wanted to start some elective Bible classes in the school,” she explained. “I asked for her guidance because I did not know how best to move forward. I began our Bible classes in August 2024.”

Eight months ago, Hoy called the canon to say she’d like to bring her students to the Cathedral. Orlando said the priests would introduce the students to the Eucharist and suggested they bring lunches to allow for a time of fellowship with the clergy.

“Some of them had never been to a church, certainly not a cathedral,” Orlando said. “When they walked into St. Luke’s for the first time, one of the girls had tears in her eyes as she looked around. It seemed as if she felt the peace of this sacred space. As the students were not baptized, I invited them forward to receive a blessing.”

The Rev. Garrett Puccetti, resident priest for the Cathedral, came to Bainbridge Academy to bless the school building, an experience the students had never seen or understood before.

“He has a real knack for working with special needs students and is well loved,” Hoy said. “He’s so attentive and always understands their questions. One of the students, Colten, 16, asked how you went about being baptized.”

When other students requested baptism, Orlando and Puccetti agreed to conduct baptismal instruction. Puccetti visited the school twice to deliver instruction, and he and Orlando gave additional teaching while spending time with the students on their weekly visits to the Cathedral. “On Feb. 13, he baptized Drew, Nikita, Emmalee, Daivion and Colten; some parents were present,” Hoy said.

She has seen more of her students crave faith. “A couple of our younger students told me they asked their parents if they could get baptized,” she said. “Parental support is mixed. One was told they were too busy to attend church on Sundays. Another said the Cathedral was too far away. Still another said they would have their child baptized at their church.”

Orlando is ecstatic about the baptisms that have occurred. “Dena’s faith is on fire,” she said. “Because of that, five more people are now part of God’s kingdom!”