Until I began to attend college at the age of 18, I had never been to a school that would be considered "public". I had gone to a Catholic grade school from pre-school to 8th grade, then a Catholic high school for 9th-12th grade. While I enjoyed my time in those schools and have many fond memories, I feel like there was something missing. Mainly, a Catholic education.
Now, I did take religious classes while in high school, and they were very informative. I learned about Church History, the Old and New Testament, and other things that frankly, I've forgotten. At the time, this was all good information, but reflecting on that time in my life makes me think that my Catholic life was lacking something.
You're probably thinking, Well, did you go to youth group, like Lifeteen or EDGE? I did attend EDGE in 6th grade for a while, but stopped when it was moved from Wednesday nights to Sunday nights after the Lifeteen Mass. I only ever attended 3 Lifeteen nights for Confirmation, because again, they were on Sunday nights. At my house, Sunday night was family night, because it was usually the only time during the week where all of us could actually have a meal together in our home and not a baseball field. Besides, my parents were not fans of the Lifeteen Mass. "Too much hand waving" my father would say, "and they do back flips on the altar" (it only happened once).
I don't blame my parents for not feeling on fire for the faith like some of my friends. They wanted to make sure I had a good education and would learn in a Catholic environment. It's not their fault I didn't feel a stronger connection to Christ until I was 19 years old.
Still, I wish my Catholic schools had put more effort into helping us develop a relationship with Christ. We learned the prayers, the history and how to meditate, but we didn't get many opportunities to spend an hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament or talk in small groups. It makes sense that we didn't do those things very often, but I wish the opportunity was there.
I can't put all the blame on my schools, because I was never the model of Catholic holiness. Sure, I didn't drink or smoke in school, but still tended to focus my efforts on my worldly life rather than my spiritual. I spent a lot of time trying to impress or keep up with my friends, many of whom did grow up in the faith. They are all excellent human beings who are doing wonderful things in this world, but they weren't the ones who would bring me to Christ. Those people came later.
Back to what I was saying about my schools; it wasn't like they weren't trying. My high school had an excellent priest on staff who was filled with God's love and holiness and who I greatly admire. The same goes for the priests who were at my grade school. They were all great men of the faith and tried to help us connect with God and the Bible.
I found out that my old Catholic schools were attempting to increase holiness after I'd left (hmmm maybe it was me who was holding them back...). My grade school now has Friday morning mass for the whole school and my high school has prayer over the loud speakers before each class starts. While I'm not too crazy about the preclass prayers (I think they could come up with some other ideas), having Mass every Friday sounds awesome to me! While it may not appeal to the kids in the school, I hope that at least some of them take that opportunity to continue moving towards Christ.
And luckily for me, I found the Newman Center when I came to college. Though it took a bit of time for me to get involved, I had 4 amazing years being a part of the Newman and feel stronger in my faith than I've ever felt. However, I still have a long ways to go and I hope that during my year of service, I'll be more in tune with that God has planned for me.
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