2024 Catholic Schools Week Supplement
Schools instill in students ‘the value of service in the parish and beyond’
Students of Providence Cristo Rey High School in Indianapolis gather for a photo at Shepherd Community Center in Indianapolis on Sept. 1, 2023, when students and faculty of the school participated in its annual Day of Service. (Submitted photo)
By Natalie Hoefer
“For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve …” (Mk 10:45)
Dedicated to the responsibility of joining with parents to form children in imitation of Christ, Catholic schools across central and southern Indiana impart the importance of service to its students.
A random act of kindness. Writing a letter to a veteran. Weeding a garden. Stocking shelves at a food pantry. Whether as a class or school-wide endeavor, students at Catholic schools in the archdiocese learn service through practice throughout the academic year—and sometimes beyond.
Following are highlights of how three Catholic schools in the archdiocese—SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi in Greenwood, Oldenburg Academy of the Immaculate Conception in Oldenburg and Providence Cristo Rey High School in Indianapolis—teach this essential Christian value.
‘Serving in the parish and beyond’
At SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi, students learn about faith in action by a monthly service program aptly named “Faith in Action.”
Each month of the school year, a different grade level participates in a service project, says principal Betty Popp.
“For our pre-school students, it may be as simple as random acts of kindness, something they can wrap their minds around,” she says. “Other classes might spearhead a project that involves the whole school.”
Some projects are annual, like a toy drive for the Pro Vida (Pro Life) ministry of St. Patrick Parish in Indianapolis or a November food drive for the parish’s food pantry.
For the food drive, the coordinators of the pantry talk with the students about “what purpose it serves, who it serves and how they can get involved,” says Popp.
“The last time we did the food drive, it was the seventh grade’s project for the month. Even though the whole school comes together to donate and stock the pantry, the seventh-graders got to go to Gleaners [Food Bank in Indianapolis] to learn what they do and [to] go beyond our campus.”
Projects have ranged from holding a baby shower for the Gabriel Project’s mothers in need—including writing the moms encouraging notes—to sending letters and cards to veterans, to putting together care packages for children in an orphanage in Romania.
One popular new project last fall involved the Sisters of St. Benedict at Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove.
“Every class adopted a sister, and they write back and forth,” Popp explains. “The sisters are excited, and the kids just love it. It’s been delightful.”
Whatever the monthly Faith in Action project may be, “The goal is for the kids to learn about the greater needs of the community and how they can help even in simple ways,” says Popp. “We hope to instill in them the value of serving in the parish and beyond.”
Forming students into ‘servant-leaders’
That goal is echoed at Oldenburg Academy, where service is promoted “for the students to realize that they are a part of something much more than themselves,” says principal Angie Parmer.
Some projects are built into the school year, such as a focus on community service during each student’s sophomore year or the school’s annual Earth Day beautification project on the academy’s grounds and in the town of Oldenburg.
Many athletic teams “take on charitable projects throughout their season,” Parmer says.
“Our basketball teams adopted a family to buy Christmas gifts for,” she says. “And our volley team does ‘Volley for Hope,’ where they chose a family in crisis and collect money to help them.”
One form of service at the school is a program started 20 years ago by two seniors in which a student can adopt a sister of the Third Order Regular Sisters of St. Francis. The convent for the order, which founded Oldenburg Academy, is located next to the school.
“Students have lunch with them twice a month, they build fellowship and learn about each other,” explains the school’s president, Annette Hunger. “It allows students to learn about religious women, their mission and their own years of service.”
She notes that service “is an important Franciscan value, and as a Franciscan-founded school, it’s important to us.
“Our goal is to develop our students to be servant-leaders not only while at the academy but as they launch out into the world from college to career, that they understand what it means to be a good servant-leader.”
‘Christ is present in everyone around us’
When it comes to promoting service at Providence Cristo Rey High School, “Part of Catholic education is that this is something we are called to do, something that God models for us,” says Facundo Gonzalez Icardi, the school’s director of campus ministry and student life.
To emphasize the importance of service, all of the students, faculty and staff participate annually in “a big day of service at the beginning of the year,” says Gonzalez Icardi. “This year, we sent everyone to one of 14 organizations in Indianapolis.”
The school encourages students to take part in three optional service projects per semester. The activities have ranged from caring for the school grounds, writing letters to those in the military and sending Christmas cards to elderly citizens in the local community.
The senior theology class focuses on learning about service, says Gonzalez Icardi.
“They learn the seven tenets of Catholic social teaching,” he says. “And they come up with and lead a service project for the school to carry out.”
Two years ago, he began offering a service immersion spring break trip called Being Light and Salt Together, or BLAST.
“I was surprised—we had nearly 50 applicants for the 24 spots within the first two weeks after the application was posted,” says Gonzalez Icardi.
The weeklong service opportunity was built on four pillars: service, spirituality (“time in reflection and prayer”), simple living (“simple accommodations—we even made our own meals—and no technology”) and community (“spending time getting to know each other”).
“They really valued so much more after going on the trip, seeing their own blessings,” Gonzalez Icardi says. “They recognized that, regardless of how little they have, they can still help others in the community. It doesn’t have to be a trip—it’s something they can do in their own community or church. It was really rewarding, seeing them come to these realizations and hearing them share with their peers.”
The school’s emphasis on service “all goes back to our call as Catholics to be constantly ministering to those around us by the example set by Christ,” he says. “Christ is present in everyone around us. We have to follow the model he laid out for us.” †
