Rabbits, Hockey, and More: High School Q&A with Bishop Paprocki

As part of Catholic Schools Week, which is currently being celebrated in the United States of America, the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki recently sat down for a live web chat with the seven Catholic high schools to answer fourteen questions posed to him by the students in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.

The questions posed to him reflected a variety of topics:

1. What is our best strategy for reversing Roe vs. Wade?
2. What are some bits of advice or strategies to help those who struggle with their faith?
3. Do Catholic schools have a common curriculum?
4. What can I do to keep my faith and not lose sight of God in our changing society?
5. How should the Church better show compassion for those in the LGBTQ community?
6. Is Pope Francis' recent statement about not breeding like rabbits a contradiction of Church teaching?
7. What changes have you seen in the Church in the last five years and what changes do you predict will happen in the next five years? 
8. What do you say to those who do not believe in God because of evil, illness, and unanswered prayers?
9. What is your advice for those preparing for college?
10. How do you feel about the country wanting to take the word God out of the pledge of allegiance?
11. Blues or Blackhawks?
12. What are your plans to address the post-Confirmation to pre-marriage age group?
13. Who is your favorite male and female saint, and why?
14. Is it possible for a lay person to perform an emergency exorcism?

You can watch the Q&A session here:

Latin, Roman numerals, and Catholic grade school

Every Friday afternoon I follow (as they say in Italy) Latin Language I, a class which meets from 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. and is, thankfully, taught in English.

By the admission of the professor (who is an Italian, from Rome), it is the worst possible time for any class to time meet, both because it is a Friday afternoon and because it falls right in the midst of the proper time for a siesta.

So far as I know, everyone in the class is a priest or a deacon (in Rome, generally speaking, only the Americans wear "clerics" to class) and we are enrolled from the canon law, theology, and philosophy faculties. What is more, we come from North America (from both the United States of America and from Canada), India, and Africa (though I'm not sure from which countries). There was also an Iraqi with us, though he hasn't come to class since Christmas.

Such a range of backgrounds brings with it many blessings and many challenges. Among the challenges, for example, is an expectation regarding homework. For reasons I cannot quite understand, the Africans - with the exception of one - seem to regard homework merely as a suggestion and not something that should actually be completed before class. Another challenge often encountered is discovering a common level of background knowledge.

From grade school on, I have received - more or less - a very good and thorough education, especially in grade school and in college, thanks to many dedicated teachers. I regret to say that I all too often take this for granted and simply presume that others know - or at least should know - what I have been taught. I was reminded of this yesterday afternoon when one of the African students asked the professor for an explanation of Roman numerals. With a culture not entirely based on "Western" history, it made some sense to me that the Africans might not have studied Roman numerals before, but when the Canadian also didn't know much about Roman numerals, I thought back with gratitude to the days when I learned how to use them in grade school.

I cannot remember what grade I was or which of my teachers taught them to me (though I suspect it was either Mrs. La Tour or Mrs. Kasparie), but I do remember learning about them and how to use them. I even remember doing homework in them and I have not since forgotten them (though it does take a bit of work to add and subtract it all together to find the answer).

This post is a bit late for Catholic Schools Week, but let me add this to the many other reasons I am grateful for the Catholic education I received in grade school. It was more thorough than I ever knew!

Should we be surprised?

As you may know, Catholic Schools' Week will be observed in the U.S. January 27 - February 1, 2008.

The theme this year is "Light the Way."

On the flier sent out from our Diocesan Office is a quote taken from Helen Keller: "Knowledge is Love and Light and Vision."

This quote is one recommended by the National Catholic Educational Assocation. Other suggested quotes by the NCEA are from Victor Hugo (who left the Catholic Church and became a staunch anti-papist), Abraham Lincoln (who was not Catholic), Albert Schweitzer (a Lutheran pastor), and Felix Adler (a rabbi).

I guess we simply don't have enough intellectual Catholics in our history who had anything inspiring to say about life or education.

I'm not exactly sure what the Keller quote means (and the source isn't given), but underneath it we read on the flier, "Experience all this and more at a Catholic school."

Nothing says Catholic education like a confusing quote from someone who is not even Catholic and who also happens to be a strong supporter of birth control and Planned Parenthood. Keller wrote in 1952 to Margaret Sanger:

What a glow of gratification was kindled in my heart when Polly read last week the wonderful news that you had founded the Planned Parenthood Association in India!

Not only have I continued to follow your work with loving admiration and expect ever greater results from your beneficence, I have also known of Nehru's statesmanlike interest in birth-control, and now I behold you and him and Lady Rama Rau working together -- a triple Hercules -- for the deliverance of a land long cursed with excess of population. I cannot imagine anything more blessed happening on earth.

I hope this isn't the "more" that can be learned and experienced at Catholic schools.

Silly people, silly questions

Yesterday we celebrated an "all school Mass" in the high school gym in honor of Catholic Schools Week. It has been the custom for my parish, St. Anthony of Padua, which has both a grade school and a high school, to host Sacred Heart grade school, St. Michael grade school, and St. Thomas grade school for the Mass.

As you can imagine the gym was packed for the Mass - we could never fit within the church - and many parents and grandparents participate in the Mass, as well. In addition to the students, teachers and parents were the Pastors of the parishes and yours truly, the lone Parochial Vicar.

Concelebrating with the priests of our deanery always makes me ponder my future. The ages of the priests who concelebrated are: 82, 69, 58, 47 and 42. There I stood not only as the youngest priest present but also as the youngest priest in the Diocese at a whopping 28.

The pastor of St. Thomas school told me after the Mass that one of the teachers from his school asked him: "Is the young priest who was on the end old enough to drive?" I'm guessing the contacts makes me look even younger...