Catholic schools ruined my life ...

When I was studying theology and the topic came up of where we went to school before entering seminary, I always began by saying that I went to St. Charles Elementary and then E.D. White Catholic High. Usually the response was, “So you’ve been in Catholic school all your life.” When I said that St. Charles was a public school, my classmates from outside of Louisiana looked puzzled. They couldn’t understand why our public schools would be named after Catholic saints until the “parish” versus “county” explanation with the connection to the Catholic Church was given.

When it came to education, I had the best of both worlds. St. Charles Elementary in the St. Charles Community, which derived its name from St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, was as close to a Catholic school that a public school could get. I would see my classmates and teachers at school during the week and then most of them were at church on the weekend. Because of this, our faith played an implicit role in our life and interactions at school, but the Catholic faith was not a direct part of our curriculum and so left something missing from the school, from the classroom.

When I began eighth grade at E.D. White Catholic High, I didn’t quite know what to expect. I knew there were the Brothers of the Sacred Heart and Sisters of Mount Carmel teaching there along with lay teachers. I had seen movies and television shows about Catholic schools and the religious who ran them; I had heard stories from my dad and aunts and uncles who had gone to Thibodaux College, Mount Carmel, and E.D. White. Images of brothers wielding yardsticks and wooden rods with more adeptness than a samurai warrior with his sword and sisters twirling rosaries at their hips with the agility of a cowboy swinging a lasso over his head concerned me about what my first encounters with the religious teachers would be like.

With the transition to Catholic school, uniforms would be the standard daily wardrobe. For us boys in those days, we had a bit more variety in our choice of class attire than the girls, who had only the white blouse and maroon and grey plaid skirt. At least we boys didn’t have to worry about making sure our skirts were the right length (touching the floor when kneeling), just the right length of our hair (not touching the collar).

Would I choose to wear the white, navy or maroon polo shirt with grey slacks for regular days? What tie—clip-on or regular—to wear with the white oxford shirt for Mass days? Maroon penny loafers or Bass lace-up brown suede shoes? In the end, it would be the navy polo, grey slacks and Bass shoes. Don’t forget that doggone belt, though. So many guys would get uniform violations that added up to detention because of that insignificant belt.

And not to be forgotten, P.E. had its own uniform—the cotton E.D. White Cardinal t-shirt and maroon polyester gym shorts with white socks and tennis shoes. Those doggone white socks, I forgot those every now and then, but toilet paper wrapped tightly around the ankles looked from a distance like white socks to coach as he gave a cursory glance over his menagerie of teenage boys.

Putting on a uniformed garment was only a slight transition compared to the internal transition that occurred. The difference that came from within Catholic school helped me to discover that the something I thought was missing from my public school experience was actually a someone who was missing—Jesus Christ. While I unconsciously allowed my actions to flow from my faith while at St. Charles, I was conscious of my faith motivating my words and actions at my new school.

Although I did begin wearing glasses in high school, the new lenses through which all aspects of school life were seen were not from an external pair. The presence and teachings of Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith were now the lenses with which I began to view my daily school experiences, my family, my friends, the world around me, and life in general. My public school education may have given me an intellectual and social framework, but my Catholic school education allowed me to place that framework on a solid spiritual foundation and begin to build my life according to the Lord’s will.

When I began driving, I would start my day with daily Mass offered before school in the chapel. This Mass always gave me a sense of peace in preparing for the day, no matter what difficulties came up later. Looking forward to the monthly school Mass wasn’t necessarily motivated by pious reasons. Class periods were shorter, and it was like winning the lottery when it was both school Mass and a pep rally!

For a student in a Catholic school, it is difficult not to allow faith to affect his or her daily life. Even if we want to rebel and follow our own will and convince ourselves God doesn’t exist, we have to wrestle with our conscience because we constantly come face to face with the Lord throughout the day. We began and ended the day in prayer, and each class (not just religion class) also began with prayer. A crucifix, the sign of Christ’s love, his death upon the cross, was hanging in each classroom. Unless we totally shut ourselves off from the grace of God and ignored his presence, how could one not recognize the Lord’s love for us and his desire to enter into an intimate friendship with us.

Religion class could be seen as just another class for the intellect where I needed to learn things so that I’d make a good grade. For me, religion class wasn’t just about information, but formation; it wasn't just about a work of the mind, but a matter of the heart. Because the brothers, sisters and lay teachers at E.D. White provided a place of daily encounter with the living Lord, I was able to grow in friendship with him.

This changed the way I prayed. It was no longer the memorized prayer of my childhood but became a conversation throughout the day with my best friend. When my grandfather died from cancer, I could go to the chapel, speak honestly from the heart, be angry with the Lord, and sense his comforting presence. I could express my heart’s gratitude for helping me though a calculus test when I didn’t know what on earth I was doing nor cared about what the volume of a washer was. I could enjoy my friendships with my classmates and know that the Lord was the one bringing us together to challenge each other to be the men and women he was calling us to be. And, I could argue with the Lord about why I should go to Loyola for law school instead of accepting his invitation to consider the priesthood. It was during my time at E.D. White where Brothers of the Sacred Heart showed me fidelity and joy to God’s call; Sisters of Mount Carmel modeled compassion and love for a life dedicated to the Lord; lay teachers taught me more than the subject matter they presented; a cross country coach instilled in me the virtues of perseverance, determination, and fortitude in moments of adversity; a guidance counselor was not surprised when I told her I thought I wanted to be a priest; the senior retreat allowed me to be at peace with the decision to say “yes” to the Lord and go to the seminary; and classmates were and, even to this day, are supportive of me taking an uncommon path by becoming a Catholic priest.

I am truly grateful for what my Catholic high school education and experience have provided for me. This Catholic education and formation along with what I received in the seminary have allowed me to provide the spiritual care to my parishioners over the 20 years of priesthood and now to the seminarians I am helping to form for the priesthood so that future generations may come to know the Lord’s love and care for them. The seeds were planted in high school; the fruit is being harvested.

Looking to the future, I have two desires for Catholic education in our diocese. They are not so much for the Catholic schools themselves, but for those desiring to give a Catholic education to their children. First, I would like to see reduced tuition for those students whose parents teach in Catholic schools or work for church parishes or the diocese. It has pained me over the years to see those, who could be making a larger salary in the public school system or the public sector, sacrifice so much to teach and work for the church they love and still not be able to afford the tuition to send their children to Catholic school. Some Catholic schools do offer this for their teachers, but I would want to see this expanded.

Secondly, I hope that one day all Catholic parents who would like their children to receive a Catholic school education would be able to do so. If only we could reach a point where all families regularly attending and supporting their Catholic church parish would be allowed to send their children to a Catholic school without incurring a burdensome tuition. If this hope would be fulfilled, then the first hoped for desire above would not even be an issue. I have been grateful to my parents who sacrificed much to send my brother and I to E.D. White. I am also grateful to my brother and sister-in-law who sacrifice much to send two of their children to E.D. White and their younger two to St. Genevieve so that they, too, can receive the education and formation the church has to offer them.

I sometimes wonder whether or not I would have become a priest if I had not gone to a Catholic school. I occasionally joke that Catholic school ruined my life … for the better. I wanted a wife and children, and a career in law and politics so that I could work for the good of others and be happy with that. Instead, God knew what would truly fulfill me in this life so that I could ultimately be with him in eternal life.

During his visit to the United Kingdom in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the students and faculty of St. Mary’s University College and declared, “A good school provides a rounded education for the whole person. And a good Catholic school, over and above this, should help all its students to become saints.” 

May our Catholic schools truly embrace their Catholic identity and be evangelists of the Catholic faith. May Catholic school teachers, striving to live out their own faith in Jesus Christ, challenge their students to become men and women of faith who bring the Lord’s light and hope into a darkened world today in order to become the saints of tomorrow.

(Very Rev. Joshua J. Rodrigue, S.T.L., is currently serving as rector and president of Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.)