The pupils at John Paul II Catholic School in Chicago are too young to remember the pope’s momentous visit to their parish 26 years ago, but they all can recite the stories passed on by their parents and grandparents.
“My grandmother had just come here from Mexico that very same year and she saw him. She told me about it, how exciting it was,” said Julia Ramirez, 13, an 8th grader at the school in Brighton Park. The school, renamed in honor of the pope in 1999, sits next to Five Holy Martyrs Church, where the pontiff celebrated mass during his historic visit to Chicago in October 1979.
“We have all written essays about his life,” Ramirez said.
Throughout the Chicago area on Monday, Catholic school teachers used the occasion of Pope John Paul II’s death to impart a variety of lessons–from history to religious education and ethics. The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago sent a study guide to principals in the nation’s largest parochial system to help staff members weave the topic into the day’s lessons.
“Of course our kids feel closer to him because he was here and our school carries his name,” said John Paul II Principal Beatrice Madaj, who met the pope during a visit to Rome in 1999.
“But this is something children everywhere can learn from,” she said. “Death is a part of life. This is a time to talk about how you are sad that you will not be able to see the person again. But it is also a happy time because the person has gone home to Jesus, to a place of light.”
Following pope’s example
In Kathleen Szabelski’s 5th-grade classroom, students were busy reading the newspaper to identify values and skills the pope demonstrated that the youngsters could practice in their own lives.
One character trait that surfaced repeatedly on the pupils’ lists was how John Paul II forgave the man who shot him in an assassination attempt in 1981.
“He’s going to be a hard act to follow,” said Deanna Rodriguez, 11. Rodriguez said she tries to forgive people who hurt her feelings, but she is successful only some of the time. Her comments about how it can be difficult to forgive others drew nods of understanding from classmates Anisa Izaguirre, 11, Natala Paprocki, 10, and Victoria Rutkowski, 12.
These pupils, many of whom speak Polish or Spanish at home, admired the pope’s ability to speak so many languages other than his native Polish.
“It’s pretty amazing how many languages he knew,” said Paprocki, who speaks Polish and English. Showing the school’s diverse student body, signs were posted outside John Paul II with the pope’s trademark message, “Be Not Afraid,” in Spanish, Polish and English.
After their morning lessons, John Paul II pupils filed into church to say the rosary in memory of the pope. After the prayers, Madaj left for a meeting with archdiocese officials about the closing of the school, one of the 23 schools the archdiocese plans to shutter in June.
At Queen of Angels School on the city’s North Side, 8th-grade teacher Lynn Huston included a discussion of politics, ethics, art history, social studies and religion in her lesson about Pope John Paul II. Pupils identified some difficult international situations, such as the fighting in Iraq and Africa’s AIDS crisis, that will face the next pontiff. They also explored thorny issues around death and dying.
“Do you think the pope’s death is an example to us? Do you think we can learn anything from his death?” Huston asked.
“I think he died with dignity, and I think he was telling us–I mean showing us–that we shouldn’t be afraid of death, that we shouldn’t be scared to die,” said Ashley Leverenz, 13.
Meagan Stroka, 14, said the pope’s death showed that sometimes, like it or not, even the pope cannot control destiny.
“He let God take over and decide when it was time to die,” she said. “It reminds us that we are not always in control of our lives.”
From inside St. Joseph School in Wilmette, pupils heard the funeral bell toll every 10 seconds at the church across the street.
Surrounded by that solemn atmosphere, teachers also used the pope’s death to teach students about the church hierarchy and its outlook on life and death.
“We have to use this time because it may not come again for quite a while,” said St. Joseph Principal Ronald Berger.
Youngsters weigh in
First-graders spent the morning writing essays about the pope, with their teacher reminding them to capitalize God and how to correctly spell priest.
“Pope John Paul II was a kind person. Pope John Paul II was born in 1920, and I was born in 1998. When he died in 2005, how old was he? Well, he was 84,” wrote Jack Dunn 7.
The 1st graders also learned how the cardinals pick the next pope.
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“When you see white smoke, that means we have elected a new pope,” explained Grace Moran, 6.
School administrators, just back from spring break, quickly organized a morning memorial mass at St. Joseph Church across the street.
Rev. John Pollard, St. Joseph’s pastor, spoke about the life of John Paul II and his 26 years as pope. “That’s longer than all of you have been alive,” he said.
“He especially loved young people, and I’m sure he understood that the prayers of children and young people were the most innocent,” Pollard said. “Keep John Pope II in your prayers.”
Though the children may have had only a slight understanding of the pope before last weekend, they got a crash course at school Monday.
In teacher Kim Rak’s 4th-grade classroom, pupils arrived to find the words “Rest in Peace, John Paul II” written on the blackboard.
Rak spent about a half-hour answering their questions about the pontiff. Tyler Wolf, 10, wanted to know whether there could be an African-American pope. Clare Driscoll, 9, wanted to know whether cardinals could vote for themselves.
“They are not going to be selfish,” Rak said, throwing in an extra lesson about the importance of considering what is good for the community and not just oneself.
First-grade teacher Trish Lapkus said the pope’s death has provided ideal teaching opportunities for Catholic school teachers.
“This is such a big event and the interest level is so high,” Lapkus said. “He was the pope before they were born, so they have never seen the transition.”
Her sentiment was shared by Catholic educators across the area.
“In church, they may have heard references to the pope. Now they see him as a real person, someone who lived and visited our country and now has died,” said Rosalie Musiala, principal of Pope John XXIII School in Evanston.
Students there prayed for the deceased pontiff over the loudspeaker, and teachers set aside time in each class to talk about him.
In teacher Katie Joja’s 4th-grade classroom, pupils asked about the future of church leadership and shared their emotions about his death.
“Life is like a big Candyland game. You are going and then the pope dies and you get stuck in the hole,” said Lucy Brennan, 10. “When they elect the new pope, you can go again.”
Joja encouraged pupils to discuss the pope’s positive traits.
“I don’t know him, but I knew he was a nice guy. If I met him, I know he wouldn’t be mean,” said 10-year-old Reid O’Neil. He then asked, “When they get older, why do they all look the same?”
His classmate, Clare Scheib-Feeley, 9, said, “I sort of wonder what he was like when he was our age?
“Was he that holy? Did he know he would be pope? Did God tell him?”