High School Sweetheart

Appreciating our Catholic high schools in Arkansas

02/04/2024

Mk 1:29-39 On leaving the synagogue Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them. When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him. Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Simon and those who were with him pursued him and on finding him said, "Everyone is looking for you." He told them, "Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come." So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.

In 1986 Robert Fulghum wrote a very popular book entitled, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Well, I don’t remember much from my kindergarten days but I could certainly say: “all I really need to know I learned in high school.” And this is the reason every year I want to designate one Sunday to recognize and celebrate Catholic high schools in Arkansas. Why? Well, because during high school is when we finally are awake and aware enough to learn some of life’s most crucial lessons.

Today, some representatives from both Subiaco and Ozark Catholic Academy will share the amazing things going on in those two tremendous Catholic high schools. They are both within driving distance, and they both provide transportation which students from I.C. are taking advantage of. And this makes a fitting conclusion to Catholic Schools Week which we began last Sunday celebrating our Catholic elementary schools.

We all remember fondly where we went to high school, after all that’s when we fell in love with our high school sweetheart! It’s funny how later when we look back, our high school itself feels like our sweetheart, our “glory days” as Bruce Springsteen sang. So, let me share some of the life lessons I learned from my high school sweet heart, like Robert Fulghum shared lessons from kindergarten.

I attended an all-boys school, and we freshmen took our sex education classes from Fr. George Tribou. Now, notice the irony of that: a celibate priest taught teenage boys about sex. One thing I remember vividly was what Fr. Tribou said about kissing. He remarked: “French kissing a girl is like using someone else’s toothbrush.” No wonder I started thinking about becoming a priest in high school! By the way, you parents are welcome to use that line.

Another lesson I learned from Fr. Tribou was that the punishment should always fit the crime. I heard about one boys who was fond of slamming doors whenever he entered or exited a classroom. The teachers tried everything to stop this disruptive behavior, all to no avail. They finally sent the boy to the principal’s office. Fr. Tribou said to the young man: “So, you like doors, do you?” His punishment was to carry a heavy classroom door everywhere he went in school for a week. The boy was miraculously cured of the slamming door disease.

Fr. Tribou also taught us boys how to bluff not in poker but in life. One Saturday night some boys decided it would be a good idea to climb up and swim in a water tower. On Monday morning after Fr. Tribou delivered the usual announcements, he added: “Now I understand that seven boys had a little extracurricular activity over the weekend swimming in a water tower. I have five names. And I can assure you the punishment will be more lenient if you voluntarily come to the office than if I have to come to get you.” And in a few minutes nine boys showed up in the office. To this day no one knows if Fr. Tribou had any names at all.

But the most important lesson Fr. Tribou and Catholic High taught us is that there is a God. It’s like that old bumper sticker that declared: “There is a God and you are not him.” Fr. Tribou had a very effective way of inspiring our faith. Back in the 1980’s while I was at Catholic, the school did not have any air conditioning. But Fr. Tribou did install air conditioning in the chapel and the library. How do you get teenage boys to pray and study? You air condition the chapel and library, and make the rest of the school hot as hell. In the gospel today, Jesus ha to drive out demons and cure diseases for people to believe in him. Fr. Tribou just turned off the air conditioning.

I will never forget when Fr. Tribou taught us what we do when we come to Mass. It forever changed how I go to Mass. He said: “When you come to Mass, you come to give something, not to get something. You come here to give some of your time, to give some of your love, to give some of your attention. Don’t come to Mass empty-handed, but come with the intention to offer yourself. I never want to hear you say, ‘I didn’t get anything out of the Mass.’ That is not what you are here for.” Fr. Tribou sort of “turned the tables” – or better turned the altar – at Mass. I am not here to ask something of God; I am here so God can ask something of me.

My friends, I am convinced that faith is the central lesson of all Catholic high schools is because we are living in an increasingly atheistic culture. Modern society is not just ignorant of Christianity, it is inimical to Christianity. It mistakenly believes we are the enemy. It’s like that old adage: “Don’t saw off the branch you are sitting on.” Modern culture is slowly but steadily sawing humanity off the Tree of Life, namely, Jesus, the Son of God. The Second Vatican Council warned: “When God is forgotten, however, the creature itself grows unintelligible” (Gaudium et spes, 36).

In other words, every Catholic school, and especially Catholic high schools, teach us that when we lose touch with God, we lose touch with our humanity. On the other hand, when we find God, we likewise touch our humanity. The first and best lesson that we learn in a Catholic high school is the lesson of faith. There is a God and we teenagers are not him. And that is why we always need Catholic high schools, and why we need them today more than ever. 

Praised be Jesus Christ!