By Kaylor Nordhus and Drew Davis, Staff writers
The pastors of the surrounding parishes in the Wichita diocese gathered together in a celebration today of the sacrament of the Eucharist with the students of Bishop Carroll. Afterwards, each church split up with their respective parishes and the pastors spoke to them about different issues or topics pertaining to their youth’s involvement.
St. Francis of Assisi’s pastor, Fr. Jarrod Lies, focused his speech on the importance of finding your identity in high school and being grateful and appreciative for everything that God has blessed the students with. He called his listeners to become the greatest version of themselves, saying that he believed each individual there was valuable and was going to change the world.
In an interview after the crowd had left, he shared that, “Being back at Bishop Carroll today was wonderful. I’ve spent 12 years of my life here, either as a student, teacher, or pastor. I love and miss this place, and it brought back a lot of memories. I love this mass because it gives us the ability to see and encourage the students from SFA and remind them that we’re rooting for them.”
Kelby Stalnaker, a junior from SFA, said that, “This mass is great because it shows that the pastors care about us. They don’t just forget about us once we’re in high school.”
“What I love is the unity of our school during this. We all come from different places but when we get together like that, we can celebrate our oneness now and join together at Bishop Carroll,” said senior Shelbie Stuckey.
Fr. Zachary Pinare, the Parochial Vicar, spoke to the SEAS students in the Activities Complex. One of his driving desires behind becoming a priest is to connect and involve the youth at his parish. During his talk, he covered Stewardship, and had the students shout repeatedly what that means. Time. Talent. Treasure. Like Father Green’s homily during Mass, Stewardship is about being grateful, and responding to that.
“You must use your time, talents and treasure and invest back in your parish,” Fr. Pinare said.
He also covered getting active in SEAS Youth Group, Axios, which meets every Tuesday. “It is my job to give you the tools you need to thrive.”