kids

There’s a new student blog on the website of Sacred Heart Apostolic School, a boarding school in Rolling Prairie, IN, run by the Legionaries of Christ. The blog allows students, young men thinking about the priesthood, to share thoughts and ideas. 

Kathleen Conklin, a Regnum Christi member who helped redesign the school’s website, said they hoped these students would inspire others. “These young men are an inspiration to us,” she said, “and allowing others a glimpse into the school through their eyes seemed like the most logical and effective way to tell the story. After all, they are it.” 

The first blog post back in April was the testimony of a student at the March for Life. He described the “radiant joy [that] enveloped the streets for miles around capturing the hearts of anyone within its vicinity” as he and other Regnum Christi members, along with Legionary priests, marched through the streets of Washington, D. C. in witness to the sanctity of human life. 

Kathleen explained that students can submit anything they want as a topic. To start the blog off, she noted, students were asked to write their personal stories. 

One of the students who wrote his story was Luis, who wrote about how he first discerned a call to the priesthood. “When I was a little kid, I always wanted to be a professional soccer player,” he wrote. However, later when he started to sense a call, “I learned that God really wanted me to become a priest. It was not easy for me to leave my family, especially going from California to Indiana at such a young age. But I realized the need for priests in the world.” 

Luis also wrote about his mission experience. “In Mexico, I saw many little kids without shoes running around with sticks and using them as if they were toys,” he noted. “They were all happy playing and keeping themselves entertained with things that don’t seem too fun to us.” 

Kathleen explained that the student blog “gives potential students [and] their families a way to meet the caliber of student at SHAS [Sacred Heart Apostolic School], see daily life, the academics, and formation at the school. We are hoping that as people read the blog they will be able to picture themselves, their son or grandson as a student.” 

It is also a way for Regnum Christi members to get a view inside the Apostolic School from the young men’s perspective. Sometimes young men mention the struggles they have overcome. 

Another Sacred Heart student, Stephen, described how the school has transformed him and other students. “It has been months since I joined the school, and throughout the course of the year everyone has progressively grown in virtue and respect and a brotherly love for one another, despite each other’s imperfections,” he remarked. “The formation we receive at Sacred Heart Apostolic School touches many aspects.”  

Kathleen notes that the Internet has become the town square of today, and we in Regnum Christi and the Legion need to help form young people who can effectively reach other people and thus impact culture. “At SHAS,” she says, “students learn how to interact properly with others [so that they can] have the greatest possible reach for Christ. The blog is a healthy and effective way for them to reach others.” 

The team at Sacred Heart takes this formation seriously. This year they want to hand off some of the blog management to the older students. 

One of the younger students, Lenny, blogged about how Sacred Heart students learn the apostolic life. “Apostolics are boys who are doing God’s will the way God asked, while living some aspects of Legionary life,” he explained. “Every day we live with Christ and for Christ. Being an Apostolic means being an Apostle—praying for people in the chapel or in street missions. It means doing more than the minimum. We are called to do something higher.” 

The blog seems to be succeeding in its mission to interest others in the formation offered as SHAS. At least one young man has even visited the school after reading the blog. When he arrived, he said, “You don’t have to tell me anything about the school. I already read it all on your website. I am here because I want to be an SHAS student, too.” 

Sacred Heart Apostolic School is a boarding school run by the Legionaries of Christ for young men thinking about the priesthood. It accepts students from grades 7 through 12. You can find out about Sacred Heart at the school website and by reading the student blog.