By Jessica Easthope
A warm hello was exactly what students needed on a freezing cold day at St. Leo Catholic Academy in Corona. It came from Bishop Robert Brennan, who stopped by the school to mark the start of Catholic Schools Week.
“When you see the effect of, for example, Catholic education on our young people and our children, it’s always a reminder of what it’s all about,” Bishop Brennan said.
The theme of this year’s nationwide celebration of faith-filled education is “United in Faith and Community.” But community looks different in third grade than it does in eighth. Bishop Brennan started the day by listening in and participating in a discussion about the history of the rosary and the role Mary plays in Catholic prayer. Eighth-grader Layla Vera said she now knows a lot about it.
“They misclassify her. We don’t worship her, we honor her,” Vera said. “She’s able to, like, lead us to Christ.”
“The young people were talking about the rosary, the power of prayer, what’s important, how they pray. It was very impressive,” Bishop Brennan said.
But the younger students couldn’t get over the mountains of snow they passed on their way into school.
“I like when he came to my classroom and we were talking about the snow,” third-grader Carlos Paisano said.
“We’re talking about the snow, how bad it was and how they were trying to move it, but they did it pretty bad,” said third-grader Mario Luna.
Luckily for them, Bishop Brennan was there to talk it out.
Bishop Brennan will be making his rounds at other Catholic schools this week, but at St. Leo they’re already hoping he returns.
“I want us to set up another activity so we can do it with him. That would be fun,” Vera said.
But the snow? Not so much.
“It’s going to be really slippery because it could freeze,” said Luna. “It could become a disaster!”