Living out the themes of Catholic Social Teaching such as the dignity of all people, helping the poor, caring for God’s creation is an everyday way of being at our Catholic Schools. Catholic Schools Week and Kindness Week were opportunities for our schools to reinforce and see with a fresh perspective what they already do on a weekly, even daily basis, and to go deeper into these teachings just as we do with prayer, fasting and almsgiving during Lent.
Sacred Heart Academy, Redlands already has many things in place to live out Catholic Social Teaching, such as their Christmas Adopt-a-Family, Walk for Life, and various multicultural events. But Kindness Week opened the door for going deeper into these things.
One of the Catholic Social Teachings that took on greater focus during Kindness Week was the canned foods collected at school Mass that helps the needy in their community. Normally the food items are given to Family Service Association of Redlands for their pantry.
Kindness Week, said SHA Vice Principal and Spanish teacher Maria Downey, created that opportunity for students to “look at what they do and do a little more.” So during Kindness Week students also committed to each donate a single food item to AJ’s Kitchen in Redlands. AJ’s Kitchen is a ministry of the The Holy Name of Jesus parish that cooks and serves a meal to the homeless every Monday at the parish’s Columbia site. Having a large quantity of a single item, or items, such as spaghetti and sauce, is more useful for AJ’s Kitchen where they are cooking a meal to serve, than providing food to help fill someone’s pantry at home.
By looking to the parish’s Donare la Pasta (donate pasta) started by the Italian Catholic Federation Branch 217 last March, something new emerged from the familiar. SHA still collects food for Family Service, but will donate to A.J.’s Kitchen on a regular basis.
It was this doing something familiar and adding something to it that made Kathy Lawson, Fifth grade teacher and Student Council Moderator, say Kindness Week was “a real positive and upbeat week.” During the week she noticed how often students came up to her to say what kind act some other student had done (the familiar) and how kids stepped out of their comfort zone and did something new. Brandie Morrison, fifth grade aide, added how “constantly being encouraged during Kindness Week helped students to go above and beyond.”
Parents also saw this. Anne Surdzial, who was at SHA at lunchtime one day during Kindness Week, saw the positive effect of being a little kinder. “I love it,” she said, “It reinforces our Catholic values we have at school.”
All of this, however, wouldn’t mean much if the students themselves hadn’t embraced the positive effects of Kindness Week. Seventh grader Elijah Gonzalez politely asked me how my day was going as I was out on lunch duty. After answering him I then asked him how Kindness Week was going for him. “It’s been nice,” he said. “Everyone’s been opening doors and doing things for each other.”
It was especially heartwarming to see how even the younger students understood the importance of the week and Catholic Social Teaching. First grader Aidan Espinosa, who is usually on the reserved side, came up to me during the same lunch period to tell me about the heart shaped pizza he was looking forward to from his mom on Valentine’s Day. He continued on telling me, “We need to say thank you when someone gives you food, and play with someone who’s lonely.” The best part was his ending remark, “We should love each other and help them.”
Yes, digging deeper into Catholic Social Teaching during Kindness Week definitely had a positive and lasting effect on the students, parents and staff at Sacred Heart Academy.
Anne Alhadef is fourth grade instructional aide and campus minister at Sacred Heart Academy in Redlands.