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catholic high school students good examples of discipleship

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

Each year, seniors from the three diocesan Catholic high schools gather for a baccalaureate Mass before their respective graduation ceremonies.

From Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville, 129 seniors took their places May 5 at St. Peter Cathedral.
Gibault Catholic High School in Waterloo brought 52 seniors to the liturgy, and Mater Dei Catholic High School in Breese brought the largest group — 132 seniors.

At the end of the liturgy, one senior from each school was recognized with a Bishop’s Discipleship Award to recognize how they have lived their Catholic identity in knowledge, attitude and behavior within their respective schools and in the larger communities in which they live.

Althoff: From Althoff, Jonathan DeRousse received the award. Althoff’s principal, Dave Harris, said “quite a few” seniors were deserving of the award, Jonathan stood out. If something was going on at his home
parish of Queen of Peace in Belleville or at Althoff, Jonathan would “just jump out and do it,” Harris said.

At Althoff, Jonathan was very involved in preparing school liturgies, choosing music and enlisting the help of other students. However, Jonathan usually took a role out of the limelight when the liturgy was being celebrated.

An outgoing student, Jonathan was not aligned with a particular group or clique at the school, Harris said.
Jonathan was always “interested in what others had to say and helping them if they needed help,” Harris said.

Gibault: At Gibault in Waterloo, principal Russ Hart said Madeline Kuerz is “pretty outstanding, a kind and gentle person.”

This senior from Immaculate Conception Parish in Columbia has been involved in parish and high school activities for some time. “She’s so aware of other people, like she has a second sense about others and about other cultures as well,” Hart said.

For many teens, interest in other people ends with themselves or their own group, but that just
isn’t true of Madeline. Madeline’s interest also crosses generational lines. “She’s very involved in the senior center in Columbia,” Hart said.
And, at school she’s the first one who reaches out to someone who needs to be welcomed.

For her senior project, Madeline wanted to work with children, and she wanted to volunteer at Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School in East St. Louis. When she returned to Gibault at the end
of her three-week project, she talked to Hart about raising money for Sister Thea Bowman’s needs. Later, the elementary school received a check for $500.

Working with Hanna Lundy, another senior, the duo brought Sister Thea Bowman students to Gibault for a matinee performance of the school’s musical, “The Sound of Music” with pizza after the performance.

While Hart said “it was incredibly difficult to choose one student for the award,” Madeline seemed to embody the principle of putting faith into action.

Mater Dei: At Mater Dei in Breese, principal Dennis Litteken said students are singled out for a similar award each year of high school, so they understand the importance of discipleship.

The hard part then becomes selecting one student over all the others. No easy task in any of the schools.
Amanda has always been “very sincere, honest, straightforward and involved” in school and school activities, Litteken said.

Amanda was one of the officers and leaders of the school’s St. Vincent de Paul Society chapter, which means she was one of the people coordinating the mission activities at the school.

At her parish, St. Boniface in Germantown, Amanda is a lector, cantor and Extraordinary Minister of holy Communion.
“She’s an overall good role model,” Litteken said.

Congratulations to these young disciples as they begin a new chapter in their lives.