Catholic education shapes lives, vocations

For many years, 18 Catholic schools in Oklahoma, with 11 of them in Oklahoma City, have offered extensive educational curriculum designed to shape students in spirit, mind and body and prepare them in a dedicated way to serve God and the Catholic Church at large.

Catholic schools engrave in students the importance of faith through the daily Eucharist and other sacraments as well as through regular joint prayers which are integrated into the daily school schedule and students’ lives.

Although it is the parents in the first place who are able to recognize the great value and benefits of educating their children in private Catholic schools, the graduates themselves are most appreciative of this opportunity mainly in retrospective.

They acknowledge that Catholic education not only shaped their personality and spiritual life, but it also helped them discern their vocational call, determined their vocation choice and life-long commitment to Christ as religious or lay people.

Father Daniel Grover, Father Martin Lugo, O.S.B., Sister Lucy Marie Fitzmorris, O.S.B. and Deacon Fernando Hernandez shared their perspectives on the relevance and meaning of Catholic education in their lives.

“Catholic education was fundamental to who I am as a person, let alone as a priest,” said Father Grover, pastor at Saint Matthew Catholic Church in Elk City. He attended Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School in Oklahoma City in 1999-2003, where his dad (a deacon) was also a teacher for many years. His brothers and sisters attended the school as well, while his youngest brother followed the steps of his father and is currently still teaching at Bishop McGuinness.

Father Grover acknowledged the tremendous impact of many principals and teachers at Bishop McGuinness on his priestly vocation. 

“Father Phil Seeton, who was the chaplain during my high school years, became my spiritual director when I was in seminary … and now we are serving together in a priest support group. What started in my freshman years in the Catholic high school has continued for 24 years now,” Father Grover said.

“Similarly, Father Novak was a chaplain when I was a sophomore, and he was also overseeing my formation when I was in seminary.”

“Catholic education was significant in my life … I wish everyone had the opportunity to attend a Catholic school. At the same time, we need to understand the reality and provide a balance. First, we don’t have enough Catholic schools in Oklahoma to offer education to each child. And second, it’s about making Catholic education affordable to many.”

Father Martin Lugo, O.S.B. received his Catholic education at Saint Gregory’s High School and University in Shawnee, starting as a high school senior in 1952 and continuing with his three-year-long theological studies before graduating in 1958. He professed vows as a monk at the adjacent Saint Gregory’s Abbey and was later ordained as a priest in 1962.

“Catholic education was very important in my life. Of course, I went to catechism classes at my parish, but attending a Catholic school was the basis for my faith, nourishing and sustaining it throughout my young adult years,” Father Lugo said.

More than 55 years past his graduation, Father Lugo still vividly remembers names and faces of his professors.

“We had excellent teachers at Saint Gregory’s,” Father Lugo said. “Father Lawrence Spencer, O.S.B., my English professor; Father Richard Sneed, English and literature professor; Father Amando Di Vicenzo, moral theology professor from Italy, who was always joyful and funny; and Father Vincent Taylor, who taught music and Latin.

“They were very inspirational to me. I became so interested. I loved the classes and I did lots of reading in college besides my regular classwork.”

Emphasizing the importance of Catholic education for future generations of students, Father Lugo said, “Saint Gregory’s was the only Catholic university in the state of Oklahoma. It is very sad that it was allowed to discontinue.”

He explained his view by citing saints, “Saint Thomas Aquinas said that our quest for truth and the total truth is in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Only the truth will set us free. And if we are to find this total truth, we need to be able to seek it. We can find it through dedicated means and this means is Catholic education.

“Nowadays there are plenty of secular opportunities and many false prophets who lead us the wrong way. And because of it there is a tremendous need for Catholic education in this world, more so now than at any time in the human history.

“Both Catholic and secular education give us opportunities to learn. However, what we are receiving with Catholic education is based on the revelation and teachings of Jesus Christ and the authority he has given to the Church.”

Catholic education has also been crucial for Sister Lucy Marie Fitzmorris, O.S.B. and her discernment to enter religious life with the Benedictine Sisters at Saint Joseph’s Monastery in Tulsa.

Sister Fitzmorris graduated from Mount Saint Mary Catholic High School in Oklahoma City in 2011 and holds a great appreciation to her parents and teachers. 

“My parents had to sacrifice a lot to send me to a Catholic school, but this valuable educational experience gave me really a good foundation to grow up, be able to face the world and prepare me for my adult life,” she said.

She stressed that Catholic education also helped her find her own identity.

“I had the opportunity to be around students and teachers who were living their Catholic faith intentionally, who had different spiritualities and different personal ways of prayer,” Sister Fitzmorris said.

She recalled fond memories of her first encounters with religious sisters at Mount Saint Mary.

“Sister Betty, who was a Sister of Mercy and then Sister Diane Koorie, who was in charge of the Pastoral Ministry Program, helped me discern my current vocation as a religious sister. They were living their vocation so joyfully and it made me realize that becoming a religious was an option I myself needed to consider as well.”

Sister Fitzmorris made her first profession (took temporary vows) in 2020 and is currently serving at Catholic Charities in Tulsa in the scope of her community’s apostolate.

Similar positive memories of Catholic education were retained by Deacon Fernando Hernandez, currently at Sacred Heart Catholic Church at the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City, who also attended Mount Saint Mary Catholic High School nearly 39 years ago (1983-1985).

“Attending a Catholic high school helped me realize that education was valuable. It enabled me to keep a clear structure during my school years and throughout my entire life. Already in my young adult years it greatly helped me gain an important insight how my future college academics will look like,” Deacon Hernandez said.

“I particularly remember Mr. Pedro Cordoba, the assistant principal at Mount Saint Mary at that time. He always engaged in discussions with students, he was always friendly, always treated everyone fairly, always had a positive attitude and influence on students, he never taught anyone down, but addressed us joyfully as ‘young people.’”

Deacon Hernandez said he was especially grateful for the opportunity to take religious classes and attend the daily Mass as well as to interact with religious sisters at his early age. 

“Just to be able to see the sisters around us verified for me that the Catholic Church takes education seriously and wants better members of the Church altogether by providing high quality education,” he said.

More information about Catholic education and Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City can be found at archokc.org/schools.

Jad Ziolkowska is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.