St. Rita to Implement Class on Empathy
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We apolo- First to break the news that Santa gize in ad- Claus isn’t real. T h e N a t i r vance VOL. 8...No. 26 Copyright © 2018-19 The Natir Chicago, Illinois DECEMBER 2018 stritahs.com FREE BUT DONATIONS ACCEPTED St. Rita to implement class on empathy Shifting from ‘Becoming a Ritaman’ to ‘Becoming a Normal Human’ KYLE GUSTAFSON ’19 Believe it or not, the end of the year is upon us, Confiscated Vape Devices and there seems to be more change in the air than just the weather. Indeed, as the first semester comes to a Repurposed For Mass close, the faculty at St. Rita has been meeting to dis- JOSHUA CARROLL ’22 cuss what aspects of the school are working and what Wednesday has become the favorite day colorful, so to speak. Students no longer hang needs to improve moving forward. of the week for Ritamen. Students wake up their heads or sit restlessly at Mass, they are While decisions are still being made, some infor- before their alarms go off and dress in their loving the new experience. mation about second semester changes is known at this time. For example, bread bowls will make their poorly-pressed shirts, pants, and ties. Bus A nice touch of the program is that Fr. Paul long-anticipated return to the Dining Hall, at least drivers pull up to the bus stop with smiles on often gives a shout-out to the student whose until the school runs out of the two-year-old bread their faces, and they arrive early to school. device is being used for the Mass. That stu- loaves they found in the basement just last week. It Friends and classmates greet one another as dent stands to rousing applause by the student has also been decided that one set of touch screen tele- they enter the building. The smell of cinna- body. Each week, students vote on the flavor visions that no one uses literally ever is not enough, mon rolls wafts from the Dining Hall. When that they want to be featured the following and seven more such displays will be incorporated in hallways throughout the school. the bell for activities period rings, the Rita- week. Favorite flavors include: Strawberry, The biggest change coming to St. Rita for the sec- men know what time it is. It’s time for Mass. Watermelon, and Passion Fruit. The winning ond half of the school year, however, is the addition A fruity smell comes from the chapel. In flavor of the week is broadcast in lights on the of a new class. Students returning from winter break fact, it permeates the halls and classrooms. message board on Western Avenue. It is ru- will now have the opportunity to take “Being a Normal As if almost mesmerized, the students walk mored that AP Chemistry students are work- Human.” Curriculum for the class will center around toward the sweet scent of banana nut bread ing to pioneer new flavors for Christmas. The the areas of personhood with which St. Rita students generally struggle, such as understanding others, hav- with anticipation of the start of a great day. students are voting on what to call the new ing emotions, and caring about anything. This is the not so average Wednesday at Chi- flavor, and so far the front-runner is Ginger- This one semester, 0.5-credit course will take the cago’s premier Catholic High School. bread Ritaman. place of a Theology class, as the faculty as a whole has Mass has taken on a whole new feel now Many local high schools have reached out agreed that they will need the help of God if they are that St. Rita’s Campus Ministry came up with to St. Rita to get details on how to implement to break through and turn Rita students into mind- an ingenious way to use confiscated vaping similar tactics in their school community. ful individuals. The course was suggested and will be taught by Mr. Kellam, who saw a need for the class in devices. During weekly Mass at St. Rita, the Since instituting this new program, St. Rita his teaching of vocations. priests and liturgical ministers use the vap- has seen a huge spike in the number of appli- “My job teaching my Vocations class,” Mr. Kellam ing devices to create incense clouds like noth- cants for the entrance exam. In fact, if oth- explained, “is to explain to my students what it means ing ever seen before. Imagine sitting in Mass er schools take up the practice, it may even to be a man in today’s society. This is incredibly dif- and being enveloped by the smell of Mango, increase participation of youth in church- ficult to do because my students don’t even know what Gummy Bear, or Banana Nut Bread. It is truly es across Chicagoland. Many in the St. Rita it means to be a human in today’s society.” “Human” meaning capable of the smallest bits of heavenly. community were initially skeptical about im- decency toward one’s fellow classmates, teachers, and During each Mass, a different flavor or plementing vaping in church, but the results citizens. As for the goals of the new class, Mr. Kellam scent is used to mix up the experience. Vape don’t lie. It is no surprise that St. Rita is the was realistic. clouds hover over the student’s heads as they frontrunner for an award by the Archdiocese “I simply want to enable these young men to start look up in awe and see the clouds pass by. The in recognition of increasing the amount of ap- reacting properly to the situations they find them- church uses the devices in a religious way and plicants for the priesthood. selves in,” he said while tying a bow tie with just one hand. “Hopefully by the end of the semester at least it makes Mass a little more atmospheric and a few of them will learn that if a hockey player is in- jured during a game you are supposed to feel bad for them instead of chanting ‘poo and lettuce’ as they are helped off the ice. Or that ‘sick’ is not a universal word that can be used in response to anything. He added quietly, “That’s the hope, anyways.” The Natir surveyed a significant portion of the stu- dent body about whether they would be receptive to or even take the class, but it is difficult to decipher anything meaningful from their recorded responses. Most students that responded with “Yep” did so in a voice too high to trust as genuine, and virtually all of the other answers were either “Got me” or just an “Aahhhh” sound accompanied by finger guns. Hope- fully these noises mean that students are on board, as the road to maturity and caring is a long one. Fresh off the fundraising and construction of a $2.8 million gym, teaching the student body at St. Rita em- pathy is likely the most ambitious goal in the school’s history. Starting next semester we will see just how achievable that goal is. $$$$ LUNCH SPECIAL: $5 or free with the poinsettia or mistletoe saladsale of 100 Mustang Kellam explaining to a Vocations class why it’s not cool to consider feeding the poor to each other. Raffle tickets STRITAHS.COM • A2• NEWS THE NATIR • DECEMBER 2018 HISTORY Was the Declaration of Independence the Founding Fathers’ Caritas Project? PETER VIZ ’20 After taking a deeper look into the get their idea approved, then they would have to On the document Jefferson wrote, “Mr. McIn- process of how and why the Declaration of In- start from scratch. tosh, we were so excited about the idea of this dependence was created, it is obvious now that A while back papers were found which project that we did not have the time to worry the Founding Fathers used it as their Caritas have now been identified as the Caritas Propos- about organization or neatness.” He was right Project. Some of these men had personal con- al that would later be reviewed by other prom- about that, because on the document there are nections to St. Rita, so they felt like they had inent colonists and approved. There are many numbers everywhere with note and scribbles to do something to improve their community as good points that these Founding Fathers made, just about on every inch of it and vague designa- she did. What better way than to write your own but one particularly stands out. The line states, tions like “Research: 15 hours,” “Reflection: 10 country’s statement of independence from the “This project does not help you or me but all of hours,” and “Driving by buggy: 20 hours.” Be- tyrannical grip of the British. us and invites change for the entire country that sides this, their project went off without a hitch As some historians look deeper into this, desperately needs it.” Anyone can see that these and was very successful in rallying the people they have been able to find evidence about how guys did their homework and knew the certain and helping the community become better over much of this is true. Not too long ago a letter was things they would have to say in order for ap- time. found in Independence Hall written by Thomas proval to be almost automatic. Jefferson and to Benjamin Franklin that had a Next, they had to write and finalize the very interesting line in it.