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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

13 Years of Catholic School

 

I came across this post on facebook the other day and immediately read it. Approximately 18 of the 20 topics are true to me.

I have great memories of my elementary school, St. Genevieve Catholic in Thibodaux, LA. The school was small {K-7}, and each class only consisted of 35 students. Now, the school has grown a lot more to include two grades of each level and Pre-K, but the school still carries the same traditions of many years ago.

This is me and my sister Colette in 1975-76. I was ready for my first day of 2nd grade.

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I can still recall many of the songs that we sung on a daily basis. Some of the lines “I am a promise…”, “When I dropped my hotdog….”, and “Stand up an march” still bring me back to times of youth when things were just plain easy.

The 20 things were taken from the blog, The Bad at Cleaning Blog.

Check out the 20 things in this blog post:

1. You at one point compared who got the “better” ash mark on their head from Ash Wednesday. {Ron: Haha!}

2. You feel like a rebel when you wear colored socks. {Ron: The only time I got sent to the Dean of Students’ office was to call my mom to bring me a pair of socks. I wore argyle, and they were not allowed.}

3. When someone says “peace be with you” you say “also with you” without thinking. {Ron: I do this all the time.}

4. While you tell everyone that going to an all-girls school helped you focus on school and made you more intelligent, you secretly know it also made you more desperate and socially awkward. {Ron: Of course, I went to co-ed. LOL!}

5. You secretly miss having your clothes picked out for you 5 out of 7 days in the week. {Ron: I loved wearing uniforms.}

6.  You still remember the names of 30 kids you spent 8 years with…their parents, and siblings too. {Ron: Oh yes! I could name them all…Rachel Aysen, Lisa Arceneaux, Ben Legendre, Stephen Viguerie, Brett Naquin, Ray Boudreaux, Todd Broggi, Nicky Bordelon, Justin Rodrigue, Renee Miller, Monique Crochet, Margo Goulas, Johanna Tabor, Heather Zeringue, Randy Pekinto, Michelle Richard, Brian DeGravelle, Chris Benoit, David Diehl, A.J. Boudreaux, Shaun Toups, Troy Martinez, Julie LeBlanc, Julie Kerley, Michelle Kenyon, Kristie Vicknair, Thad Torres, Greg Picou, Amy Pichauffe….should I continue?}

7. You still feel like you need say your prayer before a meal really, really fast, so you can get to recess faster. {Ron: As a teacher in a private Episcopal school, I still do!}

8. You were shocked after you graduated to find out there were other translations of the Bible than the New American Version. {Ron: Who knew?}

9. You’ve been dressed up like an angel, a sheep, and a shepherd at least once (but probably three) times as a child. {Ron: Who could ever forget those epic plays at St. Gen?}

10. …and you had to sing. A LOT. {Ron: Every morning. You gotta love Ms. Cappel & Mrs. Judy Cooper.}

11. When at any non-catholic church or the train station, your right knee automatically buckles anytime you enter a pew, and you have to stop yourself from kneeling. {Ron: Oh! I still genuflect.}

12. You know how to fundraise and sell stuff like a boss. {Ron: Well? Instead I brought my supply of Super Crunch bars to my aunt’s beauty shop for her to sell. I hated the sale.}

13. Your non-Catholic friends think doing the sign of the cross is some complicated secret handshake and keep asking you to show them how to do it over and over. {Ron: J still comments when I do it as we pass in front of a Catholic church.}

14.  There was always some rumor about a dead saint body part, haunted room, or scary secret tradition (saying Bloody Mary into a mirror) at your church…that you totally bought. {Ron: Catholics… we believe it all.}

15. You know what “leave room for the Holy Spirit means.” {Ron: Aaaaaah, confession.}

16. You totally made up a sin during your first confession with a priest because you were in the first grade and didn’t understand what the heck was going on. {Ron: I think I made them up all the way through 7th grade.}

17. You dreaded stations of the cross day. {Ron: Yes! and Benediction.}

18.  You have strong feelings about nuns. {Ron: And I LOVE Sister Act.}

19. You are still bitter that you were not picked to play Mary during May Crowning or Jesus in the Last Supper. {Ron: No! But I was selected as Joseph in the Christmas play of my 7th grade year because I was Christian enough to attend a classmate’s party that only 5 people from the class attended. Truth: My mom made me.}

20. You talk more (aka are more traumatized) about your elementary school experience than anyone else who went to public school. {Ron: This is so true.}

Catholic school was a big part of my life and certainly shaped my attitudes and feelings today. I will always appreciate my days at St. Genevieve Catholic School and E. D. White Catholic High School.

edw

March, march, march, y’all!

12 comments:

  1. I saw that post the other day and definitely can relate to most, if not all of them, having attended Holy Savior until 1972. It broke my heart when it closed its doors that year, and I had to go to public school. :/ Oh well, I guess that was part of the plan. Had I been able to graduate from Holy Savior, I'm sure my life would have taken another route, and I would probably not have had the opportunity to teach you! Have a great day! xoxo

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  2. Ron, I saw this on FB too, and recognized most of the items. No. 2 brought back a certain memory..............in 8th grade, I decided to wear a pair of white socks that had a blue and red stripe across the top. Not like me at all, since I am a rule-follower. Well, Sister Martina (8th grade teacher and also the principal) directed me in her Irish brogue to follow her to her principal's office. Once there she told me to sit, and she picked up the phone and proceeded to call me father! Boy, was I sweating! When he answered the phone, she then thanked him for something he had done, and chit-chatted a little, then hung up. She never mentioned the socks incident! She then looked me in the eye and told me to return to class. I was so relieved and that was the first and last time I ever broke the rules in 8th grade!

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  3. I had a sneaking suspicion that you attended Catholic school when I spied you beautiful handwriting on your Christmas card post on December 23rd. I too went to Catholic school, and my handwriting is almost identical.

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  4. Ron-
    I am Catholic but did not attend Catholic school. Many of my friends did and I can relate to it all. I did make all my sacraments and attended Sunday School. We would go on retreat weekends and at one we had a basketball game. My team lost because I could not take the ball away from Father Carr. I will never forget that game. Loved your post!

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  5. I have many good and not so good memories of my days at Catholic school. I enjoyed the post. Hugs:)

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  6. As a fellow Catholic school girl I loved reading this post Ron and can relate to all of it! Now my 3 kids are getting the same experience and I love the morals and manners they learn from going also!

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  7. The photos are darling! Just as an fyi ~ my mother's name was Genevieve. I've always loved it. Friends of mine that went to Catholic school have shared many horror stories so not sure if just some schools are that way. Anyway, thanks for sharing!

    xo
    Pat

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  8. Not Catholic nor did I attend a Catholic school, but so many of my friends did and I can relate from the stories they have told! And truth be told, if it had not been for early divorces on both mine and hubby's side of the family, we probably would be Catholic! LOL

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  9. So impressed that you even remembered those of us who only went to school with you a few years... yeah all those do have meaning... Father Dean had me crown Mary at mass on a Sunday and my sisters who attended school where it was a big deal were upset...

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  10. I went to public school and taught 25 years in public school. All my family ties are in the Protestant faith. I've been a United Methodist since I was 6 years old. That was in the Dark Ages.:)

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  11. You were so so so cute-well, not that you still aren't...lol I love your memories. My hubby went to Catholic schools, too. My grandkids go there, too. It is a whole different school today than it was when my hubby went there. They no longer use the rulers on the knuckles! lol xo Diana

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  12. I seriously laughed out loud reading the "peace be with you" comment. When I hear it ,I dont say it out loud but the response, "and peace be with you", comes to mind every time and I want to shake their hands. And whats up with the feeling like we need to kneel even in visiting another non catholic church? I can remember the sore knees and how I felt like a slacker leaning my bootie on the end of the seat to rest my knees while kneeling! Haha. Making the sign of the cross when crossing in the back of the church past the main aisle and genuflecting. The memories go on and on.....love your humor and personality Ron! I went to catholic school 8 years and in first grade Sister St.Ann looked like to me like an angel with her beautiful lily white skin stuffed in that white soft face piece and black long dress, called a habit, and her large black beads hanging from her neck with a over sized wooden cross on the end of it. Wonder if theres any way to check to see if these nuns are still alive? I'd love know what happened to her. :) she was so sweet and beautiful!

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