Students at Cloverdale Catholic School prayed for Pope Francis Tuesday (April 22) after he passed away on Easter Monday.
Principal Clive Heah set up a portrait of the Pope and a solitary red candle near the altar in Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church. Students and teachers took time throughout the day to walk across the parking lot to pray for the repose of the late pontiff's soul.
Heah felt, in this time of mourning for Catholics, it was important to set something up in the church and give time for classes to visit the church to pray.
He said there were heavy emotions in the morning as the kids returned for their first day back to school after Easter Weekend.
“There was a deep sadness with his passing, because we can all relate so well to this Pope,” Heah explained.
He and his staff felt it would be more meaningful for the kids to go into the church and spend some time there, rather than each class doing something on their own, or the whole school praying for the Pope over the intercom.
“For a lot of us, especially this generation, the Pope was different than any other pope,” said Heah. “His service and his humility really spoke to the younger generation.”
Heah said they talk about the Pope at school a lot.
“The kids are very aware of the Holy Father,” he added. “I think it’s important for us to pay respect to him and to the service he's given … to the whole Catholic world.”
He said even if he hadn’t set up the picture in the church and asked the teachers to take their classes over, he thinks his teachers would likely taken the kids over on their own anyway, as the church is available to the classes most days.
“Not just the kids, even the teachers themselves, I think everyone was looking for a bit of time today,” he explained. "Personal time, but when you can do it with a community, it’s that much more powerful and meaningful”
The more Heah learns about the late pontiff, the more he hopes the next leader of the Catholic Church is like Pope Francis.
“He didn’t buy into the pomp, like the red shoes," he noted. “He didn’t live in the papal palace. He wanted to live with the employees of the Vatican in very simple, modest housing. He was very different. He was very humble. He was the people’s pope. I just think he’s brought so much good attention to our faith in a time when Catholicism doesn't always get the best attention.”
Heah said he thinks Pope Francis’s legacy will include the acknowledgement of the injustices that happened to Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
“He was the first pope to acknowledge the wrongs that were done to our Indigenous people,” he added. “I know that for Canadians that will probably be the most important thing (they remember). That will be the legacy Pope Francis leaves behind. The apology and coming here to Canada to deliver that apology.”
