Catholic Students Carry their Cross

When vandals cut down a beloved hilltop cross in Santa Rosa, California, Catholic students didn’t stand idly by.

They helped put it back.

According to the National Catholic Register, football players from Cardinal Newman High School helped carry a new 400-pound cross up the hill overlooking their school and the convent of the Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa.

Students from nearby St. Rose Catholic School joined the sisters along with other members of the community for the October 14 restoration.

For Cardinal Newman students, the cross wasn’t merely a landmark. They visited it during freshman retreats and saw it illuminated above their football field.

It was a visible reminder of Who should be at the center of their lives.

This is what faithful Catholic education should inspire.

Not simply teaching young people about Jesus Christ, but forming them to love Him, defend their Faith, practice forgiveness, and courageously live as Christians.

As Bishop Robert Vasa of the Diocese of Santa Rosa reminded those gathered, “The cross, however, endures; the love of Christ endures.”

“And so, maintaining this cross and having a reverence for it hopefully deepens our reverence for Christ, our commitment to live a Christian, Catholic life, and our commitment to be as best as possible for the whole of our lives, men and women of God.”