WEST PALM BEACH – A pair of Step Up For Students Florida tax credit scholars took the journey of their young lives recently when they traveled to Italy with the choir from St. Ann Catholic School and participated in the Epiphany Mass, led by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

Seventh-grader Adriana Augustine and sixth-grader Amy Vu described an adventure they won’t soon forget. The St. Ann’s Parish Youth Choir performed six times around Italy during an eight-day pilgrimage that began Dec. 29.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip,” Amy said. “It was fun being around all of the other choir members and performing with them in beautiful churches and basilicas. I learned a lot about my religion through all of the tours and visiting the tombs of saints and popes.

“The best experience of all was the chance to get so close to the pope during the papal audience.”

The trip wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of Chris Hogan, the school’s music director, Principal Susan Demes and a dedicated team of volunteers who helped raise over $125,000 for the trip, Amy said. The choir includes 30 students.

“I had a wonderful time singing in some of the most beautiful basilicas in Rome and Assisi,” Adriana said. “I attended the Epiphany Papal Mass, toured ancient Rome and experienced so much.”

The talented choir was selected to perform after submitting a CD recording of a 2016 performance.

Hogan, the music director, started the choir just over four years ago. He said it grew quickly, and the group was soon singing “quite complex, sacred music.”

“We started performing concerts and eventually recorded a CD,” Hogan said. “Feedback was very positive, and many people both connected and not connected with the group encouraged me to seek out larger opportunities. We looked into an opportunity in Chicago, but eventually determined that the cost with travel was not much cheaper than a more substantial trip, and Rome seemed like a viable possibility.

“Each year at Epiphany, choirs travel to perform concerts and take part in the papal Mass.”

The choir was invited to perform in Italy after Hogan sent a recording and details about the group to the proper Vatican parties. The St. Ann’s choir – with students between ages 9 and 16 – was the youngest of four choirs from the U.S. to perform at the Epiphany Mass.

After the choir was invited, a nine-month fundraising campaign began. There were bake sales and car washes, but the majority of the money was raised through performances at various parishes and Catholic institutions.

“We collected thousands of dollars from regular parishioners around the diocese and individuals who heard and read about our group,” Hogan said. “After these performances, a number of donors stepped in to offer large-scale support to help us achieve this reality. The fundraising was planned and administrated by Jennifer Loyless, an incredibly devoted parent of two choir members.”

Many choir members got to meet Pope Francis.

“That experience was incredibly moving for all of us,” Hogan said. “He was incredibly pleasant, taking his time to hold some of our kids’ hands and even wore a zucchetto – the pope’s cap.  We also witnessed him leading the Angelus prayer from one of the windows in St. Peter’s Square.

“The experience was simply remarkable. The kids had an incredible time and parents were in awe of the lifelong memories that were created.”

by Renée Stoeckle

Pope Francis is exhorting church leaders across the globe to join the school choice movement.

Earlier this month, Pope Francis issued the second apostolic exhortation of his papacy, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love). The document is not official church doctrine, but rather a public teaching of the pope that calls the faithful to action on a particular subject – in this case, the modern family. Given that this pope has issued only two apostolic exhortations in his three-year papacy, the inclusion of school choice speaks volumes about Francis’ priorities.

In Amoris Laetitia, the pontiff reiterates the church’s teaching that choice in education is a fundamental right of parents who are “called to defend and of which no one may claim to deprive them,” meaning the state must not deny parents the right to select their child’s educational path, be it public or private, regardless of their financial means.

Francis calls upon the state to provide educational opportunities for all families but emphasizes that “parents themselves enjoy the right to choose freely the kind of education – accessible and of good quality – which they wish to give their children in accordance with their convictions” (paragraph 84).

Amoris Laetitia comes in response to last fall’s Synod on the Family, a weeks-long global meeting of Catholic Bishops that stirred conversation related to the church’s relationship with the modern family. Like much of Francis’ papacy, the Synod challenged the church to extend greater mercy towards families, particularly the most vulnerable in society and those who may feel unwelcomed in the church.

Francis’ words on parental choice challenge both church and ctate leaders to ensure the poor are not left in the margins of educational opportunity. This message is not new for Francis, nor is it new for the Catholic Church as a whole. But with tuition costs averaging $10,000 for high school freshmen, the pope has repeatedly implied that Catholic schools in the United States and across the globe seem to have strayed from this mission.

In November of last year, Francis candidly referred to Catholic education as “too selective and elitist,” referring to how the rising cost of tuition makes educational opportunity inaccessible to the masses. Francis commented that “there is always the ghost of money – always. It seems that only those people or persons who are at a certain level or have a certain capacity have the right to an education.” (more…)