Article written by Mr. Scott Czarnopys, principal at St. Patrick Catholic School in Parnell, Michigan and featured in the September-October issue of Liguorian magazine.
The unparalleled strength of Catholic schools lies in our unwavering commitment to holistic education beyond academics. As a principal of a Catholic K–8 school, I am honored to serve in an environment that blends faith, academics, and values. Our dedicated parents and faculty prioritize the cultivation of character alongside academic achievement, fostering well-rounded individuals with a strong moral foundation to enter the world. The sense of community within our school family ensures a supportive and nurturing atmosphere, promoting personal growth and spiritual development.
Catholic schools stand out for instilling empathy, compassion, and social responsibility, preparing students not just for academic success, but for a life guided by ethical principles. In a society turned inward, our Catholic faith continues to ask us to think outside ourselves and serve others. Serving each other will allow our communities to thrive and enable us all to grow in soul.
Every human is unique and has his or her own story. Although Catholic communities may differ, we share many gifts and challenges. My story, and the story of our community in Parnell, Michigan, may differ from yours. Nonetheless, I believe there are basic blueprints we can all lean on to foster the faith-filled community we desire. Ultimately, humans thrive when we meet face-to-face to worship, pray, and play. It’s time to set down our phones, slow down our nonstop busyness, and come together to experience each other the way we’ve done throughout all of history—in person.
Parish History
Saint Patrick Parnell is a rural Irish parish in Parnell, Michigan, located on the outskirts of Grand Rapids. It is well-known throughout the region for its large, historic church and chicken dinner festival, which dates back to the 1860s. A number of descendants of the Irish founders
still remain in the parish.
Saint Patrick School was founded in 1893 as an integral mission for the parish. It enjoyed a successful mission for many years but began to fundamentally change and struggle during the early 2000s. The 130-year old school was teetering on the brink of closure and had only seventy students enrolled when I arrived in 2010. Now, in 2024, fourteen years later, the school has a waiting list and a robust enrollment of 245 students. We recently constructed two additional classrooms to provide space relief for the maximum-capacity school.
The school’s revitalization is a testament to the faith and resiliency of the members of the Saint Patrick community. Generations of many families have passed through the school doors; in fact, this past school year, we welcomed our first fifth-generation student. Saint Patrick School has been sustained by
the prayers and generosity of a faith filled community. Our church community has proven, again and again, that our values go beyond academics. This demonstrates what our Catholic communities provide when given the necessary support, even as challenges remain.
Being a Principal Is Not What It Looks Like
When I started my career as a middle-school teacher, I watched my principal daily. I could never figure out what she was doing; she seemed stressed all the time. From my perspective, the school was running well. My coworkers were nice, and the kids were smart and made the
same mistakes they always have. I assumed she oversaw everything, signed some checks, supported her teachers, and had the luxury of enjoying a hot cup of coffee each morning. I was wrong.
A school principal’s job is not what it looks like. My master’s degree in educational leadership did not prepare me for the day-to-day duties—my own flawed life and ability to endure did. My leadership classes never taught me that being a principal is actually being a community leader. It’s not about creating schedules, evaluating your staff, or making curriculum decisions. Yes, those things occur, but, ultimately, through the lens of our Catholic faith, I listen to, walk with, and support families through their pain and suffering. Leadership comes from growth in character, which is accomplished by enduring difficult circumstances. How you react and behave when times are tough is what truly makes the rubber hit the road.
Imagine this: a couple says they are getting divorced, and they want to know how to tell their children. A father tells you he’s lost his job, which was the only source of income for his family. A grown man asks for help with his alcohol problem. A mother tells you she has terminal cancer.
You can only unpack these conversations in person, where the pain and emotion being shared with you is tangible. Walking with people through incredible difficulties is not an easy task, but there is beauty in it—a “beautiful struggle.” We have crucifixes in every classroom to serve as a constant reminder of pain and suffering and how we will all experience it one way or another. Leadership is not easy, but God made every person in his image, and they are all worth the beautiful struggle.
New Challenges on the Horizon
In my fourteen years serving as a principal, it has become an increasingly challenging role, particularly in the past five years. Overall mindsets appear to be shifting, even while the beauty of teaching and learning with children remains the same.The world has become more polarized, and it’s felt in our schools by our children. When all aspects of life become politicized, we lose our focus on the basic mission of helping each other grow in soul, encounter Christ, and get to heaven. Arguments about what is or isn’t Catholic, What’s too conservative or too liberal, or what the role of schools is today can dominate discussions, hindering us from embracing those around us. This dilemma is everywhere, and a strategy I have employed is to shut out the noise and simply listen to people, no matter their viewpoint. I approach every conversation with a blank slate, with no bias or predetermined destination. This tactic allows me to listen; now, more than ever, people need to be heard.
At some point, our mindset shifted from “what’s good for the community” to “what’s good for me.” I encounter people who are constantly searching for individual happiness and personal affirmation. This message of “it’s about you and your happiness” has been acknowledged around the world. Unfortunately, constant happiness is not achievable—and it’s a very small slice of the pie chart of life.
Our faith provides answers in the midst of society’s crisis of searching for meaning. At the very least, it provides the opportunity to be with others. Whether through a homily’s message or in prayer time, I’ve been called to think outside myself and care for others. That itself is transformational. As a community, we need to find ways to humble ourselves, pull people back into the fold, and see each other as children of God, not as enemies with differing opinions. We teach this ideal to our students, but to transform our communities, we all need to apply it.
Small Solutions Bear Great Fruit
As a society, we’ve become isolated, searching for instant gratification and happiness, yet coming up empty-handed. We’ve become defensive, feeling slighted. We need to make a change at a higher level, which can be intimidating and overwhelming.
In the small, semi-rural town of Parnell, one way we are breaking these chains is by emphasizing what has always been good: providing daily encounters for the children and engaging our parents, who are their children’s primary teachers.
One of our parish family’s missions is dedicating ourselves to helping men become more involved in their families and community. We accomplish this by humbling ourselves and admitting that, as men, we need to be better fathers, husbands, and community leaders. We can’t expect the priest, principal, or mothers to take care of everything. It takes two to make a marriage work, and it takes all of us to build community. Everyone is busy, but busyness is no longer an acceptable excuse.
Four years ago at Saint Patrick, we started a men’s group called Exodus. We follow the Exodus 90 program that is familiar to many. The program itself does not matter, but the fact that we’ve grown from five dads in the first year to more than thirty today does. The program requires prayer, asceticism, and fraternity. Instead of meeting for Bible study—which can be off-putting for some men—we gather in downtown Grand Rapids and work out together. Afterward, we get coffee and discuss our progress in the program—acts of asceticism that include fasting, taking cold showers, abstaining from alcohol, and more. It’s a challenge, and it humbles all of us, yet the bonds we’ve created are real and lasting. Today, the men show up at Saint Patrick School to read and help at community events, and they regularly attend confession. The change instigated by our men’s group reaches beyond the school walls and is helping build our community as a whole.
While this program is intended for men, there are many similar opportunities for building faith communities of both women and men that you can incorporate into your community at-large. There are long-term gains from experiencing your community face-to-face: praying, learning, working out, breaking bread together. It’s time to get back to board games and bonfires where we all sit together, talking about our children and telling jokes. This type of fraternity is becoming lost. Even a tailgate after Mass in the parking lot encourages all to join as a community for food and family.
The fruits of our program are real—the dynamic has changed in Parnell. It takes everyone in the household to come together, support each other, and build community. And when things don’t go as planned, there is a strong, supportive Catholic community to assist people in various ways.
Being a leader and providing examples of true community starts at home and flows into the school. Catholic school is a prime place to experience this type of community and build a faith-filled foundation for children as they grow into adulthood. Let’s all be involved and invested in our youth and each other. To all the parents, grandparents, and people in the neighborhood: churches and schools are still the epicenter of cities and towns. Let’s band together and strengthen communities everywhere.
Scott Czarnopys is married to his beautiful wife, Arley, and has two children, Haven and Daxton. He is an elementary-school principal serving in his fourteenth year at Saint Patrick School, a thriving semi-rural Catholic school in the Grand Rapids area of Michigan.
Click here to read the full issue of the Sept-Oct 2024 Liguorian magazine.