Graduates of diocesan Catholic schools contribute to communities

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
January 27, 2005

Graduates of the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Sioux City are using the faith they learned to be men and women of service to their communities and parishes.

Monica Pearson is a 1970 graduate of Ryan High School in Boone, which was the Catholic high school. She was in the last class to graduate from the high school. She also attended Sacred Heart Grade School in Boone.

Pearson commented that her Catholic education has had an influence on her life today "because I am still there and still doing stuff. I did a lot of the music in high school and was involved in church and school then. It's something that just stuck with me."

She is the music and liturgical minister at Sacred Heart Church in Boone as well as working with her husband at their family business.

"I am very committed to the church. It has been a big part of our lives. We go to church and we are involved," said Pearson. "In my family, we pray. It is all those little things that I learned that have stuck with me. I try to be a good role model to my children and to the children that I work with at school and at church."

She explained that the education itself taught her responsibility, respect for others, respect for her religion, respect for what she needed to do and accountability.

"That just all carried through," said Pearson. "The faith was in everything that we did at the school. It was involved in every subject that we had someway or another."

Pearson along with all of her children and her mother are products of Catholic education. She currently has grandchildren attending Catholic schools. She noted that all of her children got a good education plus a good background in faith and morals.

"I think it is very important because we have a freedom there to teach things that we don't have in public schools," said Pearson. "There is something special there that you can do and things that you can do that the kids can experience that they are not able to experience at the public school. That is the kinds of values that you want for your family or for your children. That is where you want them to be."

Tom Mullin, the Woodbury County Attorney, attended Bishop Heelan High School in Sioux City and graduated in 1966. He also attended Briar Cliff University in Sioux City and Creighton University School of Law in Omaha. He is a member of Blessed Sacrament Parish.

"I think the education that I received at Heelan and in lower grades was outstanding," said Mullin. "Not only in terms of religious formation, the development of conscience and a belief in what is right and wrong, but also the development of certain skills - the use of the English language, math and the academic subjects. When I was there, I thought it was very well rounded and very competent. I feel it has helped me in all areas of my legal career."

He explained that his education prepared him for being a trial attorney because of the communication skills he learned - research, writing, speaking.

"I think that religious education helps people to form beliefs about right and wrong and teaches about living a Godly life," said Mullin. "We are all sinners and none of us are perfect, but the education provided signs along the way to help teach us what God expects and how we can live to follow God's commandments - to love God and everyone. I think the Catholic education that I received very clearly set out those guidelines. It gave me and my classmates goals to try to attain."

Mullin noted that the main difference between public and Catholic schools is the religious component. He added that in public schools students are not able to discuss the religious influences that had a lot to do with the formation of the country and have played such a large role in the two centuries that the United States has been a nation.

"It's too bad that God cannot be very freely discussed in public schools because most people are in fact religious and believe in God," said Mullin. "One of the good things about religious education is that you are free to discuss the almighty and a belief in God and his commandments. That adds so much to life and the formation of character."

Marie (Luken) Singer is one woman that is following what she learned attending a Catholic school. Singer is a 1938 graduate of St. Joseph School in Le Mars, the predecessor to Gehlen Catholic.

Singer worked for 44 years at a phone company in Le Mars. Now that she is retired, she is volunteering her time in her parish and around the community.

"I don't think that I could have gotten the job that I had and stayed with my job if it hadn't been for my religion," said Singer. "Every time I have a little problem, I either sit down and talk to my mom or to God. I lay my problems in God's hands and it seems like within that day my problems are taken care of."

She reads each Friday at St. James Church at morning Mass and fills the holy water fonts. She is part of the St. James choir. She is currently on the stewardship committee and was formerly on the liturgy committee for several years.

For each funeral at St. James, she goes to the funeral home to say the rosary. She ushers at each funeral at St. James as well.

Singer helps get the newsletter out at Gehlen. Also at Gehlen, she assisted with planning the class reunion activities this last summer.

"It seems like I am busy all the time," said Singer, who also goes to visit friends in the hospital.

Along with being a part of the Le Mars and St. James communities, she is a charter member at Queen of Peace, Inc. in Sioux City.