At Our Lady of Hungary, ‘There’s So Much Hope’

Bishop Rhoades’ visit began with Mass in the colorful sanctuary space of Our Lady of Hungary. Teachers, students, and daily Mass goers all listened intently as Bishop Rhoades preached on the feast day of St. Teresa of Calcutta, a saint dear to the shepherd of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

“Mother Teresa and her sisters began every day always with Mass,” he told the students. “People would ask Mother Teresa, ‘Aren’t you afraid of catching disease?’ but she said, ‘I live every day and give thanks to help where I see Jesus in the host.’ She saw Jesus in the poor,” he continued. “She loved Jesus so much even though it was dangerous for her,” he finished.

After Mass, Bishop Rhoades and Father Ben Landrigan, pastor of Our Lady of Hungary, made their way through the school to visit students and teachers.

“It’s really special for everybody, not just the kids, but also the teachers and the staff, to have the head shepherd of the diocese here with them and to know that he has this great heart for little schools like us,” Father Landrigan said.

“It was really fun was seeing when Bishop Rhoades first said something in Spanish to the preschoolers,” Father Landrigan continued. “They were not paying as close attention because it’s usually hard to get their attention. But when he did this, they just snapped up because, oh my gosh, he was speaking Spanish to them, and they didn’t know that he could speak Spanish,” Father Landrigan told Today’s Catholic.   

He added: “[Our Lady of Hungary] was founded on the mission of education that serves largely the children of first-generation immigrants. Then it was Hungarians, now it’s Hispanics, and so it’s teaching these kids educationally, but also their faith, as well as English. And then through these kids, it re-evangelizes these parents who’ve moved here for another country and another language but brought their Catholic faith with them.”

During the visit, Francisca Flores, principal at Our Lady of Hungary Catholic School, sat down with Today’s Catholic to share the community’s excitement for a pastoral visit from Bishop Rhoades.

“I think in Catholic education, priests, nuns, bishops, cardinals need to be present in the lives of children because it’s not the same as we laypeople. When they visit, they teach them, they share with them, and they sit down and let them ask questions. … They see [Bishop Rhoades] as a person speaking through Jesus,” Flores said.

At the heart of Our Lady of Hungary is devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Flores noted that this devotion unites the multiple cultures at the school.

“We are multicultural school. We have Hispanic, but Hispanic coming from Mexico, from Guatemala, from Honduras, from [other countries in] Latin America. We have Afro American families. We have Anglo families. We have Irish families and Hungarian families. And I told them, ‘Mary has different faces for different cultures.’ Our Lady of Hungary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and so many others are all Mary.”

Kelly Culver, a kindergarten teacher at the school, is only four weeks into her first year not only at Our Lady of Hungary but as an elementary educator. Culver previously worked for the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

“It’s a wonderful community,” Culver told Today’s Catholic. “There is so much hope, and it is so filled with prayer. It is a tough community – there are broken homes, and a lot of students are at the poverty line,” she said.

As students played outside, Culver told Today’s Catholic, “Everything starts with prayer here as we aim to discover what God has created us to be.”

Herminia Galicia, the school’s librarian and art teacher, told Today’s Catholic, “The students were definitely interested in Bishop coming; they look at his hat and go, ‘Why is he wearing that?’ And they want to know more,” she said.

“These kids want to come to school; they want to be here. … It is Our Lady of Hungary who does this. When they have problems and struggles, they come to me, and I say, ‘Pray, pray, pray.’”