February 4, 2025 // Bishop
‘Radiating Joy’ at Sacred Heart School
“The pope is coming!” a group of kindergarteners said to their teacher, Monica Smith.
“It’s a running joke now that Bishop Rhoades is the pope,” laughed Smith. “They aren’t old enough to understand Church hierarchy yet,” she said.

Photos by Clare Hildebrandt
Second grade students at Sacred Heart Catholic School await the arrival of Bishop Rhoades on Friday, January 31.
On Friday, January 31, Bishop Rhoades made a pastoral visit to Sacred Heart Catholic School in Warsaw, where he met with kindergarten through sixth grade students in their classrooms.
Click here for more photos from Sacred Heart.
In the morning, he celebrated Mass with the students, speaking about St. John Bosco and his patronage of young people in the homily.
“Bishop Rhoades makes holiness accessible for the kids,” Sacred Heart Principal Mike McClain told Today’s Catholic. “They see the way he interacts and thoughtfully engages with them. I can see it’s so exciting for them,” he said.

Kindergarten teacher Monica Smith and her students pose with Bishop Rhoades at Sacred Heart Catholic School.
“We really are trying to set a culture and climate here of being excited about the faith,” McClain added. “We aim for a Christ-centered culture of joy and want to authentically live it. We do not want to just put it up on the walls but teach students to truly radiate joy from their hearts,” he explained.
The students’ artwork on the walls is a testament to this joy, McClain said.
“If you look at some of the [portraits] on the walls, look at how many of them have smiles on their faces. You can see in these things this literal joy.”
The school also takes the time to cultivate faith and community in group meetings of students and teachers.
“We have morning meetings on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays where we pull the kids and teachers into the gym. They’re organized into groups, and they learn about virtue together. We all pray together,” McClain said.
While Sacred Heart Catholic School currently consists of pre-K through sixth grade, they plan to add seventh and eighth grades in the future.

Kindergarten students at Sacred Heart Catholic School show Bishop Rhoades their pet hamster, Fluffernutter, during his pastoral visit.
“We kicked off a capital campaign to expand the school because our parishioners feel really passionate about adding a seventh and eighth grade,” McClain said. “Hopefully in a total of five years, we’ll have those grades. Our current third graders would be the first group of seventh graders,” McClain said.
When Bishop Rhoades visited the kindergarten class, the students showed him their class pet, a hamster named Fluffernutter. It was a highlight for students to talk about faith while also playing with the pet named for the iconic peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich.
The young students told Bishop Rhoades about their class pet and said, “We make a maze for her, and she runs in it. She always jumps out,” one student said.
“Be careful or she will go to the bathroom on you,” another student warned Bishop Rhoades.
When he visited the second graders, they had many questions pertaining to his role in the Church.
Theresa Sullivan, a second grade teacher, told Today’s Catholic about how excited the class was to ask Bishop Rhoades some questions.
“The reason that they were so thrilled to see Bishop is because of his love for the faith,” Sullivan said. “They love learning about God and learning about the faith, and to have a leader of the Church here, it’s just so exciting for them. We talk about what role he plays and how he is leading people in the diocese to sainthood,” she said.
“They have beautiful, open hearts to receive the faith,” she said with tears in her eyes. “If I can just teach what God wants them to know, they are so open to receive it and to accept it.”
Sullivan added: “It’s just so beautiful to watch these children who are just so close to God grow in faith. My own faith grows by seeing their childlike confidence and faith in what you teach them.”
Clare Hildebrandt is a staff reporter for Today’s Catholic.
ABOUT SACRED HEART
Address: 135 N. Harrison St., Warsaw
Phone number: 574-267-5874
Founded: 1957
Number of students: 220
Nickname: Vikings
Principal: Mike McClain
Website: shswarsaw.org
The best news. Delivered to your inbox.
Subscribe to our mailing list today.