A Man and a School Awaken, by Austin Ruse

Some years ago, a priest came into a Catholic high school in southern Maryland and made a pitch for vocations. “Do priests dance? Why yes, we do,” he said as he showed them a video of priests dancing. That kind of thing. His pitch enthused precisely no one.

Not long after, the school invited a cassock-wearing priest who bluntly told the kids that God calls them to be saints. He challenged them.

John Olon, the theology teacher who invited Fr. Rob Walsh of the cassock into the classroom, cringed at Walsh’s message. He thought the kids wouldn’t have it, and they’d hate it. Like many adults, he thought the kids might want happy-clappy. He sold them short. A lacrosse player asked Olon if the cassock-wearing priest was coming back. Olon told the kid not to worry; he wouldn’t be invited back. The kid told Olon he wanted him back. …