It's Like Wow!

What truly sets Catholic education apart?

In the first episode of Rooted & Rising, Andrew McDonald sits down with Krista Wahl and Sean Kahn to explore the heart of Catholic schools—why families choose them, how faith and academics work hand in hand, and what it means to form students for life, not just achievement.

This conversation reflects on mission, culture, calling, and why the work of Catholic education feels deeply personal to those who serve in it every day.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to Rooted in Rising, a short podcast where we highlight the people, programs, and moments that make Billings Catholic schools special. Each episode, we'll spend just a few minutes sharing one story from across our system. Something worth noticing, worth celebrating, and worth building on. I'm Andrew McDonald, and I'm glad you're here. Yeah, I mean, I think this is just it's just fun. Easy questions, no pressure. So today I've got a couple folks with me, and I'm gonna let them introduce themselves. We'll start over here.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Okay. My name is Sean Kahn. I am the junior and sophomore theology teacher at Central, and I've just joined on for this semester, and it's been a great year so far. I've loved every single second of it. I'm a member of St. Pat's parish. I also run the youth group there, and I do a lot of fun stuff outside of that. So yeah, lots of people know me, and it's great. Awesome. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

And how about you?

SPEAKER_00 1:02

I'm Krista Wall, and this is my third year at Central. Before that, I was at St. Francis for quite a while. I am the theology teacher for ninth and tenth grade. I'm also in charge of campus liturgy. I'm a member at St. Pai's Parish and I just I love where I work. So it's great.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Super excited that you guys are here today, especially to talk about the mission of Catholic schools and and why Catholic schools matter. So to kind of open it up, what what do you believe truly distinguishes Catholic education or Catholic schools today?

SPEAKER_02 1:34

I think it's mostly the church teaching. You know, we have a solid foundation from the last 2,000 years of theology that we have. Based off of that, we are running our schools morality-wise, we are running them leadership-wise. We have a good foundation. And I think that helps a lot.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Yeah, I'll agree with Sean. I feel like there are some good things happening within these walls. You know, we have many times that we get together in prayer. We just did stations of the cross today for Holy Thursday. All these opportunities for us to pray together. I feel like, you know, having the ability to speak the teachings of Christ, not just in theology, but in every single class and every single moment of the day is truly a gift that we're able to have here.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

So yeah, I think one of the things that I've always thought about, especially with Catholic schools, right? Any any school has a like a values program. So a lot of them are encouraging kids to be good, right? To do good things, to treat one another with respect. But they they don't often have like the why behind it. And I think one of the best parts about Catholic education is there's a why. And we can talk to kids about the reason that it's important to treat people well. I mean, God imbued us all with dignity, right? So so we get to give kids a reason. And if there's one thing I know about kids, if you just tell them to do something, like they're often gonna ignore you. But if you can explain it and give them a why, they're they're definitely more invested. Do you guys see that with with students or with behavior here? Like being able to lean into that why, why these things matter?

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Oh, yeah, definitely. You know, just in theology, I I try to make it a safe space. Like this is where we can speak our values, speak our truths, you know, try to be respectful, calling kids out. You know, I don't have a problem calling, you know, the behaviors and you know, just some of the ways that kids teach, you know, treat each other. And and I think they are just so used to talking to each other the way that they talk too, that they need adults in their lives to kind of say, hey, you know, we don't, we don't want to do that, or we don't, we shouldn't be doing that kind of thing. And, you know, just to see the other teachers and the way that we interact with each other too, I think is a positive role model. You know, we can be showing those values as well.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

I think too, with the question why, like these kids are asking themselves that every single day because the at this age in their life, they're starting to question things more because they see things that are good and they see things that are bad, and they want to understand both sides of it to choose. You know, this is this is a very pivotal, a pivotal moment in their lives, these ages where they get to figure out stuff for their own and finally to learn stuff for their own. And they're curious. I think lots of them don't want to be a part of a system that is just like telling them what to do and going through everything just normally, you know. They wanna they want to break out of that system. They want to like question things, they want to learn for their own and develop a system that works for them, not a system that's built for them.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Yeah. For sure. I think one of the things that I've found too, especially with with kids around that high school age, I mean, it even really kind of starts at fifth grade, right? I think that's when they really start to kind of develop their own sense of self or they they start figuring that out. The Catholic faith is really counter-cultural right now. And in a lot of ways, that's what kids are looking for, right? Like that they rebel against the norm, rebel against the standard. And if we think about what our Catholic faith teaches, it is so different than what the world says we should value. And when you can lean into that with them, man, you can get them hooked right away. But like with our mission, right? Faith is obviously the first characteristic of our mission. And then we have family spirit and academic excellence. So, how do you think faith really shapes those other two? How does faith play into family spirit and academic excellence?

SPEAKER_02 5:24

I think it definitely instills core values for them. It tells them like that question, why? Why should we do this in the first place? And it makes them have that drive to actually do stuff and it gives them a good framework on like what is good. Um, and I think that's the biggest thing that they should understand in those uh certain aspects. Like it's not just you're doing you're academically excellent for the numbers. It's not just you're good with your family just because they're like your family, they birth you and everything like that. You you really get to understand the why because of the faith aspect. And I think that helps them tremendously.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

And you know, going off of that too, I don't think you can separate faith from the other two. For sure. Faith is what encompasses you know our family spirit, it's what encompasses you know all aspects of what happens here. I mean, you can see the way kids crave faith. You can see the way kids crave wanting to be a part of something. You know, and and this is a place where they can get that on a regular basis. And you know, if you're you can't hide your faith. Faith is not meant to be hidden. So if we're living those gospel values every day, you know, that does it it permeates those other areas of our life and especially our mission of our school.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Yeah. I think I think too, with with students, right, at this age, they often want to be like the crowd, right, that's around them. They they need to fit, they need to find that home. And and so having faith as a as a key characteristic, how do you believe that that enables kids to to be their authentic selves here? Do you see more of that here? Can they have those conversations? Can they can they stand up for those values, those virtues that we teach?

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Especially, yes, 100%. I I know I especially say my favorite quote is from C.S. Lewis. It's to love it all is to be vulnerable. Love anything in your heart will be wrong and possibly broken. And I tell them constantly in class, like, you have to be vulnerable. You have to be vulnerable in conversations with another to get to know people. And I have days where I have them like actually talk one-on-one and I give them like conversation starters, and they're able to actually hold a conversation for 15 minutes to get to know somebody, but more so they're gonna ex they get to express themselves. And it's so beautiful getting to see them want to do that.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

It's huge, especially in the area era of you know, cell phones and digital communication all the time. So that that face-to-face communication is something the kids don't often experience really anymore unless it's forced.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Right. Yeah. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

I tell them a lot that it's like they edit themselves on their phones. They edit every single word that they're gonna say, they type a text out and then they delete it. Or even if they send a text, they're like, wait a second, I don't want to say that, and they change it up. Aaron Powell, I'm super guilty of that today to this day, too. Like I can't send a text without second guessing it 1500 times. Exactly, because they want to present the perfect self, the perfect version of themselves. And because that's what's displayed on the internet. That's exactly like what you see on your Instagram feed, on your TikTok feed. You see the perfect version of that person. You don't you don't get to see the raw, unfiltered version of them. But in real life, when you meet them, that's that raw, unfiltered version of yourself. And you got to understand who that is and not who you're acting out to the world.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

For sure. I want to talk about two things in particular, and I want to highlight one thing that I've seen from each of you that has been incredibly meaningful to me. And I'm gonna start with you, Sean, with the vulnerability aspect, right? When you came in, I mean, you've only been at Central for a couple of months at this point, but one of the first things that you did was talk to students about how reverence during mass is something that you really value and appreciate. And you came in and said that you were going to kneel during the Eucharistic prayer and did. And within a couple of weeks, we had a bunch of other students feel that it was safe and okay to do the same thing. How did you bring that about? Like why why does that happen? How did you enable that? I think I just love God.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

You know, like He He's just absolutely amazing. And the gifts that He's given me in my life, and not only for what He's done for me, but like who he who he is in my life. Like He's really shown Himself to be a good and knowledgeable God. And I think that because I know him, because I have that relationship with him, I want others to have that too. I want everybody else around me to see what good, like what good he can do, but what good he is. And I want everybody to know that, like, yeah, our God is a God that is a God of love, is a God of compassion, is a God that's always there for you, even when you don't want him there, or even if you don't feel him there, he's there. And I want everybody to know that because I don't want anybody to be alone in this world. I think that's our biggest problem today is that we sever uh separate ourselves onto so many different islands. And I've done that so many times in my life, and I found that that is a time where I am not fulfilled, where I'm not happy, where I don't understand anything in my life is for the good. And that time it it it has hurt like my progress and my development as a person. And I don't want people to go through that. I want them to see that they don't have to do that anymore, that they can be a part of this system with everybody around them and be a part of this community with God. And I think that's the biggest thing that I wanted to bring in, especially with Mass, is that like, no, when you're here at Mass, you're here worshiping a good God that's with everybody else. You're joining into this communion of saints that you're uniting the church militant, the church suffering, and the church triumphant all together in one. And it's such a beautiful moment that like God is there, and the choirs of angels and saints are singing, and it's like wow, you know, like there's no other words for it, and it's just so amazing. And being able to share that passion with them, like I want them to see that too. I want them to like during the holy, holy, holy to like look up into the sky and like imagine angels and saints there, you know, like and to think to themselves like I can be a part of that group too. You know, I I can be looking down on everybody else that's celebrating Mass when I'm in heaven, and I get to like see how they're worshiping too. And that or that demands some respect, but more than anything, like when you have God in front of you present, like my jaw drops every single time I see the Eucharist, like during the consecration prayer, and I'm just I just want them to see him, you know, for who he truly is in his glorified body.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Like, well, I I know in our faith, right, we talk about like living joy, and I can say in all seriousness that it is nearly impossible to talk to Sean in person and not experience joy. Like everything that he just said is absolutely true, right? Like there are smiles on both Krista and my face. You should see the smile on his face as he's talking about this. Like, I wish we were live streaming this because it's amazing. But then to Krista, right? I have wanted to see a service fair come to fruition for nearly a decade, never been able to pull it off, and then pitch the idea to you, and all of a sudden it's a reality. And we have 15 different organizations in the gym talking to kids about how they can get involved in the community. What was that like to pull together? And and and how did you feel standing in that gym seeing that happen? Because I was overjoyed.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Right. Yeah. Like, you know, like you said, we'd talked about it for a while and just it would come up in conversation, and then it, you know, we'd pass it off and we'd bring it up again and pass it off. And then finally, thanks to you, it was like, okay, we're gonna do this. And, you know, we've been organizing with uh we have a day of service every March. We just had it last week, actually. And so I kind of started there with some of the people that have been willing to let us bring our kids to help them out. The response was overwhelming. You know, these community organizations wanted to be a part of it. So that was the easy part, right? The reaching out and you know, getting them involved, that was definitely the easy part. And then to kind of yeah, to see the setup and to see all of them in there and our kids actually going from station to station and listen like listening to what these people do and you know, signing up to help, finding the interest in the service that they wanted to, because you know, as part of our curriculum, obviously service is a big, a big deal. And so try to get these kids signed up and kind of going with consistent service because again, the gospel message, right, is to love your neighbor and to serve and be the hands and feet of Christ. And so it it was it was neat. It was neat. And we heard nothing but positive, nothing but positive feedback. So hopefully next year can be bigger and better and we can keep going from there.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Yeah, absolutely incredible day. Seeing all the kids in there just chatting with folks, the different organizations that came and showed up. So grateful for them for rolling the dice and saying, Yeah, sure, we'll come hang out in a high school and see how we're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

We were able to get, you know, uh Special Olympics and Riverstone Health and Billings Clinic, Angela's Piazza. I mean, you know, we had parks and recreation here. So many people that were willing to and they said our our kids, our students were so respectful and so open to us. So it's a good reflection on our students as well, how they interacted with you know, our community members.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

So yeah, we've got some really, really incredible kids. And it's always fun to bring outside organizations in and get our students exposed to those organizations, but for them to see the work that that goes in here as well. And I can think of no better person to set something like that up than you because when we talk about service, right? Like if Sean's gonna be joy, right, Krista's gonna be service. Truly, truly special folks that that are here and and make this place what it is. Last question that I've got for you for today is with a Catholic school and teaching, especially in a Catholic school, there's a there's a particular calling to that. Why does this work feel personal to you?

SPEAKER_00 15:23

I have a long history of Catholic education. You know, my dad was the principal at St. Pius. When it was St. Pius, he was the principal at the intermediate school. So I've grown up with Catholic Catholic education. I went to Central and I honestly sometimes think, you know, when I was in this building, sitting in the classroom as a student that I now occupy, I would have never thought that I'd I'd be here in this building. But every day, and I can say this with honesty, every day brings me joy. Like I just love, I love what I'm doing. And it it doesn't feel like a job, it's a vocation. And to see, you know, we have such great role models of the faith in this building, and to see those kids take that and run with it, you know, and the opportunities that we have for our students to interact with the faith and to be able to be a part of that. I mean, it's it's a privilege for me.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

So yeah, and I think for me, like ministry just rings out in my mind whenever I like think about the Catholic schools or the faith. Like, I just want to know what I can give back to the body of Christ. And like God has bestowed me with so many great gifts that I just want to like be able to, like, I always like the body of Christ is like that, like we're all play our part in the body of Christ. I tell my kids this, but I'm like, if you were a thumb in the body of Christ, like what do you do? Sure, you move around and stuff like that. But the the way that you move around is by receiving the blood. So like you actually have to like move your muscles and stuff too. But the only way that you can do that is by getting blood. But what do you do? You don't just keep that with you. Otherwise, you'd have a swollen thumb, you know? You have to give it back, you have to circulate it back into the body. And it's so like beautiful like getting to be able to do that. I know from my personal experience, like I grew up in the public schools until about middle school. And then I went to the upper building. And like the Catholic school system just like helped me out so much personally. Like being able to have that like tight-knit family, not only with my friends, but with the teachers too and the other like community around us. And it put me back into the community. When I graduated high school, I wasn't, I didn't go to any college that any of my friends went to, and I was here by myself, so I needed some place to go. And the Catholic Church was that place for me. I started helping out at St. Pat's, and that community just like grew and grew for me to where I really felt like I had a family there. And it was so beautiful, like getting that aspect of that. And then I started coming back to Central and helping out, and I love this family here. It's so amazing, and I just want to give as much as I can to it.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

I yeah, yeah, it's incredible. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to be with me today. Um absolutely incredible folks that I get to share this table with and have a conversation with. So uh hope you enjoyed the episode today. Thank you guys both for everything that you do. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to Rooted in Rising. We'll be back next week with another story worth celebrating.