Saint Mary's...Sounds like a Catholic school, right? At Catholic schools, don't the students pray in every class?

From looking at St. Mary's, however, the second question doesn't have a clear answer. In many classrooms, class does not begin with a prayer.

Many students neglect prayer even when it is spoken in class. Some students mumble. Others say prayers with no feeling. Still others don't even stop and think about what the prayer they are saying means. A very small number of people have even slept during prayer.

Another neglected part of our Catholic school is the chapel on the second floor. Students venture there infrequently. In addition, on occasions when student do visit the chapel, they don't always do so in order to pray. Sometimes, they gossip or do homework, activities that can happen just as well in the hallway. When the chapel is used in this way, people who want to go to the chapel for prayer may not be able to do so without being disturbed.

Prayer is a very important part of a Christian's life. Because St. Mary's is a Catholic school, it is even more important. However, this facet of spirituality is absent or lacking in many aspects of St. Mary's.

Frances Shefl