Students at St. Peter, East Troy, welcomed Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob for a Mass that capped off Catholic Schools Week on Friday, Jan. 31. (Photo by Greta Taxis)

East Troy may be a small town.

St. Peter may be a small Catholic school.

Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob told an overflow crowd at St. Peter Church in East Troy on Friday, Jan. 31, that’s what it makes them perfect spots to start making a difference.

At an all-school Mass that also included students from St. James the Less Academy in Mukwonago, Archbishop Grob told those in attendance that often we are hesitant to start because we look at the enormity of the problem, as opposed to how important our intervention is to the ones we do help.

“It’s amazing what we can learn from children,” Archbishop Grob said. “Sometimes we think we’re teaching our children and no doubt we do it. Hopefully we’re teaching them good things, but it’s amazing what they can teach us, from their vantage points and from their innocence from this simplicity.”

He used the story of “Frank and Cathy” to illustrate his point.

Frank had saved up all of his vacation and went on a tropical vacation. The morning after he arrived, he awoke before the sunrise and took a walk along the beach.

Off in the distance, he could see a figure bending over and picking something up every few steps.

When he got closer to her, he realized it was Cathy, a 12-year-old girl who was returning starfish to the ocean, knowing if they dried out, they would die. They were literally hundreds of starfish on that beach.

“There’s so many,” Frank said to the little girl. “What difference are you going to make?”

Cathy bent over one more time, but this time, before dropping it in the water, she turned to Frank and said, “It makes a difference to this one.”

St. Peter Principal Joseph MacDonald said he really enjoyed the archbishop’s message, especially considering the audience.

“We can’t be focused on large numbers,” MacDonald said. “I think as adults we get focused on quantity and lose sight of the human person, the individual child … and that’s where the best education happens.”

Archbishop Grob’s visit to one of the smallest schools in the archdiocese (about 30 students) came at the end of Catholic Schools Week. It was quite the feather in the cap for St. Peter to secure the archbishop, considering the school hadn’t had an archbishop for a Schools Week Mass before and Archbishop Grob visited in his first month in his new post.

“That’s God’s providence,” MacDonald said. “I think God is really blessing our school in a very special way this year. It’s a big year for us, as we kind of revitalize the school for the future.”

That revitalization will include a shift to a more classical educational model, with unique aspects like a hybrid model for home-school families and getting students outside for some of their studies and to grow some of their own food.

Receiving the offertory gifts from a trio of young schoolchildren and a teacher, Archbishop Grob knelt so he could talk to them eye to eye.

Referring to his story of Frank and Cathy, Archbishop Grob said, “Living in this moment, we are called upon to help show the way, to make a difference. Maybe we’re not going to change the word, but we can have a profound effect on where we live, you and I. Cathy at age 12, she could make a difference, and you and I can, too, when we remain drowned in the person of Jesus Christ. He is our power. He is our truth. In him, all things are possible.”

In welcoming Archbishop Grob, Pastor Fr. Jordan Berghouse did note that East Troy wasn’t as small as the archbishop’s native Cross Plains, mentioning that East Troy had about 500 residents more.

“When you were a boy, this might have felt like the big city, but I don’t think it does now after being in Chicago,” Fr. Berghouse said. “In these parishes, we are fiercely committed to Catholic education as the most effective way for a parish to evangelize children and, by extension, their families.”

“It’s always nice to have a Cross Plains reference before 8:30 in the morning,” Archbishop Grob said.

Archbishop Grob noted that ending Catholic Schools Week on the Feast of St. John Bosco was fitting, considering the saint’s whole life was dedication to the education and care of the youth.