St. Mary's 5th Graders Participate in Livestream with Pope Leo

Mrs. Arianne Wong is a 5^th grade teacher at St. Mary’s School in Crown Point.  One of her favorite quotes is, “We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.” I’m sure we can all think of a time when we were interrupted. How many times have we attributed that interruption to God? If we rethink the interruptions and, in fact, attribute them to God, we may just learn to accept those disturbances with a little more patience!!

On Friday, November 21, 2025, God was definitely at work in the reason for an interruption to Mrs. Wong’s fifth-grade class at St. Mary Catholic Community School: Our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, was being live-streamed as he and 16,000 youth engaged in a question and answer session. This historic encounter was live-streamed from Lucas Oil Stadium, where the National Catholic Youth Conference was held. 

The Holy Father was asked about Reconciliation, prayer, technology, the future of the Church, and his thoughts on hope. Here is a compilation of the fifth-grade students’ takeaways from the Pope’s responses:

“We can’t give our problems to someone we don’t know. Find little spaces of time to talk to Jesus and have a relationship with Him. We can confidently place things in God’s hands because He can deal with anything.”

“Be prudent and wise with your use of technology and AI because they are becoming distractions. Make sure devices serve your life and not the other way around. AI can never replace the unique gift of human beings. AI does not have true wisdom, nor does it have wonder and awe for what God has created.”

“Youth are not only the future; youth are the present! Say “yes” to opportunities that can make our holiness grow. Work for something greater than yourself. Don’t settle for a shallow version of faith. We were made for greatness.”

After an hour-long break from her normal Friday schedule, Mrs. Wong commented, “The fact that Pope Leo speaks clearly and in a way that is easily relatable made this particular interruption well worth it.” The students’ takeaways are evident of that same thought!

St. Mary Catholic Community School in Crown Point offers classes from Junior Pre-Kindergarten (for three-year-olds) through eighth grade. St. Mary’s faculty provides a rich curriculum supported by cutting-edge technology. To learn more about the school’s upcoming Open House events—January 21 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM and January 25 from 10:00 AM to noon—please visit school.stmarycp.org.