Students at St. Mary School in North Vernon hold mock conclave

Students at St. Mary School in North Vernon pose on March 11 in their school’s gym after completing a mock conclave in which students acted out various roles and, in the process, learned how popes are elected. Eighth-grader Bret Sawyer, center at the top, was elected pope on the second ballot and took the name Maximilian. (Submitted photo)

By Sean Gallagher

Students at St. Mary School in North Vernon got a taste of what a conclave to elect a pope was like in their own mock conclave held on March 11, the day before the start of the real one at the Vatican.

Father Jonathan Meyer, pastor of St. Mary Parish in North Vernon, organized the event with the help of the school’s eighth-grade teacher, Lisa Vogel.

It followed closely each of the rituals of a conclave and the tasks to prepare for it. First, “workers” made sure that no listening devices were in the “Sistine Chapel”—actually, the school’s gym—and then took away all cell phones from the “cardinals.” (See a photo gallery from this event)

Then the “cardinals,” a group of upper grade boys in the school, wearing red cassocks, white surplices, red capes and red zucchettos, processed in while chanting the “Veni Creator Spiritus” sequence. Each took an oath, and then students playing members of the press were asked to leave.

The rest of the students watched the voting from the gym’s bleachers while Father Meyer commented on each step to help them learn about what would happen during a real conclave.

Each of the 40 cardinals took up his ballot and said a prayer before depositing it in a chalice on an altar that sat in front of a screen, on which was projected an image of Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment.”

After two ballots, “Cardinal” Bret Sawyer, an eighth-grader, was elected pope and took the name Maximilian, which is his confirmation name.

The conclave ended with the new pope donning a white cassock and giving his blessing to the assembled crowd, which cheered for the new pontiff.

Father Meyer was impressed by how much the students learned from the mock conclave, and how they showed their love for the faith during it.

“Our Catholic faith, in a certain way, is so in depth that it demands drama,” he said. “And these young people were literally captured [by it]. Our preschoolers up through our eighth-graders who were watching this and acting it out were enthralled by the drama of the Church.

“It’s a beautiful thing. It’s 2,000 years of history and tradition all wrapped up into our present era.” †

 

Related: More coverage of the papal transition