How peanut butter and jelly sandwiches will help form good, Christian men and women at St. Augustine School

Bella Young

Multimedia Correspondent

St. Augustine School, Covington, focuses on forming good, holy, Christian men and women through practical application of the faith. Father Dan Schomaker, pastor at St. Augustine Parish, Covington, asks the question, “How can we get the students used to understanding that the faith is practical? It’s not just this philosophy, or ideas, or feelings, it engages the whole person.” The answer this time lies in the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Recently inspired by a story told by Father Salvador Gonzalez, director of the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, Father Schomaker knew he wanted to instill in the students the virtue in Father Gonzalez’s story. “Father Gonzalez, when he was a young man, was a server at his home parish. Before serving on the weekend, he would have to show up an hour early, he would have to go give a sandwich to one of the homeless people on the property. The pastor required that he had to get to know them, he had to learn their name.” The virtue, feed someone else before you feed yourself.

“I heard that, and it stuck with me,” said Father Schomaker, “How can I participate in the corporal work of mercy, giving food to the hungry, feeding the hungry?” Turning to Parish Kitchen, Covington, Father Schomaker had an idea, what if there were to-go bags of prepackaged peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that patrons of Parish Kitchen could take with them? Inspired by Father Gonzalez and seeking to get his students involved in practical applications of faith, Father Schomaker decided that while the middle school students waited in line for breakfast, they would make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to be taken to Parish Kitchen.

“We announced yesterday to the kids that after Mass, the kids go to Mass every day and they have breakfast every day, that before they are allowed to eat, they have to feed somebody else. They have to provide food for someone that is hungry,” said Father Schomaker. In his announcement to the students Father Schomaker explained why the sandwiches are to be made before the students eat.

“I get that you are hungry, but you have food right over there, ready for you. There are other people who don’t know if they’re going to have food and so we’re going to provide it for them,” speaking to the students Father Schomaker continued, “You are going to sacrifice three minutes of hunger, five minutes of hunger, to feed someone else.”

Only the middle schoolers will be participating in the making of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. “They go last anyway to get their food because the little kids go first and so instead of waiting in line doing nothing, they’re going to be making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” said Father Schomaker. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are not the only thing students will be making however, because people can be hungry in more way than one.

“Building off of what Mother Theresa has really talked about,” Father Schomaker said, “there is a greater hinger than just for food. There’s more of a hunger for love.” It was with this idea in mind that the students will also be making notes for those that receive the sandwiches.

To promote collaboration the St. Augustine Parish St. Vincent De Paul Conference will be donating the bread, peanut butter and jelly. “I talked to our conference and explained what I want to do to help promote the corporal works of mercy with the school children. I asked if they would be able to help pay for the food, and they said yes. I am very grateful for that,” said Father Schomaker.

“It’s just the practical aspect of the faith, you have to get your hands dirty, ours is not a philosophy, ours is a belief in a person who is Jesus Christ, who is God, who is put on flesh, who is given food to the poor and the hungry. He has done all these things, and we are called to emulate him. Well, this is that practice. How do we emulate the Lord? Here is a simple way that we can do it,” Father Schomaker said.