Faith That Becomes Your Own: Catholic High School Faith Formation at Bishop Miege
“Faith is a choice that you get to wake up every morning and choose. It is a story that you get to write, and the people sitting around right now, today they’re part of your story. So today I invite you to make the choice and to participate fully and willingly.”
In the reflection below, he shares how his faith has grown throughout his four years and how that journey has shaped both him and his class.
By: Graham Walsh, Class of 2026
Faith formation that shapes community
When Mr. Creach asked me to share my witness for the Senior Mass, of course I wasn’t going to say no. I immediately started thinking how I was going to make this witness different from all the other witnesses we have received this year. Today I will talk about how my faith has grown through my time at Miege and how my class has grown here at Miege.
I am what is called cradle Catholic, meaning I was born and grew up Catholic. I went to Catholic grade school as many of you have, and Mass every Wednesday and Sunday felt like a chore. Going into high school I was so happy to hear that we only had All School Mass once a month. As I went on with my high school career, I went on retreats and realized that getting to live out my faith is not a chore. It is a choice.
A moment that changed everything: Junior Retreat
A big turning point for my faith life was the Junior Retreat. After a long day of talks and playing games, we all gathered into the chapel at Prairie Star Ranch and something happened. As the sun set through the stained glass windows, the music was playing, and everybody that was there could say that there was something special there. After that retreat, I realized that Mass wasn’t a chore.
That retreat not only had an effect on me, it affected our class as a whole. After that retreat, our class was more open. Our freshman year had ups and many downs. But we overcame it our sophomore year and by the end of junior year we were an entirely different class. We were a group of people who actually knew and cared about each other. And I think that’s what faith does. It changes the way you see the people around you.
Catholic high school faith formation in action
There’s a verse in today’s Gospel where Jesus says, “I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). Thinking back to the moment in the chapel, that was God’s light breaking through. Not just for me but for all of us.
And I think that’s what these four years have been. Moments of light, one after another, slowly pulling our class out of the darkness and into something much better. So as we finish out this final week of high school if you remember anything from this, remember this. Faith isn’t a checklist, and it’s not a chore.
Faith is a choice that you get to wake up every morning and choose. It is a story that you get to write, and the people sitting around right now, today they’re part of your story. So today I invite you to make the choice and to participate fully and willingly.
At Bishop Miege, through Sacraments, retreats, service, Campus Ministry, and everyday moments of connection, students are invited to grow and make their faith their own. It is not about obligation, but about formation of the whole person — mind, body, and spirit — within a community that walks with them. We believe the habits formed here last far beyond graduation, shaping young men and women who are prepared to live with purpose and journey toward Heaven.