Bishop Kelley Students Take Time To Experience Historic Day For Catholic Church

For Catholic schools, the naming of a new pope is the perfect history lesson, and that was just the case at Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa.

All eyes were glued to the TV as Pope Francis I was announced to the world.

Keep in mind, most of the students at Bishop Kelley are between the ages of 14 and 18, so it was really a new experience for them and they relished every moment.

Just for the afternoon, the student body at Bishop Kelley traded their textbooks for live TV. And they got away with using their outside voices inside, chanting as they anxiously awaited the name of the newest pope, which is something that's only happened once in their lifetime. That was eight years ago, so their memories are vague.

"I don't remember specifics, but I do kind of remember the great change that came from that," said senior Ashlyn McCorkle.

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McCorkle, along with about 150 of her classmates, crowded around a flat screen, as Bishop Kelley President, Father Brian O'Brien coached them through the unfamiliar process.

"The first person out the door is going to be a cardinal, but that's not the new pope," O'Brien said.

And then came the moment they were all waiting for.

"To get to share it with all of my fellow Catholics here at Bishop Kelley, I think that it's a really good historical day and I'm glad that I'm living in it," freshman Jarrod Chavez said.

I was an historical day, rooted in tradition and mixed with the modern day documentation by way of cell phones snapping pictures, Twitter feeds and Facebook updates, testaments of the world in which we now live.

"I liked the Twitter account, so I hope maybe this pope also has one, because it's relatable and something that I can actually look at and understand," McCorkle said.

McCorkle and eight other students will soon have the chance to understand even more first-hand. On Saturday, they're headed on a school trip to Rome, where they'll be a part of Pope Francis's first week as head of the church.

"And hopefully we're gonna be there whenever he comes out and gives a blessing, so I'm excited," senior Maddie Bowden said.

But until they're at the Vatican, the excitement is ringing through the halls of their high school.

The students are going to Rome with two priests and one teacher. Father O'Brien said they should see Pope Francis speak at the Vatican on Sunday or Wednesday.