A newly built playground at Sacred Heart Catholic School has been dedicated to the newest canonized saint, Carlo Acutis, following a special ceremony Sept. 15.
Sacred Heart is the first school in the Green Bay Diocese to have something officially dedicated to Acutis, and one of only a few around the world to do so. The Rev. Edward Looney, Sacred Heart’s pastor, was in Rome on Sept. 7 when Acutis, the first millennial saint, was canonized for being God’s influencer online by being devoted to the Eucharist and using social media to get the word out about Catholic devotion.
“He just really felt like this young, new-aged, relatable saint would be perfect for our school, so the students have a saint, someone who they can relate to and yet really celebrate,” said Autumne Gee, the school’s admissions director. “This saint isn’t just going to be someone we’re dedicating our playground to honor, but it will also be an opportunity for our students to continue to learn about St. Carlo and to make him an important part of our school, an important part hopefully of our students’ lives.”
Gee said Acutis is more relatable because, even with his strong dedication to Catholicism, he was like any other youth with playing video games.
“I think anytime we can offer our students someone that they can cling to in our faith or related directly to is just going to help them dig deeper and grow deeper in their faith,” Gee said.
The $100,000 playground has been in the works for nearly three years in terms of raising money. Gee said the school had been replacing portions of the playground, many of which were nearly 30 years old, and then a small group of people started talking about raising money to put all new equipment in. The group initially raised $12,000 but had to put it on hold because of the inflation at the time raising prices on materials.
Gee said the playground also saw funding from the diocese, as well as a large donation from an anonymous donor.
“Our parish is doing great. Our school is on a big uphill swing, so we were just like, ‘OK. Now is the time,’” she said, noting that Looney was on board with making the playground happen.
The playground has equipment for all ages to use, according to Scott Pieper, Sacred Heart’s maintenance director. One section is for the younger children, while the higher grades can make use of another section.
“We added extra swings. We had six before and then we went to eight,” Pieper said. “We have some climb-on items that we didn’t have before, and we still have the gaga pit. We stripped everything out of there, and now we’ve got 12 inches of mulch covering the whole area.”
Pieper said it was time for the playground to be replaced.
“It was time for an update,” he said. “Things were starting to break on that.”
The work on building the playground only took three days, being created right after Labor Day, according to Pieper.
“It didn’t take them long at all. It took two nights to remove the old one,” he said. “We dismantled and hauled everything out. Then we had another guy who donated some equipment, came in and dug out all the old mulch in the ground, and then they were ready for the construction. They came in on a Tuesday and left that Thursday.”
Looney, fresh from his trip to Italy, told students and staff that St. Carlo died from leukemia, and his faith to God did not keep him from doing fun things like dressing as Spider-Man for Halloween.
“He was a model of holiness for young people,” Looney said. “At the canonization Mass, Pope Leo XIV reminded us that all young people, all of us, are called to be saints, and by holding up the example of Carlo Acutis, it was a reminder that Carlo grew up naturally by praying and playing in sports, studying and helping others, as well.”
Looney noted that the playground dedicated to St. Carlo had a loftier price tag originally, but it was still brought down so the school could afford it and still provide its children with enough to play with.
“This playground really is a sign of hope and joy in our parish community and our school community, a place for each one of our children to grow and to play and to especially to be here under the patronage of Carlo Acutis,” Looney said.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
