MY FIVE-YEAR NOTRE DAME JOURNEY, 1965 – 1969 PART 4

This is the 4th of a six-part series from an article published in the 2019 Chicago anniversary brochure by the Notre Dame Alumni Association, North American Chapter – Part 3 here

By Mr. Pius Adebayo Omodara
National President (Emeritus)
and 1969 Senior Prefect

PART 4: SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT AND TRUTHFULNESS

 Not all of us were Catholics when we resumed in 1965, but by the time we left the school in 1969, all but one, Akinyemi Michael, had become Catholics. Our Principal, Rev. Fr. Dr. P. Kelly personally handled Religious Knowledge and it was all about Catholic doctrine. Daily morning masses were important and compulsory for all even though many students would not want to wake up as early as 5:00am to prepare for the day’s activities. Daily evening recitation of the rosary was religiously obeyed more so when the patroness of the school is the Virgin Mary. The daily Angelus at 6.00am, 12noon and 6.00pm was mandatory. At the recitation of the angelus every student would remain standstill irrespective of what we were doing. Before and after every period, it was compulsory we prayed. 

 All these teachings shaped our life to be God fearing and we all carried this to the world where we met ourselves after leaving the school. Notre Dame has inculcated in its Old Students HONESTY, TRANSPARENCY and TRUTHFULLNESS. From day one when we entered the school, we were thought to imbibe honesty and it was demonstrated in the school administration.

 From our £59.00 annual school fees, at the end of every term, a good number of the students would receive brown envelopes from the accounts containing monetary changes arising from: clothes not submitted for laundry, books not taken from the bookstore and food not taken from the dinning. (Records are taken of all these in the various departments concerned). If Nigerian leaders had gone through Notre Dame, corruption, looting and diversion of government properties to personal sue would not have roots in them.