In the 1990s, a petition called “We Are Church,” which denied fundamental truths of the Catholic faith, started in Germany and began spreading to other countries. The petition advocated for women priests and denied papal authority and priestly celibacy. When it reached the U.S., the petition was mailed out to Catholic high schools, including to Seton School in Manassas where Anne Carroll saw it. She read the petition to her senior religion class, and they immediately wanted to write their own petition defending the faith.
“We learned about a petition being circulated, which was demanding harmful changes for the church,” said Jason Torres. “While at lunch, Billy Powell and I began discussing writing a counter petition refuting their assertions. One of the goals of the petition against the Catholic Church was that they wanted each signer to donate one dollar, so we specifically asked that no one send any money and just sign as a profession of faith. So of course, when we said we wanted no money, people sent the school a fair amount of money.”
After Torres and Powell wrote the “We Are Catholics” petition, the seniors began circulating it around Seton to get signatures. Powell said he wrote to other Catholic schools in the area asking for their support in the petition; only one answered, and said no.
The students’ petition spread out and when it reached Front Royal, it made an impact. Human Life International, a pro-life organization, read their petition and their founder, Father Paul Marx, wanted to finance a trip to Rome.
“I had the great privilege of organizing the trip to Rome for the students, Father Richard Welch, Helen Garrity, Mrs. Anne Carroll and their chaperones,” said HLI staff member Sherri McGrath. “Twenty-five years ago, I was a manager at HLI working under Helen Garrity. She spoke to me about the petition and how HLI wanted to take some Seton students to Rome and present the petition to the future Pope St. John Paul the Great. I doubt if these young students knew just how much support they were receiving. I was overjoyed that some Seton high school students would have the opportunity to go to Rome and have an audience with the Holy Father.”
This group of students, chaperones and their supporters left for Rome Nov. 18, 1997. The following day was the papal audience with Pope John Paul II.
“The papal audience where the pope mentioned the students’ petition was also very moving. I cried,” said Maryan Vander Woude, chaperone.
After the papal audience, the group spent the rest of the days touring Rome. Each morning, the group went to Mass at St. Peter’s. They explored the basilica and experienced the Scavi Tour underneath the basilica where the bones of St. Peter are kept, a highlight of the trip according to several attendees.
The experience was life-changing for all involved and has proven to be a long-lasting, meaningful legacy for Seton.
