By Tim Puet
Catholic Times Reporter

Opportunities to see the presence of Jesus and spread his love can be found anywhere, says Columbus Bishop Watterson High School junior Matthew Heidenreich. You just have to know where to look.

“I’m always trying to find Christ in the people I encounter” inside and outside school, Matthew said. “It’s easy to do with friends, but even when I’m walking by people in the hallways, I’m trying to see a part of God in them. You have to search for it, but it’s there.”

Sometimes that presence can be found in unexpected places. “Some people have a habit of surprising me,” Matthew said. “Take the guys in the weight room (at Watterson). Guys go there mainly to get stronger, but there have been times when we’ve stopped to pray during or at the end of a workout.”

Matthew, an offensive and defensive lineman for Watterson’s football team, said that because it’s a Catholic institution, at his school football and faith go together. “Football prepares you well for life,” he said. “You learn lessons about accountability, relating to your brothers and persevering in trials. The team has a communion service every Thursday, and we pray for the intercession of Mary before and after every game.”

Matthew is one of 20 to 25 students who are part of Watterson’s Prayer Club, which meets briefly every day before classes start. “There’s usually about 10 to 12 there on any given day – different students each time, and I’m one of the regulars,” he said. “Prayer is the right way for me to start my day. Some people here call me ‘that Prayer Club kid,’ and that’s fine because I’m not ashamed to show my faith.

“One way I give daily witness to Jesus is that whenever I walk by the school chapel, I make the sign of the cross. It’s a simple way of witnessing, but it’s a cool way to acknowledge Christ’s presence. People see this, and they’ll ask me random questions about the faith or about why I do this. I try to see where they’re at and answer them” or advise them to contact the school chaplain or someone with deeper knowledge of Church teaching.

Matthew is involved in many school social and service activities and said one of the most meaningful ways he has found to serve others is through Stockhands Horses for Healing, a Delaware County organization that provides therapy to people with mental, developmental, physical and emotional disabilities by giving them a chance to ride and care for horses. 

“I go there every Wednesday, and I work mostly with nonverbal children,” he said. “They may not be able to say anything, but from the way they act, they know you’re there and appreciate what you’re doing. I’ve had some powerful moments with them. The feeling you get goes beyond words. I may be teaching them to ride, but they have taught me a lot.”

Matthew also is a member of the school’s Student Council and student ambassadors program. In his freshman and sophomore years, he was part of the teen advisory board of the Whetstone branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library and the school’s ski club and track team, throwing the shot put and the discus.

He is a member of the Student Council wellness committee, which promotes mental and physical well-being. “Wellness is so important this year because of the pandemic, and everyone’s in a different place,” he said. “It’s hard for a lot of students. The committee wants to provide a source of comfort. One of the things we’re doing is posting signs promoting mental health throughout the school, along with some pandemic humor. It’s a simple thing, but we hope it helps.”

The Student Council also helps coordinate the school’s annual Thanksgiving food drive benefiting St. Stephen’s Community House. The effort began in 1971 and has continued through five decades.         

Courses Matthew is taking this year include psychology, calculus, physics, Spanish, theology and English. It’s a full schedule, but “you’ve got to stay positive and keep smiling, even on days when you have five tests,” he said. He also said he’s thinking of a career in psychology and is considering whether God might be calling him to the priesthood.

Being in a Catholic school gives him the chance to take part regularly in all-school Masses, Eucharistic Adoration, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, plus service projects and special events such as days of recollection and retreats. Prayers are said at the beginning of each school day and the start of every class.

The school’s principal is Deacon Chris Campbell. Its chaplain is Deacon Frank Iannarino, and it has nine theology teachers, giving students ample resources to share their faith journeys with adults and talk with them in and out of class about Church teachings. 

“We’re students living the faith, and talking to adults helps us make our decisions in a way that’s consistent with Catholic belief,” Matthew said. “We don’t shy away from things.
Students have hard questions on some things – gay marriage, for instance – and if they’re not brought up in class, we can engage our teachers about the subject outside of class, and they’ll hear what students have to say.”    

 Deacon Campbell said Matthew “is a faith-filled, mature and intelligent young man. He is well-respected by his peers as well as the faculty here at Bishop Watterson. I am most impressed by the fact that he is willing to share his faith unashamedly with others. He has a relationship with Jesus, and that permeates every aspect of his life.”  

Matthew and his parents live in Columbus’ Clintonville neighborhood. His father, Jon, is an information technology manager, and his mother, Linda, is a veterinary technician. They lived in Delaware until moving to Clintonville three years ago to be closer to Jon’s job and still attend Delaware St. Mary Church, where Matthew is a lector, extraordinary minister of the Eucharist and youth group leader.

“Mom is a cradle Catholic, and Dad became a Catholic shortly after they married, so I got most of my early experience in the Church through them,” Matthew said.   

“I was a typical Catholic child who went to Mass every Sunday with my parents and didn’t think too much about the faith,” he said. “Then I began going to Catholic Youth Summer Camp (in Knox County) each year, and I began to gain more understanding.

“That’s where I first truly encountered Christ. Every Wednesday night, the camp has Eucharistic Adoration on the beach, with the campers just sitting there adoring Christ in nature. One year – I think it was my fourth year in camp – I was going into the school year feeling really anxious when I suddenly had this powerful feeling that’s just hard to describe. I could sense Jesus telling me to lay down my experiences at his feet. It was like an epiphany. Somehow, in that moment, I understood how Jesus cares for me personally and gives me strength.”

Matthew said this experience began to make him bolder in sharing his faith with others and encouraged him to seek out people who share his desire to become closer to Christ – “the people who will walk with you in daily life and go into the trenches with you.”

“Faith was never meant to be a solitary journey,” he said. “You never walk alone but were meant to share it with other people.

“The main way I encounter Christ is through the Eucharist, where I can be present to him in a beautiful way – one in which I can become close to him and you can, too. I go often to the Adoration chapel at (Columbus) Immaculate Conception (Church) and the St. Therese Chapel at (Columbus) Holy Name (Church) for Eucharistic Adoration. Sometimes in those places, I experience a moment that’s beyond words. It’s a moment that’s hard to process, a time of intense communion with Christ, as though the clouds have parted and I can see him in my life and in my own heart.”

Matthew describes himself as “a Scripture nerd.” When the pandemic first struck and Ohioans were ordered to stay at home, he and some friends formed a virtual Bible study group that began in the book of Genesis and has continued through the Old Testament to the first book of Kings. He said studying the Bible has shown the group how God acted in the lives of the people of ancient times and how this can be related to how God acts in people’s lives today.

He also said that during the summer, the Holy Spirit inspired him to reach out to his fellow students by video in anticipation of the coming school year. “I’ve heard it takes 21 days to develop a habit, so I decided to do a blog titled ‘21 Days to Boldness’ in hopes other students would see it and join me in pursuit of holiness. We have so much potential here at Watterson, and I wanted to tap some of that,” he said.

During the first week of August, he and some friends put together a do-it-yourself retreat that includes 21 parts. Each portion is designed to be completed in 10 to 15 minutes and includes prayer, reflections, saint biographies, witness and a challenge related to a specific way to live boldly. The retreat is geared toward high school students, but anyone can take part. 

Matthew said hard work by friends and by diocesan priests, including Fathers David Schalk, Dan Dury and Michael Watson, enabled the three-week retreat program to be put together in one week’s time. It was introduced on Monday, Aug. 10, with one part added daily through Sunday, Aug. 30, the day classes were to start in many schools. The complete retreat is available online at www.21dayretreat.wordpress.com.

“The success of the retreat was beyond my wildest dreams,” Matthew said. “We’ve had more than 4,000 page views and heard from people from at least 10 countries who said they were thankful for it. I couldn’t offer anything to anyone who was being involved with this, but they were so willing to give of themselves. I can’t thank them enough.”

“I’ve learned since my own encounter with Jesus that encounter is the most important part of faith,” he said. “It’s the moment when things began to make sense, when it’s not just knowing about Jesus, but knowing Jesus himself. When that happens, you want to find others who know Jesus and learn from them while pursuing your own life. I’d like to encourage everyone to seek out such people so all of us can have our own encounters with Jesus.”