When Cardinal Cupich celebrated a pre-Catholic Schools Week Mass with students from Queen of the Universe and St. Nicholas of Tolentine schools Jan. 24, it gave the students a chance to meet the archbishop.

It also gave them a chance to worship with one another, and to personally present toiletries and other necessities students from both schools collected for Olive Branch Mission, an area homeless shelter.

The joint Mass at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church, 6200 S. Lawndale Ave., was the first time students from the schools worshipped together, according to Mary Frances Porod, principal of Queen of the Universe, but it won’t be the last time they do something together.

Faculty and staff at both schools are already talking about other ideas: maybe a Lenten retreat, or a joint service project.

Such collaborations are encouraged by Renew My Church, the archdiocese-wide effort to revitalize the church and recommit to its mission of evangelization.

The two schools are about a mile apart, and were part of the same Renew My Church grouping. Queen of the Universe Parish combined with St. Adrian Parish to form Mary, Mother of Mercy Parish in 2018, and Queen of the Universe School remained open. St. Nicholas of Tolentine Parish remained as it was.

During Mass, Cardinal Cupich told the students that the Catholic education they are receiving is meant to teach them more than academics, although their studies are important.

“There’s another thing we want you to learn about while you’re here,” the cardinal told the assembled students. “How to be a good friend, someone who can be counted on. That’s important not only for your human development, but also because of the readings for today.”

Those readings included the story of David and Saul and the passage from the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus calls the Twelve Apostles.

“Jesus calls these 12 people to be his friends,” Cardinal Cupich said. “We don’t often think Jesus needed friends, but he did. … Today, what I want you to do is to dedicate yourselves to learning how to be good friends to one another, so that nobody is left out, but also to be good friends to Jesus.”

Jesus, in turn, will always be a good friend to all, the cardinal said.

“He doesn’t care if you don’t make the team, he doesn’t care if you have trouble with your studies, he doesn’t care if you’ve done things wrong,” Cardinal Cupich said. “He always wants to be your friend.”

Anita Hoover, donor relations assistant for the Olive Branch Mission, said the students were good friends to the more than 400 people who count on the shelter for a place to sleep, to receive meals or to meet other basic needs.

“Most of them don’t have the power to buy any one of these items,” she said, gesturing to baskets filled with soap, toothpaste, shaving cream, socks and other items. “You have done what our whole country needs to do: come together.”

Porod said the parishes and schools plan to continue their efforts to work together in their community. In addition to the school Mass, the youth groups have worked together, she said.

Carolyn Majorowski, assistant principal at St. Nicholas of Tolentine, said the two schools’ efforts to work together are paying off.

“We’re starting to see the fruits of our labor,” she said, adding that the students seem most eager to collaborate on service projects. “We’re supposed to share the light of Christ, and serving our neighbors is one way to do that.”