Justin with his parents Thomas and Joann De Los Santos at High School graduation from St. John Paul II. Justin plans to pursue a minor in Theology.
Contributed photo
And what a plan he had for the De Los Santos family. Neither Joann nor her husband Thomas grew up practicing the faith. They had both been baptized, but then only attended church sporadically. When they met, fell in love, and decided to get married, they both made the decision to embrace their Catholic faith and get married in the Church. They took instruction and were confirmed and married.
Thomas and Joann De Los Santos knew they wanted their marriage built on the Catholic faith, but as life continued and children came, they went to Mass when they could. It wasn’t yet a priority.
The first nudge out of complacency was the death of Joann’s brother in 2005. It was then that Joann decided to make church a priority. “We hungered for it,” she explained.
When her eldest son Thomas, a 2012 graduate, was getting ready to enter high school, she and her husband offered to send him to St. John Paul II. He decided to attend public school until his senior year when he surprised his parents and asked to go to Catholic school. Joann was torn. They hadn’t saved to send him and now she couldn’t see a way to do it.
As she prayed at Mass that weekend, an announcement was made that the parish, St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, was offering a scholarship. It seemed too good to be true. Thomas wrote the essay and then the whole family prayed. He received the scholarship and even though his parents were a bit nervous at making the transition so late in his high school career, it turned out to be his best year of school. “I was amazed at how welcoming the community was,” Joann said.
When it was their younger son Justin’s turn, he decided on Catholic school beginning with his sophomore year. His experience in public school his freshman year of trying to live his faith was difficult. His mother recounts that on Ash Wednesday he made sure to get up and go to Mass early before school, but the students made fun of his ashes all day. Far from shrinking from ridicule, however, he remained cool.
He found a new world of support at John Paul II High School and really found his voice going into his junior year at the junior retreat. “From there he just took off,” his mother recounts. The whole family felt the difference in him, and he shared everything he learned about the Catholic faith with them. “We learned so much,” said Joann De Los Santos, “things we thought we knew but we didn’t know.”
High school students are still teenagers with their struggles no matter where they are, however. Of course, there are students there that just go through the motions of faith or haven’t completely bought into the Christian life, but that never deterred Justin. “You can see the Holy Spirit working through Justin,” De Los Santos beamed.
He has been one among his friends and peers to stand firm in his faith and explain to other students why they should be living it as well. The 2019 grad plans to continue to learn and grow in his Catholic faith, even to pursue a Theology minor next year at Southwestern Assemblies of God University. As any faithful young man would, he is considering the priesthood but is moving forward open to whatever God has in store. After all, he has learned well from his parents that when you wait on God, he reveals his amazing plan in time.
Even though Justin is their youngest son, the De Los Santos’ aren’t quite ready to step away from Saint John Paul II High School yet. They are looking forward to continuing in prayer and volunteer activities to support family friends through the school. This is part of what they appreciated about the education of both their sons, “You’re not a number, you’re an individual.”
De Los Santos has never regretted any of the time or money they have put into a Catholic education for her sons, stating that it was “more than worth it.” The only thing she does regret is the time and energy she spent worrying about making it happen instead of trusting God. “We stress and fret about so much, but He’s opened so many doors,” she observed.
![]() The De Los Santos family, from left, daughter-in-law Karla, sons, Thomas and Justin and parents Joann and Thomas after attending Mass together at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles Church. Contributed photo |