Educator profile

Central home coming

Kylee Stewart has found her home and heart at Toledo's Central Catholic High School

When Fr. Matt Rader saw the promotional materials for the Living Christ campaign, one photo stood out. Like every pastor in the Diocese of Toledo, he was going to ask parishioners to be extraordinarily generous. It’s never an easy task, but it was not unfamiliar. Before his tenure at St. Mary in Tiffin and St. Pius in Sycamore, he’d gotten used to inviting people financially to support mission and ministry in his years as Priest Leader and Director of Formation at Central Catholic High School. The promotional photo brought him back to that place. It was a reminder that the generosity of his parishioners, and all those across the diocese, is lifechanging. If you need proof, says Fr. Matt Rader, just ask Kylee Stewart. She is the young woman who appeared in the Emerging Disciples photo for the campaign; she is a young woman whose life changed because of a Catholic school.

BY ANNIE LUST

Kylee is back in the classroom, now as a teacher. Here she works with her Theology students.

PHOTO BY SCOTT W. GRAU/SPECIAL TO THE DIOCESE OF TOLEDO

Kylee Stewart’s life trajectory changed when she was fourteen years old. As a freshman on her first day at Central Catholic High School in Toledo, she was uniform-clad, standing at her locker. She was there for the academics. “I had no religious background. I had never been to church,” she explained. She expected the idling school buses, the slamming lockers, the squeaking tennis shoes. She did not expect to see a priest run by in a cassock. “I texted my mom and said, ‘Mom, why is the priest wearing a black dress?’” Kylee recalled.

It was the first moment at Central Catholic that made an impression. Over the year, learning about the Catholic faith profoundly impacted Kylee. “It sparked a light,” she said. She felt compelled to be as close to the sacraments as possible. “I got involved with setting up for Mass because that was the closest I could get to the Mass without being able to receive Holy Communion,” she said. As her junior year began, she spoke with Fr. Matt Rader, the cassockwearing priest who first made an impression on Kylee, about becoming Catholic. At the Easter Vigil Mass in 2017, Kylee was baptized, confirmed and received Holy Communion. As Kylee described the feeling of that Easter Mass, she struggled to express what it meant to her. Then her face lit with joy as she found the closest way to explain it, “I could just feel a sense of home. You know when you walk into your home, and you feel like you can be yourself and [you are] just settled? My heart was settled.”

Kylee was involved in everything faith-related throughout high school — planning retreats, setting up for Mass and directing Living Stations of the Cross.

PHOTO BY SCOTT W. GRAU/SPECIAL TO THE DIOCESE OF TOLEDO

At a time in life when many young people are leaving the faith, Kylee chose to embrace it. “Choosing to become Catholic was not difficult.” She continued, “The difficulty is learning that my faith is a choice. I have to actively choose to participate in a life that God has chosen for me.” In her final years at Central Catholic, part of living her faith meant being involved in everything faith-related. “She began taking a leadership role. We would constantly joke that nothing would have gotten done without her,” said Fr. Matt Rader. She coordinated every retreat. She ran and vastly grew the organization that engages and trains students for special participation in Mass. She planned and directed the living Stations of the Cross. She was chosen to crown Mary at May Crowning. “If it had a cross with it, I was involved,” she joked. Beyond being something fun that Kylee liked to do, she said, “I loved knowing that what I was doing was helping bring kids closer to Christ.”

Kylee graduated from high school in 2018. She went to college with the intention of becoming a doctor. She was even accepted into medical school.

PHOTO COURTESY KYLEE STEWART

After her 2018 graduation from High School, Kylee’s faith continued to grow during her time at the University of Toledo. She was accepted into the Christian Leadership Program, a scholarship Corpus Christi University Parish awards to selected University of Toledo students. The program’s goal is theological and spiritual formation for students to help them develop their gifts and talents as leaders in the Church and the world. In Kylee’s case, it was a success. “That truly set me up for being able to teach theology,”

Kylee remarked. But at this point, Kylee was still planning to become a doctor. She studied biology and chemistry, and she was accepted into medical school. But her heart was still at Central Catholic. She had stayed connected even after graduation – as the ACT coordinator, working in the Shamrock Shop selling uniforms. “I was always here,” she said, gesturing to the school around her. She could not shake the feeling that Central Catholic was home. So, Kylee turned down medical school. When a long-term substitute position came available just as Kylee graduated college early, she accepted. When the permanent position was open in Autumn 2022, she accepted. Kylee teaches four biology classes and three theology classes. “I love being able to talk about God in the building and being able to incorporate that not just in my theology classes but in [biology classes] as well,” Kylee explained. Ultimately, Kylee finds joy in knowing that her work brings her students a little closer to Christ each day, the same way teachers and mentors, many of whom she now calls colleagues, did just a few years ago for her.