How Hallow Helps Teachers
Teachers help students grow in faith. Hallow helps teachers do the same.
The role of teachers goes far beyond the classroom.
Educators know best that passion and dedication help to shape young minds. They pour boundless energy into their students.
They juggle many roles.
They wear multiple hats.
For Catholic school teachers, the resulting time crunch can be a challenge to prayer life.
Hallow helps teachers build a consistent relationship with God, which transforms both their relationships in the classroom and those outside of it.
Prayer life increased ‘exponentially’
Working at a Catholic school, teachers are surrounded by liturgies and opportunities for prayer.
However, even amid these opportunities to draw closer to God, it can be challenging for teachers to pull away from their professional responsibilities and devote time to God.
Creating space for individual prayer amidst the many responsibilities teachers experience is a challenge that resonates with almost all teachers today.
“I’d been through Catholic School and gone to Mass every week, but didn’t spend that much time in individual prayer with God,” said William Waech, Principal of Saint Frances Cabrini School in Wisconsin. “As soon as I downloaded the Hallow app, I noticed my individual prayer time increased exponentially.”
"I’d been through Catholic School and gone to Mass every week, but didn’t spend that much time in individual prayer with God. As soon as I downloaded the Hallow app, I noticed my individual prayer time increased exponentially."
Will Weach (Principal – Saint Frances Cabrini School – Wis.)
Faith and the football coach
Technology has made the lives of high school coaches easier in so many ways. They can review game film, promote their players with highlight reels and assist them in the recruiting process all with simple apps that didn’t exist just a decade ago.
While other apps have dramatically changed how these men and women coach, Hallow has transformed how they pray.
“I know that I’m filled with the most joy and the most peace when I’m praying regularly, said Zach Rockers, a football coach, theology teacher and campus minister at Helias High School in Missouri, “but I still have trouble keeping up with it and can be pretty up and down in terms of my prayer life.”
Zach discovered Hallow and joined the Advent and Lent prayer challenges. Notifications from Hallow on his phone helped him stick with his prayer routine.
Getting back into meditative prayer with Hallow helped Zach establish a routine of prayer that benefits him in so many ways, but first and foremost in his relationship with God. “It’s been a game-changer for me”
"It was like I re-learned to pray for the first time in my life – it was absolutely beautiful. It changed my life. It helped me add God into the most important relationships in my life."
Zach Rockers (Theology Teacher/Football Coach – Helias Catholic High School – Mo.)
Hallow ‘Enhanced everything I was already doing in my spiritual life’
As a fan of the TV series “The Chosen,” Nicole Blazek, a high school teacher at Teurlings Catholic High School in Louisiana, particularly enjoys being led in prayer by Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in the series.
“It feels like Jesus Himself is speaking directly to me (when Jonathan is speaking),” she said.
Praying with an app in a purely audio medium also makes the prayers feel more intimate, insightful, and personal.
“There was something about listening every day during Lent that put my mindset in a completely different place,” she said. “Hallow has enhanced everything I was already doing in my spiritual life to a level I didn’t even know was possible.”
Nicole finds her relationship with God now more conversational because when she prays with Hallow, she feels as though she really hears the voice of the Lord.
Catholic school teachers are busier than ever, with enrollment up nationally for a second straight year. For Nicole, spending time in daily prayer with Hallow has also helped her build up the capacity to be patient with herself.
During moments when she is not her best self, Nicole has learned to reach out to God and invite Him into those moments of stress. “I take a deep breath, and trust that God will help me through whatever it is I’m going through at that moment.”
Hallow also has helped Nicole find peace in her family, with her children navigating life-changing and difficult decisions.
A ‘holy alternative’ to social media
Prior to spending time with Hallow, Zach found himself scrolling through social media (when not teaching or coaching.)
Between classes or on break, a quick check on Facebook or Twitter.
Eventually, he realized that he needed to “use this phone for good.” Although he did have other prayer resources, there wasn’t something on his phone that could combat the temptation to hop onto social media.
Hallow became a “holy alternative” to other habits – and it eventually became a way for him to connect with his family on a deeper level.
Zach found that by having a prayer resource on his phone, he could spend more time in prayer with his wife, sharing prayers and reflections through the app with his parents, who he is also very close with. “It helped me add God into the most important relationships in my life,” said Zach.
Hallow helps students. And teachers. And the entire school community.
Get started with Hallow
The Hallow for Schools program is one way to help teachers grow in their personal relationships with God.
For more resources to help your teachers grow in faith and manage their mental health at school, check out the Hallow for Schools program.