CLOSE-UP

UNDER
THE
CROSS

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

n Gabe Bodzin's Spanish class,
students each day recited the
Hail Mary. Not Gabe. He was
allowed to say the Shema — as
long as it was in Spanish.
"When my teacher told me to
say the Shema in Spanish, it
made me feel really good," said Gabe, 17,
one of five Jewish students enrolled in the
University of Detroit Jesuit High School,
an all-boys Catholic institution.
Gabe, who is among a handful of Jews
attending Catholic schools throughout
the Detroit area, has spent the past two
years at U of D. Like other local Jewish
students enrolled in parochial schools, he
is more interested in getting a good edu-
cation than learning about the Roman
Catholic Church and its teachings.
Gabe, who lives in Huntington Woods,
wasn't happy during his freshman year at
Berkley High School. That touched off a
search for a suitable private school. His
parents looked at secular institutions, but
disliked the expensive tuition and a
perceived emphasis on materialistic
values. They rejected Akiva and Yeshiva
Gedolah, the only two local Jewish day
schools with high-school programs, as too
traditional. Then some of Gabe's friends
told him about their experiences at U of
D.
"They really liked it," Gabe said. After
two years, Gabe and his family have few
complaints about the school.
He's doing much better at U of D, said
Linda Bodzin, Gabe's mother. "He can be
free to concentrate on academics without
distractions. It works for him."
At first, Mrs. Bodzin and her husband,
Gabe Bodzin attends
Lionel, were concerned about sending
the University of Detroit their son to a Catholic institution. They
High School.
wanted Gabe to retain his Jewish values.

24

FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1991

But, they soon discovered Catholic theo-
logy classes, which all students must take
regardless of religious beliefs, were not
threatening to Gabe's interest in
Judaism, they said.
"He's become a better Jew since going
to U of D," said Mrs. Bodzin, who is active
at Temple Emanu-El. "Once he got into U
of D, it reinforced who he was. He become
even more active than we are."
Active in Temple Emanu-El's youth
group the past two years, Gabe is the
MSTY (Michigan State Temple Youth)
vice president of religious and cultural af-
fairs. This summer, he is going to Israel,

courtesy of the Mason, Steinhardt and
Jacobs scholarship given annually to a
Temple Emanu-El student who has
shown leadership qualities.
"It's a great balance," Gabe said. "It's
really a different feeling being surround-
. ed by Jewish kids. It's been a major in-
fluence in my life."
While some may question the strength
of a child's commitment to Judaism after
he has gone to Catholic school, Jewish
students in high schools with names like
Shrine, Marian, U of D and Mercy say they
don't have a problem.
Jeff Brochstein, 18, a member of Temple