Faith from Far Away

This is an essay written by Daniel Elliston, a sixth grader at St. Cecilia Cathedral school in Omaha. He won a city-wide essay contest for this. Congratulations to Daniel! Here is his essay: My hero is Father Beran because he gives me guidance and encouragement. At Mass it was more interesting when he said Mass than any other priests. His homilies were full of stories you could relate to. Religion class would be fun and I think I learn more when it is fun. I could ask him anything any time; he would always make time for everyone. When I had religion class with him that day, I would get up and want to go to school for a change. He pushes me to do my best in track every day in track. He was like us. He would do what we do. He would run the mile with us and things like that. He gave me advice when I did badly in the mile, and he encouraged me so that I could and would do better. If you just needed to talk to someone about something, you could turn to him. He also volunteered to be a chaplain in Iraq which took a lot of courage and sacrifice like being away from home and being in danger everywhere. He helps other soldiers deal with being away from home for a long time and being scared. I also think it is awesome that he emails me even though he doesn’t have much time to email to people. The best part was when I got a bad time on my mile. It was the worst ever. So I emailed him and he told me my time would drop, and it did. He gave me some advice on what I should do to improve my time. He also helped me set harder goals than what I thought was possible. These are all examples of why he is my hero: he is nice, brave, a good influence, and a friend.