Real Presence Collective

Real Presence Collective:  An Incarnational Approach to Friendship, Family, and the Good Life

St. Rita School’s Real Presence Collective is a partnership among St. Rita families, administration, faculty, and clergy that fosters a culture of presence within our community.  This initiative responds to a pressing cultural challenge—the pervasiveness of ever-more addicting and isolating technology use—that robs children of their innocence, wreaks havoc on their social and emotional health, and encourages destructive habits of disconnection, distraction, and vice.  In emulation of Christ, who entered the world not virtually, but in the flesh, to walk with us, speak with us, and form us in love, RPC members affirm the deep and irreplaceable value of real, face-to-face, human connection and take a collective-action approach to creating and maintaining a healthy childhood culture.  

Specifically, RPC families pledge not to introduce personal internet capable devices or social media to their children while at St. Rita School—and even beyond—and the administration, faculty and clergy support this effort by facilitating enriching, in-person social alternatives for RPC students designed to cultivate the imagination, and focus on the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty.  The school also assists families by educating students and the broader school community about the dangers of unmitigated technology use and the life-giving value of incarnational living. 

For a complete discussion of the motivations and goals of the RPC, please read the RPC philosophy. 

To join the RPC, parents sign the RPC pledge.  Upon joining, families will be included in RPC discussions and events. 

We believe that the more St. Rita families that adopt the philosophy and sign the pledge of the RPC, the more our children, and our entire community, will be free to joyfully follow Christ’s incarnational model of the good life—one that is together, whole, grounded, and truly human.  

We hope you will join us!

St. Carlo Acutis, pray for us! 

Events that Foster Real Presence

RPC members do not merely reject technology, but also actively seek out opportunities for real presence together.  Thus, RPC events are as integral to its mission as the pledge.  RPC leadership, which includes St. Rita clergy, school administration and faculty, and parent volunteers, strives to plan a variety of events to appeal to students and families across all ages and interests.  

Past events for students have included an on-campus fall festival, where St. Rita faculty hosted students for an evening of chili, s’mores, and campfire singalongs; service projects; museum visits; a children’s summer book club; a caroling party; prayer events and mini-pilgrimages.  Many events are family-friendly, and parents and siblings are welcome to participate.  Events often occur on half days or teacher work days, to allow as many children as possible to participate.