Mr. Gregory's Reflection 3.16.25

Coming up this Wednesday, Malden Catholic will celebrate a school-wide Mass for the feasts of Saints Joseph and Patrick. I have been so happy to see this tradition take shape at Malden Catholic in the last few years (and not just because of my Italian heritage!). My love of this celebration draws from the fact that traditions associated with Joseph and Patrick highlight what is essential about the history, identity, and mission of Malden Catholic.

 

 

We know well the devotion and love that the Italian and Irish communities have for Joseph and Patrick, respectively. Stories of Italian and Irish immigrant families who sacrificed beyond their means to give their sons and daughters Boys Catholic and Girls Catholic educations in the first half of the 20th century are foundational to the oral tradition of MC. Most of these Boys Catholic and Girls Catholic graduates were the first in their families to attend college and achieve social mobility. MC’s proud immigrant story is still being written today by the young men and women of Colombian, Brazilian, Vietnamese, and Haitian heritage - among so many other communities - who make outstanding contributions and bring indelible richness to the life of our school community.

 

 

To celebrate Joseph and Patrick is to proclaim our identity as a Xaverian and Catholic school. I would venture to say that almost all of our student body (and staff) knows that Francis Xavier is a patron saint of the Xaverian Brothers. But fewer would know that Joseph, too, is a patron of the Brothers and protector of the Congregation. To be touched and inspired by the characteristic humility of the Brothers is to glimpse the intercession of Joseph at work. Patrick, too, plays a patronal role for our school community as the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Boston. To honor Joseph and Patrick is to recall that our identity as a school will always be grounded in our Xaverian charism and our Archdiocesan parish roots.

 

 

Our school mission statement expresses two of the hallmark characteristics of a Malden Catholic education: “enduring personal relationships and lifelong learning.” At MC, we believe that these traits mutually reinforce each other. Enduring personal relationships and lifelong learning find their synthesis in our celebration of Joseph and Patrick. Joseph’s entire vocation was to be in relationship with Jesus and Mary. The consistency, patience, and trust that Joseph models are key ingredients to forming healthy and impactful relationships with our students, relationships that form the foundation for effective teaching and learning. In communicating the Christian faith with joy in ways that a pagan population in Ireland could receive and understand, Patrick gives us a vision for instruction that is both joyful and appropriately differentiated to meet the needs of the students in front of us. And like Patrick, we view teaching as a transformative enterprise with lifelong implications.

 

May the enduring legacies of these great saints always find full and joyful expression here at Malden Catholic.