BRENDAN SEITZ (Marian High) "REACHES FOR THE STARS"!

"...The things which are impossible with man are possible with God." (from Luke 18:27)

For friends, family, students, parents, and alumni of Marian High School of Framingham, Massachusetts, to borrow from the words of F.D.R.:  Yesterday, April 3, 2018, was a day which shall live in infamy!  Yesterday, the President and official board of Marian High School announced that the school is closing at the end of this school year.  The news was sad and shocking.  My wife, Mary Ann, has been the Administrative Assistant at Marian for well over ten years.  We joke that she, "makes Marian run"!  I hope no one at the school is offended by my saying that, but she really does!  All three of my now grown children graduated from Marian.  During the past (at least) nineteen years, I've been very close to the school in many ways.

I never thought I'd be so involved with a Roman Catholic high school, or that my wife would become a long time employee of the school.  I'm an Assemblies of God minister, and I pastored a small AG church in Framingham for many years.  Much to my parents' dismay, I parted ways with the Catholic Church as a very young man.  I'd become a "born again Christian" as a teenager, and just felt much more at home attending Baptist or Assemblies of God churches.  Mary Ann was raised attending a Baptist church.  Especially as a younger man, I was quick to argue against "praying to Mary" or "Purgatory" or "salvation by keeping the sacraments".  I recall that one September day around thirty years ago, the Assemblies of God had asked its ministers to drive onto their local high school campuses and just spend a few minutes praying for the schools.  I went to a few local high schools.  I still remember feeling kind of foolish praying there in the Marian parking lot!  God must have been laughing, because as I drove away I felt no connection to the place, but He knew what the future held for our family!

During the early 1990s, several teens from our church attended Marian.  At first, I asked their parents, "Don't you have to be Catholic to go to Marian?" I was surprised to learn that was not the case.  I also found that the kids who attended Marian were frankly "a cut above" their peers in every way.  That's the biggest reason we sent our kids to Marian and we weren't sorry we did!  I could get very teary as I talk about the wonderful teachers they had, the friendships they made, and the wonderful activities they enjoyed at the school.  I can't say enough good things about Marian's outstanding Drama and English teacher, Mr. Stephen Flynn.  He's a "class act" and a total professional!  My kids loved the Marian Mainstagers!  Rachel '05 went on to major in Theater at Westfield State and she's come back to help Mr. Flynn with some of the productions.

I was at Marian High School on 9/11/2001.  In those days, because my kids were on financial aid, I volunteered in the Development Office on my day off.  What a day it was!  At that time, Father Sheridan of St. Cecelia's Church in Ashland was the school chaplain.  He came into the school and ran a last period assembly in the auditorium, leading us in prayer and reflection, and bringing comforting words to all.  I was so emotional and upset about 9/11 that I marveled at what a great job he did!  I later told him that and he said, "Well, coming from you I take that as quite a compliment!"  It kind of reminds me of a scene from Robert Duvall's 1997 film, The Apostle.  Robert Duvall's character, a charismatic minister, is traveling in the Louisiana bayou area and sees a Catholic priest blessing a fishing fleet in French.  Duvall's character enthusiastically and happily says, "You do it your way and I do it my way, but we get it done, don't we?  We get it done!"  Yeah, Father Sheridan "got it done" on 9/11 and I will never forget it!

I will also never forget how gracious Religion teacher Colm McGarry (a native of Northern Ireland) was to have me in many times as a guest speaker for his classes.  Sometimes I talked about "The Pentecostal Movement" and sometimes I talked about "The Apostle Paul".  McGarry just couldn't understand why I would have left Catholicism for Protestantism, but he loved me and I loved him.  It was also a pleasure for my daughter Amy and I and a bunch of kids to join Mr. McGarry one evening in serving a meal at Boston's Pine Street Inn.

There's a fairly new documentary called, "Big Sacrifice, Big Dreams" .It's about the important role of faith-based schools in America.  You can find it on Youtube.  If you do and then scroll to around Minute 17, there's roughly a five minute piece about Marian High.  I hope you'll watch it;  it's great!  And, incidentally, a number of famous people attended Marian, including Attorney Jay Carney (Whitey Bulger's lawyer!) and the late teacher/astronaut Christa Corrigan McAuliffe.

At Marian, kids are often told to, "Reach For the Stars"!  That's a direct quote from Christa McAuliffe!  They're also told to live out their faith in practical ways.  I learned last night that the President of this year's Junior Class at Marian, Brendan Seitz has started a "Go Fund Me" page to try to save the school.  You can read about that at:

http://framinghamsource.com/index.php/2018/04/03/marian-high-junior-launches-gofundme-to-save-framingham-school-sets-goal-of-5-million/

I know.  A lot of people will roll their eyes.  How likely is it that Brendan Seitz will be successful?  The odds are certainly heavily against him.  But his action touched me very deeply.  I can't imagine taking such a step of faith and leadership as a kid of sixteen or seventeen.  But, Brendan Seitz exemplifies exactly what Marian High School is all about!  He's Reaching For the Stars, and he's practicing his faith in a very practical way!   Godspeed, Brendan Seitz!  Godspeed, Marian High School!