Brother Thomas P. Long, President of Central Catholic High School, offers this inspiring reflection as we praise and thank God for the historic milestone we celebrate with Cardinal Sean O'Malley and a host of notables of our hallowed past.
Today, Central Catholic students and faculty will observe the closing of our 75th Anniversary celebrations in the same manner our first students and teachers marked the opening of Central Catholic High School on September 16, 1935: gathered around the table of the Lord, as a family of faith, to celebrate the Eucharist. We remember, we celebrate, we believe.
In 1935 these pioneer students - eager 14 year-olds with names that are somehow familiar to us, names like Bodenrader & Costello, Garvey & Hayes & Willis – followed with trust the Marist Brothers who became the early legends of our school – men like Brother Johannes, Brother Thomas Austin O’Donnell, and of course, the visionary and audacious Brother Florentius. Together, in the midst of the great depression, they created our beloved school out of nothing. A miracle, really.
Since then, generations of Central Catholic teachers and students repeatedly do what the first Central Catholic students and faculty did on that first day: gather in Jesus name, place on the altar our hopes and fears and dreams, give thanks to God, and ask God’s blessing on one another, and on those in need. Each time we do this, we are spiritually connected to every one of the 13,000+ students who have passed through the halls of CCHS in these last 75 years, and their teachers and families. We remember, we celebrate, we believe.
If we sift through the many layers of what makes Central Catholic a beacon to young people - superb academics; athletic excellence; the relationships between students and teachers; the friendships among students, so many that will last a lifetime; our willingness to care for each other; our immensely talented students and faculty; the generosity with which we reach out into our community to serve the needs of others - we find at the heart of it all that what makes Central Catholic great is the person of Jesus Christ. More than anything else, St. Marcellin Champagnat wanted Marist schools to be places where students experience Jesus as a real and living person, as our brother. And Jesus is and will continue to be a living and real presence in the halls of Central Catholic and in our families, workplaces, and world if Jesus is alive and real in your heart and in mine.
As we bring down the curtain on our 75th Anniversary celebrations, let us resolve again to be Jesus to one another: to be welcoming to each other; to be forgiving of each other; to love each other; to comfort each other in times of pain; to rejoice in each other’s accomplishments; to respect our differences; to challenge each other to be our very best selves; and openly and without embarrassment, to admire each other’s strengths and virtues. What a great tribute to Brother Florentius, and those intrepid first Central Catholic teachers and students! What a beautiful expression of St. Marcellin’s vision!
This is who we are. It’s what we remember, what we celebrate. It’s what we believe.
Bro. Tom
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