Message from the Principal

The Venerable Brother Polycarp once wrote the following to his fellow Brothers:

Be filled with zeal and devotion for the salvation of souls. Never get discouraged, especially when your efforts obtain little result…Let us increase our humility and selflessness, let us do good work for its own sake…May the spirit of zeal, patience, and interior life be the soul of your soul. Breathe but God…

Brother Polycarp, I believe, wrote to his community of Brothers about the importance of the gift of the service of leadership, a service in which we deflect our own satisfaction or even success in deference to the needs of those around us.

I shared this quote with the Class of 2023 in August at the annual Ring Mass as a reminder of the power of such a gift. And I’m reminded of this quote yet again as I peruse this latest issue of the Century II.

As each publication of the Century II does, we celebrate the servant leaders of our school – past, present, and future – throughout its pages. And what better way to honor the servant leadership that is a cornerstone of the educational tradition of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart than to feature on the cover of this iteration of the publication an Alumnus of the Year who has earned a living and made a life by serving others; an outstanding faculty (and alumnus) who models this type of leadership in his daily interactions with our students; and a successful school program comprised of current student leaders whose varied service to the school manifests itself in accomplishments and honors that reach far beyond a playing field.

Each year at this time, I am inspired by the servant leadership that characterizes so many people in our school community who are partners in the shared mission of forming young men in the charism of Andre Coindre and the educational tradition of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

As I write this, I am reminded of the virtue of servant leadership as we bring to a close the 2022-23 school year and celebrate all of our students’ accomplishments with celebrations, convocations, and ceremonies along with all of the appropriate pomp and circumstance. We celebrate our accomplishments while keeping a firm eye on the promise of the next school year and those to come.

Servant leadership takes courage, trust, confidence, compassion, sacrifice, and more. It takes a special person to lead through service. Servant leaders do whatever it takes to feed those around them.

Fortunately, we find ourselves surrounded by so many leaders who are hungry to do this work. The future of Brother Martin High School is bright because of the present student leaders, each of whom learned from those who came before them.

Your partner in Mission,

Ryan Gallagher ’00, Principal