SIGNUM FIDEI Spring 2018
Still A Radical Notion
By: John Hunt
A powerful sense of gratitude overwhelms me for such a moving retirement party. DEL knows how to have a party. It was touching to see all of you again, to refresh so many rich memoriesthe enthusiasm of our youthful students in clubs and on teams, our classroom antics, our beautiful campus and sparkling school. It is in an historical wonder that our school survives at all. The Order, founded in 1694,
was a novel, radical idea at the time, created to meet a moral and social need, namely to teach poor children to become useful citizens in society. La Salle combined schooling and decorum. He wrote a treatise called “Christian Decorum and Politeness” so poor students could blend into higher culture. This was a most beneficial development as France was urbanizing. Of course in all ages there were sources of instruction to transmit necessary skills to the next generation- hunting, fishing carving, masonry. But academic learning, actually teaching in classes the hopeless urban children of the lowest classes was most useful. Such children, abandoned to a life of drudgery and misery, of slums and crime, now had a chance, and a chance it was, to nibble at the edge of classical Western culture in a France drifting towards industrialization and revolution. This “schooling” integrated intimately with moral instruction, set a standard that too few can Continued on page 3 match in our secular age, or
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This issue is brought to you by... Joseph Pupo- Director of Alumni Affairs and Development Department Nick Cipriani- Co-ordinator of special events John Hunt- Advancement and Development Associate Michael Chachura- Alumni and Development Associate Jessica Minervini- Communications Officer
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Brother Domenic, fsc President Dear Members of the De La Salle Community: In so many ways it was just as inevitable that Jesus should rise from the dead, as it was that He would be put to death. In our time, we find it so very hard to accept the reality that the Christian faith acknowledges that mankind is created good but inclined to evil. Similarly, the freedom we have been given by God, who is love itself, necessitates that in the time and space of this dimension of existence, evil is present and powerful. We choose to love and are not forced to love. Human history proves this reality beyond any doubt. Men prefer the darkness to the light. It simply can not be denied that the horrors which have made up the story of mankind are testimony to this inclination. Yet, we know that paradoxically the denial of this state of our human experience is at the same time to forever extinguish any hope that things can be different. Happily, throughout history, too, there are those divine moments and blessed souls who
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by their lives give us hope to overcome the darkness and subject evil to its rightful place. Yet, this is still not enough. Tragically and frustratingly, by ourselves we rise only to fall again. We should like to convince ourselves that we are capable of transforming this way of the world if only we were stronger, or more enlightened, or more just, or purer, or braver, or smarter, or more spiritual. Revolutions, revolutionaries, kings, warriors, prophets, political-isms, scientific advancements, and technological pervasiveness have all failed, fail and will continue to fail because ultimately the defeat of evil and sin is a personal matter and choice. This requires a personal encounter. The encounter must be with Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became man and suffered and died for us. There is no other Way. Once, a journalist asked Saint Mother Theresa of Calcutta if she could change anything about the world – its injustices, politics, institutions, laws, etc. - what would she change? She replied in her characteristic and inspired way with one word – Me! Indeed, it is the “Me” that needs to meet the I am Who I am. Once we are open and prepared to welcome Christ into our life and truly encounter the Son of Man, Almighty God Incarnate, then and only then, we will know and experience transformation. Then, and only then, can the real and lasting transformation offered by the Risen Christ be made manifest in our life leading to the sublime joy that comes from knowing Him and only Him as the Way, the Truth and the Life. A blessed Easter to one and all.
Continued from page 1 any age. Over the centuries, regardless of social evolution and alterations in the world, the mandate remains and has even taken on an urgent dimension in our fraught days. In recent decades capitalist democracy has shown signs of negative, chronic problems: the one per cent and the ninety-nine, the hollowing out of the middle class, the underclass, precarious work, contract work, internships and much more. Ossification advances like a cancer, leading to decline and fall, as too many instances in history readily illustrate, which in the end terrifies even the wealthy. A healthy, lively democracy allows movement up through the social classes so that society can benefit from the talents, abilities and gifts of the underprivileged who might be doomed to the lower reaches of the state. Ability is widely dispersed through the gene pool, not at all limited to the higher class. Indeed history again is rich with examples of the greatest talents ( Einstein, Shakespeare, DaVinci) coming from very modest families without exceptional traits. DEL has an influence here. As the founder hoped, his schools would allow poor children to make their way in life, to contribute to society rather than being a burden. DEL alone, to my knowledge, is the only school still in existence that began with and continues to follow, that moral imperative. Over the centuries, our schools widened their scope and range, charging modest tuitions for all (dramatically far less than equivalent schools) to allow poorer pupils to attend an effective school. Thus they propel themselves into the higher reaches and enrich the culture. I have seen this process at work, and it works wonders, as our young students move on to elite universities and very elite careers. No one has given more though to this matter of social stratification than Bernard Shaw, the founder of the Labour party and the father of Socialism. He clearly saw the dangers in the lack of mobility in society. He ultimately found the matter intractable
and essentially gave up, other than writing about it. DEL did not give up, and year by year still has a mighty influence here. I see children from every corner of the city, not the gentrified parts, who graduate from our school ascending to positions of power and influence. That is democratic mobility nurtured with a little push. Think of Eliza Doolittle from Shaw’s “Pygmalion” (My Fair Lady) buried in the slums, who given a little boost by Prof. Higgins, flew up to the social and intellectual polish of the upper class. Consider also that other parents whose children could just barely afford our modest tuition have done as well, too. They could never attend other private schools. Thus DEL has an influence here, a mighty influence. Our society is enriched and refreshed, not as much as we would like perhaps, but DEL is doing valuable work while too many others are not. We can put a number on it. “Your generosity and assistance have helped, making possible a human and Christian education for 103 wonderful students” (Bro. Domenic). That is a very, very high number, considering our school enrollment of approx. 650. This number defies gravity and math. This is the work of salvation- spiritual, intellectual and democratic. It is a noble work, a necessary one, remembering the needs of society. The success of it is astonishing, considering the numbers. So, “We will continue to ask for your help in continuing this great and necessary provision of funding for our needy ones who will benefit from the excellence of our academic and spiritual efforts” (Bro. Domenic). They do, and will go on to do great undertakings in the advanced professions as intelligent, polished and humane personalities. We should sleep better because of them. I know I do. If you can make a donation to advance, to continue, this great and crucial socially “refreshing” cause, please do. Any assistance you give will help keep our bursary program alive- and a vital, necessary work it is, for all of us.
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High Flight
By: John Hunt
that the devotion to helping others is no accident. It is the fruit of years of “To be, or not to be--that is the question: tending to the spirit in the classroom, Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the chapel, in liturgies throughout the The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune year and in prayer. If only a few were so inclined Or to take arms against a sea of troubles it would be gratifying, but to have a And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep-“serving” message adopted by our No more--and by a sleep to say we end students again and again is truly magThe heartache, and the thousand natural shocks nificent. The “good news” of “good works” has been internalized in their character, a blessing to them and to That flesh is heir to.” - Hamlet all of us who benefit from their ame This part of the “immortal soliloquy lists merliorating work and example. If society is to be saved, cilessly all the fears generated by the anxieties of exit will be saved by such citizens. Make no mistake-all istence in this life. Shakespeare probes the fearful isschools are not like De La Salle. Most schools send sues in “ the sea of troubles:” by reminding us of the their grads out to conquer the world, not to serve it. problems of the human condition, wrestled with by Our position is different, best illustrated in our sages since the beginning of human thought 200,000 students’ own words, gleaned from their own sumyears ago. Hamlet reminds us that poor health, the maries of their educational journey. These reports are “Thousand natural shocks,” can lead to fear, anxiety to be cherisehed and nourished. The first example is depression and despair. We are all touched by this by Alexandra Domingues DEL ’13. essentially metaphysical quagmire, sooner or later. “Since graduating from DEL in 2013, I found myself Then we come face to face with how to reat University of Toronto Mississauga studying Life Scispond to daunting spiritual, physical, emotional and ence trying to find my passion for my future career. psychological challenges. Our spiritual resolve, testThroughout my 4 years in Mississauga, I continued ed, must save us, we pray, from too gloomy thoughts my love of sports by playing soccer and my passion and stress instead, the hopeful resolve nurtured in for community outreach through volunteering with Christian education, the treasure of which is so carefirst-year students with some form of disability. It was fully tended at De La Salle. during my 2nd and 3rd year that I realized becoming a Ah! To find such uplift, such light, in the unpharmacist was my goal. After volunteering at Mt Sinai certainties of a precarious existence. How happy in the inpatient and outpatient pharmacies, I realized it is then that we find so close at hand, emanating quickly I wanted to help others by educating them on from the lives of our DEL grads, an inspiration to do their prescriptions and hopefully making their ailments “good works” within their chosen professions. This is a little more tolerable. My continued resolve to travinstructive. The number of grads who have so chosen el opened my eyes to the global needs of others and and so declared, in their own words is far above any wanting to pursue an advocacy role for my future pastatistical average, especially in this age. Nourished tients. I am currently completing my first year at UofT at DEL, the emphasis on character, the injunction in the faculty of Pharmacy with some familiar La Sallian “leave to serve” and the stress placed on the spirifaces surrounding me. I am working towards hopefultual dimension of our being, forces one to conclude ly becoming a clinical pharmacist and taking on a role
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for advocating for the less privileged in our health system.” How humane, thoughtful, Christian for Alexandra to declare she intends to “make their ailments a little more tolerable.” Imagine if all were of this mind, But all are not. A second example is Christian Webb DEL ’01. He wrote this summary of his education for us. Note again the humanitarian quality in his helpful and hopeful work. After graduating from Del in 2001, Christian intended to major in philosophy at McGill University. However, his studies of existential philosophy introduced him to existential psychology, in particular the work of Dr. Viktor Frankl. Inspired by Frankl’s writings, he spent his first year at McGill working with terminal cancer patients in Palliative Care. He was initially drawn to Palliative Care through learning that its core philosophical underpinnings were in part rooted in Frankl’s emphasis on the importance of finding meaning and preserving human dignity in the midst of suffering. Over the next year, he had the privilege of working alongside an interdisciplinary team dedicated to managing the physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs of terminally ill patients and their families. In addition to being inspired by his interactions with the clinical psychologists on the unit, he became fascinated with the diverse ways the patients, as well as their loved ones, coped with end-of-life issues and the dying process. Ultimately, this experience triggered a profound interest in understanding psychological resilience and vulnerability to negative mental health outcomes, in particular depression.
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School, where he is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. Christian has amassed 35 publications and received 23 awards and fellowships for his work, including early career awards from the American Psychological Association, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and NIMH. He currently lives in Boston with his wife and son, but continues to support Toronto and Montreal sports teams.” Dr. Victor Frankl’s emphasis on the “importance of finding meaning and preserving human dignity in the midst of suffering” can be useful in many local corners of life. We must make something of the life that is in us, while, that life is still in us our DEL graduates are saying, and moreover that our spiritual mettle may be probed along the untrodden path between here and the hereafter. They have declared a noble dedication to an ideal we may all admire. Obviously, these two examples of shining altruism ( and the are more to come, in good time) illustrate the depth of character formation that De La Salle nourishes, deliberately, as we strive to instill this caring spirit that must enrich society when our graduates go forth. DEL is “punching” above its weight” as it brings out the best in so many. Our success is impressive for so small a school. For the safety and sanity of us all, may it continue. Stay Tuned.
Over the next 4 years, Christian immersed himself in research focused on the causes and prevention of depression in several psychology labs at McGill. He completed his B.A. at McGill in psychology and philosophy, followed by a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Pennsylvania where his research focused on clarifying the underlying causes of depression and improving our treatments for depression. He then completed a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and subsequently accepted a position at Harvard Medical
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Perchance to Dream
By: John Hunt
Who wants to be a writer? Apparently, everyone. Consider the access the Internet gives to all who hold an opinion, a position, an attitude or a belief on each and every issue of the day. No one is reluctant to restrain their “insights’ or convictions. They are more than willing to add to the blizzard of confusions out there. On social media everyone is a writer, poet, essayist, artist, blogger or scribbler of inanities which they bounce off the self for validation. Everything can be published , or self-published. This is supposedly a rational activity, these days. Over the ages, however, writers have been reputed to be, all or in part, mad, possessed, obsessed, deranged, inspired, demonized, divine or merely dreamers. How else to explain the great difference in talent and genius between them and ourselves? There is , after all, a consensus about who has created the best writing, the classics. How many of our contemporary writers will become durable , for centuries? How can we know? Do we merely guess? Fortunately not, for History and Math come to our aid helping us sort out the great works even in an age of individualism in which the writer alone is both judge and jury. Naturally in such an age as ours the writer will assume all the literary virtues: insight, creativity, discretion, balance, wisdom. But behind the curtain we have History and Math to reveal the realities of writing fame. Today for the first time ever, there are billions of us. This should mean more classics than when our numbers were in the millions. Not so. Many cities have over a million people now . In Caesar’s day Rome had a million also. In the Western Roman Empire(700 B.C.-450 AD) the entire reach of Roman literary greatness amounts to a total of 25 books, which includes the harvest of the millions ,over time, in Rome itself. So, we have 25 books in 1100 years . Again, in The Hellenistic Age, spanning the entire eastern Mediterranean from around 300BC to400AD perhaps 10 classics survive out of thousands written. The sad tale of Math and History continues. Most cultures , when writing was beginning, had no writing at all. Only a few were so gifted or cursed. Indeed ,
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since writing began in the West 3000 years ago only 700 books remain that we may call Classics, books that the world will not let die. This tells us that in the West, all of it, one great book surfaces every four years- until about 1970 before the deluge of expression, the Internet. Of the millions of texts floating around us now, very few are classics. Deep readers know this. They understand the lottery involved. The stars must be in conjunction and the hour must find the writer. Adding to the mystery of belonging to this strange cabal of great writers and thinkers is that they have no pedigree, no famous family, no special background. They come out of nowhere, creating their own pedigree, without warning, shaping a legend out of surprising talent and genius. They are inexplicable. One of the greatest, Voltaire, defied his father, the Church, the Crown, prison and law school to become a writer. He succeeded beyond measure. Shaw also refused all work, except writing, remaining poor far too long, until he “arrived” as a celebrated writer, dramatist, essayist, apologist and critic. Against all odds he dominated on both sides of the Atlantic, like a colossus, rich, famous and revered.
All the above is merely a preamble, an Introduction to the highly unusual but most compelling adventure of one of our own grads-Ryan Avanzado(2001). After four years at Dartmouth College he went straight to Goldman Sachs in New York, landing in a high yield bond group writing investment recommendations on companies in the chemical industry. A few years later he moved to another arm of the company, a hedge fund for high yield bonds. In 2011 ,ten years after Del, he becomes a V.P. at Goldman, one of the largest and most prosperous banks in the world. He was 29. Five years later on his birthday in 2016 he retires from the firm! Why? This is the tipping point, tipping into the unknown, into destiny, into the mystery of things , where writers live. Ryan chose to attempt writing. Shaw and Voltaire deliberately chose a life of writing as Ryan did, but unlike Ryan they were unemployed, pursuing writing to become employed, both succeeding beyond their dreams. Still Ryan leapt into the dark. He
went to Columbia Univ. to seek a writing career. He was a very solid writer at Del-a good start. He was also aware, from Goldman, of all the contingencies that must come into alignment to nurture success. Some alchemy was at work in the pathways of the brain. The allure, the charm or the seduction of creative writing bore down on him. The song proved compelling so he followed the melody, sailing outward into the paradoxes of a writer’s life. Ryan’s odyssey is a compelling narrative itself, novel and daring. We must admire(he would not approve) his leap into the dark. The omens are promising.
Stay Tuned
Consider some other unique names: Tolstoy, Dostoievsky, Moliere, Austen, Newton, Da Vinci. These magicians are unique-there is only one of each. Who would presume to join them? Yet we do in too large numbers because we think we can. Thanks to Social Media we no longer know about the best authors who are moved by a great spirit, a compulsion to create tales and characters in order to capture the essentials of our being, our hopes and fears, our plots and plans, loves, hatreds, dreams and obsessions. Writers hold a mirror up to us to reflect back the times and ourselves. They tend to be “organic” in that they slide along a natural path, for them. For example, Shakespeare himself was a country bumpkin who stumbled into London, stumbled into acting, stumbled into writing and then into unequalled universal fame to become the measure of creativity, invention and genius. This stumbling is more evident in Rousseau who tripped into writing to avoid starvation, fell into notoriety and eventually fame. He had to be surprised. The scholars claim that stories, tales and narratives are part of our “wiring”, our humanity They preserve the precious fables of the tribe. Oral traditions fade away. Only writing seems to endure,, for now, despite its strange selection process.
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Feeling your way through academia, to the end of it, these days, is too often like feeling your way through a dark thick jungle undergrowth. When you finally emerge, where are you? Do you find yourself where the jobs are? Have you arranged an accurate match between your schooling and your employment hopes? Complicating the issue, as we all know, is the very rapid evolution of innovation in technology. Nothing stands still. New techniques in every field imaginable are themselves added to by more new techniques. Therefore, adjustments are necessary in schools, colleges and universities to try to keep up with this tsunami of change, of expanding frontiers. Naturally, considering the large numbers of people involved, the institutions and the speed of change, the attempt at a rational co-ordination of schooling with the job market will be somewhat bumpy and asymmetrical. A new graduate may find that the coveted degree has some gaps in it that must be filled with extra courses to match the requirements of a career that just came into existence. Consider the following: • In the 1960’s the half-life of knowledge—the time it takes for half of one’s expertise to become obsolete—used to be a decade for an engineer. Today that number has shrunk to less than 3 years for a software engineer. • The Canadian labour market forecasts 216,000 digital talent positions will need to be filled by 2021. But sufficient qualified candidates will not be there. • Technology is so rapidly reshaping the economy that many new job opportunities are still being defined. • Increased decentralization presents proliferating options: private career colleges, online learning companies, and various courses offering everything from the mundane to the esoteric. Such choices as AI (Artificial Intelligence), driverless car technologies and coding bootcamps do not begin to exhaust the list. How does one find a straight path to employment through this tangle? One is reminded of the hardy adventurer Cortes memorably hacking his way through the jungles of Mexico to finally emerge on a mountain-top vista of a stunning and very blue Pacific. He was very im-
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A Port in the Storm
DEL grad launches Canada’s first tech education hub.
pressed. Well, one of our Del grads is a Cortes also, finding paths through the thickets described above. This adventurer is Robert Furtado (2003) who studied Poli-Sci and Philosophy at Queen’s, and was an executive at Pilot, a Toronto creative communications agency, where he led a team of digital marketing experts, web developers, designers and media specialists. He consulted for both early-stage startups and Forbes 500 companies. He also taught at the Humber School of Media Studies, leading classes in marketing strategy, social media and corporate communications. Combining the best of both business and digital media, he visualized an ultimate goal, his Pacific, to clarify the space between what schools are teaching today and the skills students need to flourish in Canada’s economy tomorrow. The result is a Toronto startup called Course Compare, Canada’s first online marketplace for tech education. It is a search engine for courses and degree programs in high-growth technology fields. Canadians enter information about themselves to get matched with suitable courses at schools across the country. This is a simple way to identify programs and resources to help people reach long-term success. Course Compare expects to directly launch more than 1,000 searchers into new careers in 2018. Robert’s site guides those looking to break into a new industry, those who need to learn new skills and those who want to upgrade existing skills. All these initiatives are hopeful and helpful. They
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proceed from an inner impulse found in Robert’s own quotation remembered from his days at our school: “Del instilled in me a sense of being part of a larger community, and it taught me the value and importance of service to others.” Amen. His words are an accurate summary of our purpose here at Del. To learn more, visit CourseCompare.ca, or directly explore
By: John Hunt
Canada’s leading coding bootcamps, digital marketing courses, UX/UI design courses and product management courses. Stay Tuned
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DEL to NHL By: Michael Chachura
DEL grad honoured for successes in professional hockey Bill Bowler DEL ‘92 12
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He’s played in Canada, The United States and Germany but for Bill Bowler, there’s something unique about hitting the ice at the De La Salle College “Oaklands” arena. Bowler DEL ’92 pursued hockey after graduation and climbed the ranks to the NHL. Bowler played in the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets, in the OHL with the Windsor Spitfires, in the AHL, IHL and the German Ice Hockey League. In February, during the Skate with Daniel Alumni Hockey Tournament Bowler’s number 20 was recognized and prominently displayed in the arena. Most notably, he played with the Windsor Spitfires for four seasons. There he broke franchise records for most career points and was awarded the OHL’s Leo Lalonde Memorial Trophy in 1995 for being the best overall overage player in the OHL. Now, Bowler works as the Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Windsor Spitfires.
Although he’s had amazing experiences in his life, Bowler fondly remembers spending time at De La Salle. Growing up in East York, he’d lug his school bag, trombone, hockey bag and two sticks onto a bus, train and up Summerhill to school everyday. In high school, he played hockey for the College. Bowler said the comraderie at DEL was unlike any other team he played for. “For some reason at DEL it was almost family like. Before each game we would have a prayer in our arena... at the time, there was no question there was a bond between the guys,” Bowler said. He lives out DEL’s motto, “Enter to learn, leave to serve,” by helping coach hockey players and giving back as much as he can. Reflecting at his time at DEL, he is humbled by his experiences here. “I owe a ton of gratitude to De La Salle and what it did for me as a human being,” Bowler said.
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Our Better Angels
had just turned 5. This bereaved mother, in this case a rare achievement, turned her sorrow into a resource, determining that out of her experience, she could make a difference for other children affected by brain tumours, and their families. With no previous experience she resolved to raise funds and founded Meagan’s Walk. The first Meagan’s Walk was planned for Mother’s Day, 2002, a most wild, unruly day for sure. It came to be known as “the storm of the century” with all the usual horrors -driving rain,lightening and cold temperatures. However, 800 people came and stayed to “baptise” the inaugural event. The second walk, a year later, saw 1100 people attend. Networks developed. Towns from across Canada would rally behind a sorrowing family, raise money and send a delegation from Saskatchewan or Newfoundland to Toronto to participate in Meagan’s Walk. Today, By: John Hunt thousands are involved, from all over the world, joining the crusade to crush this paediatric cancer. A crushing blow to human kind must be the death of a child of tender years – unexpect Meagan’s Walk has now directed more ed, devastating, final. Can one learn to live than $5 million to ground breaking research at with such a new normal? Perhaps. Probably not. the Brain Tumour Research Centre in Toronto, There are, though, examples of time helping leading to improved treatments, outcomes heal that wound and even nurturing an enviable, and quality of life for the little ones and their helpful, optimistic response. Such an unusual families. In addition Meagan’s Walk efforts also sequence happened to one of our own here at supports the Meagan’s Walk Neuro-Oncology DEL, a tale of heroic proportions. It concerns Fellowship each year allowing a researcher from the evolution of Meagan’s Walk: Creating a another country to come and work at SickKids. Circle of Hope, from a very local event to an So far the Fellows have come from Spain, Czech organization that now, in its 17th year, has a Republic, Denmark and Brazil. They return national and even a global reach. One reason for home to continue the work, spreading the word such scope is that paediatric brain tumours also and extending the network. So the movement have a global reach. So many are touched by grows, enhanced by collaboration, sharing the this illness and will share our concerns as these knowledge of the advancements taking place. tumours are the leading cause of cancer related death in children and young people up to the Progress is being made despite the age of 20. inevitable complications involved. Nevertheless, the advances made are significant enough to Imagine the young mother leaving the motivate an army of volunteers to forge ahead hospital, and leaving her dead child behind, on in the battle to defeat the leading cause of that Father’s Day in 2001. Meagan Bebenek cancer related deaths among little children.
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To conclude, let us reflect and continue to reflect on the souls that have been uplifted by the collaborative effort and the successes of Meagan’s Walk. This hopeful initiative is bearing fruit – answers are being found. In this community resource we have a helpful shining example of resilience , hopeful and healing,
pouring light and solutions on the problems of pediatric brain tumours. De la Salle is happy and proud to be associated with the wonderful work of the Meagan’s Walk community. It gives us a model to emulate and a course to follow. From small beginnings…….great enterprises arise!! Stay Tuned
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Gibraltar
Nick Catre DEL ‘86 16
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ter for decades, that is, preserving this school and its useful purposes within the Brothers saving mandate. This is no idle past-time. At the heart of the mandate is the bursary programme that supports more than 100 students out of a total of 650 pupils. This is By: John Hunt Longevity. Staying powastonishing considering our very reasonable tuition. er. Durability. Commitment. The bursaries give a gratuitous boost to bright, ferThese are the sterling qualities belonging to those tile minds which without our help, would probably who are said to have the “right stuff”. Nick Catre is a man who exhibits these characteristics – he seems not achieve the lofty positions they do reach in our to gravitate to entities that have permanence. De La country. This democratic refreshing of our talent Salle was founded in the 17th Century. The Toronto pool is crucial to society. Again, Nick Catre has a school began in 1851. Young Nick, the student, first subtle guiding hand in this nurturing, saving salvaattended De La Salle in September 1978 in Grade 6 tion. He recently stated with the confidence of his and he is still here, for after law school he returned convictions, “We want more poor kids here. We to become a member of DEL’s Board of Directors will find the money for them.” Again, Nick Catre helping to guide us forward in the turbulent waters has a subtle guiding hand in this nurturing, saving we must sail through today. Thus began a fabled salvation. Although the task is largely carried on in 21 year unmatched Board tenure of dedication and silence, unapplauded, it will, as time will tell, equal service, which persists undiminished, as he always any heroic challenge. DEL surrounded by relentless serves with the best interests of our community at narcissism and materialism, which “passes all underheart. His daughter, now in grade 10 represents standing” has Nick Catre, a wiser soul who knows, another generation of his family valuing our traditions from his own experience that “let the buyer beware” and direction. In addition, he very quietly maintains is as necessary a proverb as ever, when facing foolish options. His steady hand is necessary to help Brotha scholarship in memory of his mother. er Domenic keep us on a sane course. Such commitment is exemplary of course, but Nick Catre loves DEL as a “special” place. His in our day it is crucial. Our school is the last Lasal- memories are defining – captain of the football team lian school in Canada. Are we at a crossroads in our for 4 years. He remembers the travails of “a former history? Our efforts to remain wholesome, academically sound and to maintain a pervasive spiritual un- poor immigrant kid” from Scarborough who forged derpinning, best seen in our graduates, these efforts lasting bonds with both students and Brothers. He are not widely shared. Throughout the province, and knows the view from below as well as the vista from the country, education has faced many challenges - above. He wants more young people, especially poor despite these challenges, De La Salle has remained young people, to copy his journey. Then, the destiny committed to ensuring a strong academic program of many more souls will be lifted and the splendor of that serves our students beyond graduation. Further, heaven revealed. This must be so, or DEL has judiciously ensured its mission is maintained “The ocean is dry despite these challenges. There’s no stars in the sky The old story of the Emperor’s New Clothes and little sparrows can’t fly“ comes to mind! So, DEL tries to remain an island of measured stability and wholesome continuity in a Stay Tuned turbulent “sea of troubles” which is contemporary, centrifugal culture. Why does DEL not need, or use, full page shiny ads in newspapers and glossy magazines to attract our students? The “word” is more P.S. Please read “Still a Radical Notion” on the website. than sufficient. P.P.S We have not detailed Nick’s exciting golf adventures To preserve such a school, the last one in Canada, is indeed a heavy responsibility. Thus Nick Catre, our board member has been helping in this mat-
and destinations – yet.
P.P.P. S. Nick invites more recent grads to attend alumni hockey on Wednesday nights.
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2018 Father Michael Luchka Golf Tournament
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• Young Alumni Pricing • Early Bird Pricing • Sponsorship Oppertunities (Click Here) • 9 a.m. Tee Off • 18 Beautiful Holes at Cardinal Golf Course • Continental Breakfast and Lunch Provided
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