ST SEBASTIAN’S

We’re All in this Together
By James O’Brien ’06
“This brotherhood—it’s more felt than understood, and more
understood than expressible in words,” stated Headmaster Bill
Burke, acknowledging with a smile that even he, the man who
always seems to have the right words on the tip of his tongue,
cannot quite explain the bond that exists here at St. Sebastian’s
School. I have come to the Headmaster’s Office to find
the secret behind the St. Sebastian’s brotherhood. Burke is
largely credited with singlehandedly creating an attitude of togetherness
when he took over as Headmaster in 1990, though
he disputes this history of events.
“When I came here, I found a School that was way better than
many thought it was,” Burke said. “I told people how good they
were—and certainly they didn’t mind hearing it—but this attitude
of we’re all in this together was present at St. Sebastian’s
long before I got here.”
To prove his point, Bill recounts words that Pat Hegarty ’89, a
Harvard alumnus and current St. Sebastian’s board member,
used to speak at open houses.
“‘When I was at St. Sebastian’s, everyone wanted me to do
well. When I got to Harvard, only the teachers wanted me to do
well.’”
He continued, “All we are doing is helping young men become
the men they want to be. And as I’ve said often, I think every
person born wants to be part of something great and wants
to fall more deeply in love with learning, whether the person
knows it or not. In a community where enough people encourage
the pursuit of the good, the true, and the beautiful, it becomes
natural to take care of your brother.
“Patrick Kelly ’08 once told prospective families during an
Open House, ‘We’re brothers here for three reasons: One,
we’re a very spiritual place and we see God as our father. Two,
we have an awesome faculty who are very much like mothers
and fathers. And three, because we’re unified—we want the
same things, have the same goals, want to go in the same direction.’
“We’re all in this together. It’s a bunch of us all working together,
all going for the same goal. If someone falls down, we
have to pick him up…I believe we’re built that way. We’re built
for goodness. God made us for goodness in His image. That
doesn’t mean we’re always going to do the right thing. But the
beauty is we have forgiveness. We’ll make mistakes, but we
will also try to do better. As Miriam Pollard says: ‘There is nothing
we can do that God is not eager to forgive.’”
On the wall in Headmaster Burke’s office hangs a framed reproduction
Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal Son”—a reminder
that we have all been forgiven. Because of this reason, Headmaster
Burke reminds us, we have every reason to love God,
work hard, and take good care of one another. We have every
reason to smile.
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