ST SEBASTIAN’S

BROTHERHOOD
Pictured: Patrick Ciapciak ’12 (#42), Jake O’Malley ’10 (#83), and Dillon Ecclesine ’11 (#9)
following a varsity football game in 2009.
brotherhood, even though he is now a member of the Amherst Lord
Jeffs. He still returns to St. Sebastian’s to catch up and watch his
brother, Brian ’13, compete for the Arrows.
“I am very close with all of my St. Sebastian’s friends. I talk to
them maybe once a week,” he said. “I go back and try to watch Brian
play football and lacrosse, talk to Mr. Burke or Mr. Weihman, and
next thing you know, twenty minutes are gone without me even
noticing. Seeing them is always great.”
So, as the years pass, what is it that makes O’Malley think the
bond of St. Sebastian’s brotherhood will remain?
“I was with these kids, these teachers, all day for six years of
my life…taking the same classes, sharing all these experiences,
playing sports together,” he said. “Every day you were adding new
experiences together. And we don’t want to stop adding those
experiences just because we’ve graduated from high school.”
Even though three years have passed, O’Malley and his friends
have not lost that St. Sebastian’s ability to reminisce that used to
keep him from heading home long after school obligations were
complete.
“This summer five of my close friends from high school worked
pretty much in the same area in Boston and we would go to lunch
and just sit there for a half hour talking about Seb’s and the time
we had and funny stories and sports games. I remember just sitting
there. And we could talk forever. That’s how close I am with these
guys.
“My brothers were and still are my best friends,” O’Malley
concluded, “but now I have these best friends from Seb’s, too.
We have the whole friendship package—being able to tell them
anything, being able to trust them, knowing that they’ll always be my
friends.”
United by the Same Goals
Readers may remember Matt Perry ‘06 from his time on the St.
Sebastian’s website as a featured student in the first ever set of St.
Sebastian’s web videos. A three-sport athlete at St. Sebastian’s,
Perry was graduated from The College of the Holy Cross in 2010
and has gone on to play three seasons of professional baseball as a
third baseman for the Detroit Tigers organization.
Since his father and grandfather were legendary alumni of
Catholic Memorial, one might have expected Perry to follow in their
footsteps and become a Knight. His grandfather, Ronald Perry Sr.,
and his father, Ronald Perry Jr., were known for their prowess on
the athletic fields and the basketball court. Catholic Memorial even
named their basketball court after his grandfather in 2006. Perry,
however, fully planned on attending Lincoln-Sudbury High School
with friends from his hometown of Sudbury. In fact, he may never
have heard about St. Sebastian’s if it were not for the suggestion of a
family.
“One of my father’s friends mentioned St. Sebastian’s,” Perry
recalled. “He said it was a great school and it wouldn’t hurt to check
it out. So I went and took a tour and I just felt comfortable. There
was this ineffable quality about the place where I felt like I belonged.
So I said, ‘OK, I guess this is where I’m meant to be.’”
Perry had a tough decision to make. In order to attend, he
needed to repeat the eighth grade, a choice which would leave him a
26 | ST. SEBASTIAN’S MAGAZINE Volume VIII, Issue I