Catholic Schools Week Supplement

A trip to the past: High school friends visit the brothers who shaped their lives

In December of 2008, 15 people who became friends at Cathedral High School made a bus trip for a reunion with the Holy Cross brothers who taught at the school. Here, former Cathedral coach Tom O’Brien poses between Holy Cross Brother Roy Smith, left, and Holy Cross Brother Roland Driscoll. Brother Roy played for Coach O’Brien. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

The idea for the road trip seemed crazy at first, the kind of idea that good friends think of when the stories and the laughter flow.

And yet the idea for the road trip seemed perfect, too. After all, the friends knew they couldn’t wait any longer if they wanted to say “thank you” in person one more time.

So the 15 friends from high school boarded a charter bus in Indianapolis in early December to begin the 2½-hour trip to visit some of the religious brothers who had shaped their lives long ago.

As the bus headed north toward South Bend, Ind., the friends once again started sharing stories about the Holy Cross brothers who were their teachers and mentors at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

“The impact the brothers had on our lives was huge,” says Fran Brezette, a 1960 Cathedral graduate. “Teaching young men was not just a job to the brothers, it was their vocation. They lived in community at the school, and we were part of their family. They were tough taskmasters, but their motivation was always to make us better people and better prepared for life after high school.”

The influence has lasted even though nearly 50 years have passed. Many of the Holy Cross brothers from that era at Cathedral have died, but some are retired and live at Holy Cross Village in South Bend, near the University of Notre Dame.

Those religious brothers are often the topic of conversation when members of Cathedral’s Class of 1960 meet for lunch on the last Thursday of every month at the Golden Ace Inn in Indianapolis.

“The conversation is bound to turn to our high school days and what a unique experience Cathedral was in the late ’50s and early ’60s,” Brezette says.

“Many factors led to that uniqueness. The downtown location of the all-male school attracted students from all areas of the community, and covered the entire ethnic, social and economic spectrum. But we all generally agree that the primary reason for that uniqueness was a dedicated group of men from the Brothers of Holy Cross order.”

Arriving at Holy Cross Village on Dec. 4, the group of friends from Indianapolis stepped off the bus and into their past.

They attended Mass and enjoyed lunch with many of their former teachers: Holy Cross Brothers Roland Driscoll, Joseph Berg, Raymond Harrington, Bernard Donahoe, John Dobrogowski, Camillus Kirsch, James Kinsella and Ronald Christenson—all teachers at Cathedral in the late ’50s and early ’60s.

Memories were shared. Stories were told. Snapshots were taken. “Thank yous” were offered with hugs and handshakes. Smiles abounded as the years faded away, at least for one day.

“It was an emotional reunion for both groups,” Brezette says. “There were great stories, some no doubt embellished just a little, and fond memories of a simpler time when a dedicated group of brothers carried out their vocation of preparing young men for life. Based on the conversations we had in the bus on the return trip to Indianapolis, they did a very good job.

“It was incredible how good everyone felt about the trip.” †