The Companions' Dinner

Thank you for joining us tonight.

Forty years ago then president, Fr. Robert Mathewson, S.J., established the President’s Club as an opportunity to recognize and thank donors who gave $5,000 or more in the most recent fiscal year. It is no surprise that this group also represents some of our most loyal donors who, year after year, show their commitment to Jesuit education in Arizona by providing financial support. Brophy, as with all U.S. Jesuit high schools, is an independent school tasked with maintaining its own sound financial health; and certainly, we could not do it without all of you.

As my presidency begins, in addition to leading fundraising efforts so that we maintain financial solvency, I am dually tasked with leading Brophy into the future. How will we continue to best serve our young men in a rapidly changing world? How will we safeguard our Jesuit mission and identity in an increasingly polarized world? These and other topics will be front and center this year.

After hearing from our esteemed speaker, Fr. Hendrickson, we’ll share some time talking about the strategic planning recently initiated and how, once again, I am counting on your stalwart support as we embark on important conversations that, I believe, will help us map the way forward. If you have not yet participated in the Strategic Plan Survey, I invite you to do so at your earliest convenience.

Earlier in the year, as I thought about this occasion and how it might evolve from the past four decades, it was important to me to acknowledge you, not only as donors, but in a deeper — and very Ignatian sense — as companions. St. Ignatius did not walk, or work, alone. It was only with the deep faith, loyalty, and wisdom of his companions, including St. Francis Xavier, St. Peter Faber, and others, that he was successful in starting what is now the largest order of priests in the world — the Jesuits, and in turn, their transformative educational ministry. And it is only with that same collective faith, loyalty, and wisdom, that Brophy can continue to be an instrumental force in educating the young men of Arizona to serve a world that will only need their service and leadership ever more urgently in the years to come.

Thank you, again, for joining me, not only for this festive evening but as we plan our future.

AMDG…