OLM School Welcomes Alum, Father Brian Morris Back to School
OLM School traditionally holds its last mass of the school year in celebration of a successful year, to wish the students a safe and happy summer, and to bid the graduating 8th graders a fond farewell. On Friday, June 9, the last mass of the school year at OLM featured a very special celebrant as the school and parish community welcomed one of its own to celebrate the mass, the newly ordained Father Brian Morris. Father Morris was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Thomas Tobin on Saturday, June 3 at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, along with classmates Rev. Steven Battey and Rev. Joseph Brice. While Father Morris will be assigned to St. Luke’s Parish in Barrington, RI beginning July 1, he wasted no time returning to his home parish to celebrate his first mass as a priest on Sunday, June 4. His second mass was at his high school alma mater, Bishop Hendricken High School, on Monday, June 5. It was very fitting that he should return to OLM at the end of the school year that same week, as the 8th graders begin to prepare for the next chapter on their journeys. “I sat in these very same pews when I was a student here,” Father Morris told the students. In his homily, Father Morris gave all of the students, faculty and parents in attendance a summer assignment: prayer. He asked for them to pray for three things; for him and his priestly ministry, for the 8th graders and for more vocations to the priesthood and religious life. He also proudly displayed the new Marian vestment that were given to him by OLM Pastor Father Bernard Healey on behalf of the OLM Parish and School Community. After mass, Father Morris returned to the school for a tour and to give blessings to the students in the classrooms. It was a remarkable homecoming for Father Morris, to walk the same halls he had walked as a student, now as a priest of his home Diocese.
With a tradition of excellence in Catholic elementary and middle school education since 1951, Our Lady of Mercy School offers its students an opportunity to pursue excellence in academics, athletics and the arts on their journey as young saints and scholars. Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the Pre-K through Grade 8, co-educational Catholic school located in East Greenwich provides a nurturing, values-driven environment built upon the teachings of the Catholic Church.
