An Interview With Father Michael

Thunderous applause erupts from the student body and faculty as Abbott Richard finishes his special announcement: Father Michael will be the next Headmaster of Delbarton. While many suspected Father Michael would be Brother Paul’s successor, hearing the official announcement elicited no less than five minutes of clapping. The clear enthusiasm of the student body demonstrated their approval of the Abbot’s decision and their confidence that Father Michael will not only build upon Brother Paul’s success, but also make his own unique mark on the school. Recently, staff-writer Derek Lattmann and I got a chance to speak with Father Michael about his background, experiences at Delbarton, and future plans for the school.

Father Michael was born in 1970, and he grew up in and around city of Philadelphia. He attended Catholic elementary school in Montgomery County and then a La Salle Catholic high school from 1984-1988. In college, he studied European history at the University of Pennsylvania. From 1990 to 2003, Father Michael was actually a part of a different religious order: La Salle Christian Brothers. This religious order taught him in high school and runs Christian Brothers Academy, a longtime sports rival of Delbarton. While he enjoyed his time with La Salle very much, the order required him to move frequently from place to place wherever he was needed. Upon personal reflection, Father Michael realized he wanted to commit and dedicate himself to one specific community, a hallmark of Benedictine life. In 2003, Father Michael became vice principal of a Catholic high school in Delaware. During this time, he took some time to discern what God was truly calling him to do in his life. This introspection led him to the Benedictine order, which he joined in 2006 at Marmion Abbey outside of Chicago. Father Michael came to Saint Mary’s Abbey in the June of 2008 after a death in the family, as he needed to be closer to his mother. From 2008-2013 he was known as Brother Kevin. As the years went by, Abbot Giles invited him to consider becoming a priest. Eventually, Father Michael realized that he had a true calling to the priesthood at St. Mary’s Abbey-Delbarton.  So, he took his vows to become a priest and was formally ordained in a school-wide ceremony. Even though he already had earned his masters degree in theology, it took him a year to fill in the gaps by taking courses. On December 9, 2013, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, he was ordained a priest, taking the name “Michael”.

Now, Father Michael juggles many different responsibilities concerning the school and the Abbey. He is a teacher in the history department, testing coordinator, business manager of the monastery, treasurer of the corporation that oversees the Abbey and school, assistant coach of forensics, and now, future Headmaster of Delbarton. Although he will take up Brother Paul’s mantle next year, he hopes to still teach AP World History to seniors and remain involved in the Abbey business office.

At the end of the interview, we asked Father Michael to reflect on his time at Delbarton and what his vision was for its future. He has been at Delbarton for ten years, and he noted that some aspects have changed drastically, while some of the essential elements of the school have remained the same. The school’s physical facilities have changed, such as the new and remodeled buildings, football field, Forty-Acres Field, and the Trinity Hall renovations. The faculty has also become far more stable with extremely qualified teachers who consider teaching as a career rather than simply a job. What has stayed the same are the bright, motivated, and gifted students who make Delbarton special. For the future, Father Michael hopes to continue Brother Paul’s work on affirming the school’s Benedictine identity. Father Michael also wants Delbarton to be a place of personal transformation, where one leaves a fundamentally different person than when he came. Finally, he wants the Delbarton community to be engaged with one another through community service and other activities, such as intramural sports. To conclude the interview we asked Father Michael what his favorite memory of Delbarton was. After contemplatingfor a moment, he finally settled on three key moments: the day he was ordained because he felt especially affirmed by the faculty and students, the 2011 school year because we won two national championships in forensics, and the fourth quarter of the “Non-Public A” lacrosse championship in 2014 because it was a classic example of a Delbarton team “gutting it out”. We wish Father Michael the best of luck next year.