GONZAGA at SIXTY

First published in 2010 by

Messenger Publications, 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2

www.messenger.ie

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AcknowledgementsSince this project was first proposed to me by Fr Joe Brennan SJ and Kevin Whirdy,

I have been greatly encouraged by their help and guidance. My sincere thanks to

them both.

I want especially to acknowledge the support and advice given to me by Triona McKee

and Paula Nolan, Manager and Designer respectively of Messenger Publications.

Irene Hickey’s assistance in tracing contributors and identifying photographs has

been invaluable, as has the research done by Siobhan McNamara. Both of them

have readily diverted their attention From other pressing tasks to be of help.

The pressures put on the school’s IT department are huge and extend far beyond

the school day and the academic year. I cannot sufficiently express my thanks to

its sole representative, Suzanne O’Hare, for making archive materials electronically

available, and for providing instant assistance at one late moment of near

catastrophe.

There are many staff contributions in the volume, including the photographic

contributions made by Mark Earley, Daniel Lynch, Siobhan Keogh and Fiachra

Etchingham. The willingness of colleagues to collaborate with the project has been

a great support to me. It is testament to the professional enthusiasm of the staff as

a whole and the loyalty that is felt towards the College.

Finally, in the course of soliciting copy or information From the Past, I have met with

nothing but courtesy and good will, and in many cases renewed old Friendships.

The willingness of the vast majority to speak or write about their school with

affection and pride speaks for itself. I wish to thank in particular David Fassbender

for collating and explaining a considerable number of photos; and Charles Lysaght

for allowing me to reprint a previous memoir, as well as providing many insights.

JCT versus Castleknock 2010: Theo Behan sets the back line in motion

ContentsEditor’s Note ............................................................................................... 11College Crest ............................................................................................... 12Foreword .................................................................................................... 13Gonzaga History ......................................................................................... 14Reflections, Peter Sutherland ..................................................................... 26Magis: Capturing the Essence .................................................................... 30Memories of the 1950s, Charles Lysaght .................................................... 46The Gift of Speech, Philip McDonagh ......................................................... 56Thoughts from a Distance, Peter MacMenamin ......................................... 60Gonzaga Occasions ..................................................................................... 64A More Equal Ireland, Niall Crowley ........................................................... 74Service Scrapbook ...................................................................................... 76Faith Commitment, Gerry Whelan SJ ......................................................... 82Daniel McNelis ........................................................................................... 86Prep Scrapbook .......................................................................................... 92The Classics, Myles Lavan ......................................................................... 100Experience at Home and Abroad .............................................................. 104An Spailpín Fánach, Manchán Magan ...................................................... 108An Education That Asks ‘Why?’, Brendan Donlon .................................... 112Chess ........................................................................................................ 114Rhetoric .................................................................................................... 122Sixty Years of Drama ................................................................................. 132Gonzaga Writers ....................................................................................... 146‘Because It Passes’, Brendan Connellan .................................................... 150Careers in Science and Maths .................................................................. 154French ....................................................................................................... 162History ...................................................................................................... 164Art............................................................................................................. 166Music ........................................................................................................ 178Sport ......................................................................................................... 188 Rugby ..................................................................................... 192 Tennis ..................................................................................... 212 Cricket .................................................................................... 220 Staff v Sixth Years ................................................................... 228 Swimming ............................................................................... 230 Hurling .................................................................................... 234 GAA ........................................................................................ 235 Golf ......................................................................................... 236Prayer: St Ignatius of Loyola ..................................................................... 237

Goethe’s Faust: Sixth Year Play 2009: Jack Gleeson (left) as Faust and Michael Fitzpatrick as Mephistopheles

GonzaGa aT SixTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS

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Editor’s NoteThis book is not a history.

The history of a school should probably be written when it is a lot older than

sixty, and its production will require a lot more time than has been available for

the publication of this volume. A history of Gonzaga will finally bring together

detailed accounts of the school’s foundation and development, and more extended

biographies of the many individuals who have served, or simply passed through, the

College. It will have more to say about Gonzaga’s position in, and contribution to,

Irish society. The present book may well in time be a source of some detail. While

preparing this book, however, it has become obvious to myself and to others that,

in the interests of any prospective history of the College, there is urgent work to be

done to preserve some of the earliest memories.

Readers will quickly find missing names and significant omissions of detail. I hope

the book contains a sufficient mixture of personal recollection and evocative

photography to reflect the past for those whose principal interest lies there.

The purpose of Gonzaga at Sixty: A Work in Progress as we have conceived it is

different, however. The book aims to reflect, and reflect on, the direction Gonzaga

has taken; in particular, the extent to which it has fulfilled or still continues to fulfil

the educational aspirations – academic, personal, spiritual and religious – of its

pioneering foundation. The main thrust, therefore, of many of the contributions by

the Past (some of them now writing as members of staff) is a consideration of their

education in Gonzaga and its effect on them.

In other respects, this book is a celebration of the immense vitality and variety of a

hugely expanded school; of the many who have served the College as members of

staff and whose contribution has not received recognition in previous publications;

and of the strong sense of community that connects all who have played a part in

the sixty-year life of Gonzaga.

Michael Bevan

September 2010

In response to a question concerning how the Gonzaga Crest has

developed, Patrick Potts (Headmaster, 1990-2007) wrote:

‘In 2005 one of our senior past pupils, who

had been in Mantua and visited the Gonzaga

archives, brought back details of the Gonzaga

arms From the official heraldry of Italy. From this

information I corrected the arms as they appear

over the main door of the College: increasing

the black bands in the escutcheon to three,

causing the eagles to have outstretched wings

and face centre and so on. This brings them into

line with the arms used, in whole or in part, by

other Gonzaga or Aloysius colleges worldwide.

The magenta arms (with just the Mantuan

escutcheon and a truncated Cross of Cong)

were a cool ’70’s version selected by Dermot

Murray SJ. I had hoped to replace them on the

tie and sweater (the tie was also a new version

of Dermot’s doing – replacing what is now the

prefects’ tie) as well but ran out of time. The

official colour for the College is Magenta (the

colour of the earliest blazers and skull-caps) but

the arms have always been red. The patriotic

O’Conor Don (responsible for adding the Cross

of Cong to the Gonzaga arms) was responsible

for the decision to have the boys play rugby in

“Ireland Green” – though Ireland seem to have

moved to a dull watery version for copyright and

sales reasons. I had also hoped – on prodding

From Kennedy O’Brien – to add a crest (of a lion

rampant as found in the escutcheon and on the

rugby jerseys) but time and money both ran out.

C’est la vie.’

The College Crest


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ForewordIt gives me great pleasure to write these few lines about Gonzaga College as it celebrates its 60th

anniversary. The college occupies a special place in my affections as it was in its halls that I took my

first faltering steps as a novice teacher. I was sent there in February, 1981 to teach history, Latin and

Religious Education for a six-week period as part of the novitiate formation programme. Some of

the readers may remember the mistakes I made. I remember the stimulation of contact with eager

young minds and the considerate kindness of the teaching staff that took me under their wing and

gave me encouragement aplenty. The pain of parting was bitter when I had to return to the novitiate

on March 16th.

These subjective recollections have to be placed in the context of a bold experiment in

education pioneered by the Jesuits in the early 1950s. It set out to be a broad approach to learning,

not hemmed in or restricted by overmuch preoccupation with examinations and syllabi which were

too tightly defined. Changes in the Irish educational landscape brought the experiment to a close

less than twenty years after it was inaugurated. Thereafter the college endeavoured to provide a

rounded education working within the confines of the examination system but trying not to be too

limited by it.

In my years in the Society, I have come to associate Gonzaga with articulate debating, creative

drama, concern for academic excellence, well executed liturgical singing on college and sometimes

Jesuit occasions, and feisty determination on the rugby field. My brief time teaching there coincided

with the Stardust Disaster, which shocked the nation with the loss of so many young lives. I recall

the entire college community gathering for Mass and the hushed silence among the students as

they walked From the classrooms to the chapel. The loss of so many young people, many of them

close to the boys in age, raised very profound questions about life and what it meant and the awful

reality of death and how one could come to terms with it. Students and staff were conFronted with

questions which could only be answered in the light of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ. I also think

of students of the college who have worked with the Society of St Vincent de Paul and who have

participated in the Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes. Such openness to faith and willingness to

serve others remains long after high grades have been forgotten and the final whistle in the game

has been blown.

It is my hope that the Gonzaga of the future will help its students to identify their talents and

to use them well in the service of others, especially those most in need. Long ago St Irenaeus told us

that the glory of God is to be found in the human person fully alive. Gonzaga creates an environment

which facilitates that. He also told us that it was the life of the human person that is the vision of

God. He was saying that there is a hunger in the human heart which only God can satisfy. Nothing

else can. It can be hard to say this in our time. May Gonzaga continue to remind itself, its past and its

future of this great truth. I end by expressing my appreciation of Michael Bevan who has edited this

volume and to all the contributors for reminding us of so many riches in the school’s history.

Tom Leyden S.J.

Provincial

GonzaGa historyNoel Barber SJ


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Looking around Gonzaga today one feels that the school is at ease with itself; it has a strong sense

of identity and with this there is an equally strong sense that there are social obligations going

with a Gonzagan education; it has a first rate teaching staff, very strong sporting and cultural

activities, a superb building with matching facilities, situated in gracious parkland on the edge

of the city – a veritable educational paradise for which there are so many applicants for every

place. Was it always thus?

Many reasons have been given for the foundation of Gonzaga in 1950 but the most likely

seems to have been the perceived need on the south side for another Catholic School or just

Belvedere on the south side some said. It was small and perhaps a little precious as it attempted

to forge a distinctive educational philosophy. It thought of itself as different: it was not to take

the Department of Education examinations and so did not follow the Department’s courses and

was Free to create and follow its own curriculum. The only public examination taken was the

National University matriculation in 5th year and a mere five lowly passes in that examination

opened all university doors. The 6th year was devoted to a broad pre-university course with no

final examination. The school’s liberal philosophy shunned a narrow utilitarian view of education

geared to the passing of examinations. It saw the purpose of education in the educational activity

itself which developed skills and attitudes that had value in themselves independent of their

utility. It was predominately a literary education that enshrined the skills of writing and speaking

at the heart of the curriculum.

Excellent though Gonzaga’s educational philosophy was, it was narrow. It gave limited scope

to science and initiation into science is a central element of a liberal education; neither music

nor art found a prominent place, much less the technical and practical subjects. It overstated the

intellectual and cognitive and underestimated the aesthetic, the scientific, the practical and the

technical. It viewed the person as a knower and hardly at all as a doer and a maker.

The earLY YearSThe school was blessed in its first Prefect of Studies, Fr William White, who being totally

devoid of ego himself was ideally suitable to manage those who were not similarly bereft. Indeed,

I believe that the success of those early years was due far more to Fr White than is usually

acknowledged. He had a unique relationship with staff, parents and students. With the staff,

his support, encouragement and enthusiasm brought the best out of talented people, enabling

the creative ones to blossom and the average to attain above their ability. His relationships with

pupils was characterized not merely by keen discipline but much more so by his extraordinary

concern for each and every one of the boys and his no less extraordinary knowledge of them and

of their family backgrounds.

60 Years in the Making

First Prefect of Studies, Fr William White

1950-51: The WhoLe SChooL:The FirST SChooL PhoTo

Back row (L to r): A. Plunkett, C. Robson, M. McWeeney, D. McFeely, P. Dempsey, T. Eustace, D. Carton, R. O’Loghlen, G. Devitt, K. Walsh, C. Mangan, K. Hurson, D. Strahan, B. Kirby. Third row (L to r): A. Donovan, D. Owens, T. Bieler, D. Gallagher, P. O’Conor, G. McEnroe, G. Shanley, J. Feighery, D. Feighery, D. Maugham, B. Davy, I. Delany, M. Hunt, O. Brady, J. Richardson. Second row (L to r): J. Delany, M. O’Donovan, J. Liston, Fr W. White SJ, Fr Charles O’Conor SJ, Fr J. Murphy SJ, Fr T. Hamilton SJ, B. Walsh, L. Little, J. Mulhern, D. Carroll. Front row (L to r): M. Woods, F. Dowling, B. O’Loghlen, G. Brady, R. O’Kelly, A. Clare, J. Murphy, E. Darcy, J. Lennon, D. Coyle, D. Robson, T. Webb, W. Harnett. absent: G. Miley

LeFT: GonzaGa 2010, More Than 550 STUDenTS

Next to Fr White in importance in the early years was its first Rector, Fr Charles O’Conor

(the O’Conor Don), who could trace his lineage back to one of the last high kings of Ireland.

Highly intelligent but not an intellectual, he was gracious, elegant, and holy with rather grand

mannerisms which went with a genuine humility and simplicity of life. He strove with much

success to imbue the school with a familial rather than an institutional ethos.

Fr Joe Veale, who came to Gonzaga in 1954, became an icon for many Gonzagans. As teacher

of English and Religion, he honed his pedagogical skills, sharpened his vision and developed his

philosophy of education. His commitment to excellence in thought and expression, his insistence


18

1956: Laying the foundation stone of the first school development: the hall, clock-tower and new classrooms

on the highest standards, and the breadth and depth of his intellectual interests made him more

than a memorable teacher; he was a profound educator. In those years he won many life-long

admirers and Friends. In the interest of honesty it must be said that his style alienated a few and

he left a casualty or two on the sideline.

He founded and was in charge of the Gonzaga debating Society, An Chomdhail. The

standard of debating was remarkably high. Participation in the society was an education in itself.

He exercised a national influence on the teaching of English and was largely responsible for

reshaping the English curriculum in Secondary Schools. His widely influential article in Studies

in 1957, Men Speechless was a masterpiece in which he made the moral case for Rhetoric and

distilled in princely fashion his philosophy and vision of education. I say ‘his’ view because while

he applied this to his teaching of English, it was never the philosophical basis of the curriculum.

Fr Veale was not great diplomat and never managed to engage the staff, much less coax them;

he pronounced loftily and this did not meet the approval of many who did not appreciate his

patrician ways. Furthermore, while in high seriousness he was without equal, many on the staff

were more than his equal in intellectual sharpness.

Although he is associated with the quality, tone and philosophy of the college, it was the

liberal educational philosophy of the school, the excellent teachers going their own way and,

as I have already indicated, the exceptional gifts of Fr White that gave the school its character.

There were excellent teachers: Fr Keane, an outstanding classicist, Fr Stephen Redmond, with

a great love of history that matched his scholarship, Fr Jack Hutchinson, who instilled a love

of Irish in a surprisingly large number, Mr John Wilson, soon to be joined by that educational

entrepreneur Mr Raymond Kearns. Then there was a little Italian fantasist, Signor Volpi, who

entertained the boys with his incredible tales and Fr

Kavanagh whose control of the boys did not match his

mastery of French.

CriSiS anD The CoMinG oF Fr MUrraYUnder the tranquil surface and seemingly

strong thread of continuity within Gonzaga in the

1950s and ’60s there were rumblings of which few

were aware at the time: the ethos of the 1960s, the

Second Vatican Council and the impact it would have

on the Jesuits, the incipient secularisation of Irish

THE O’CONOR DON SJ

each morning he would meet the Mathews brothersat the piggery near Saint Francis xavier’s gardenon their way to serve the half-past seven Masses.and he would hand them two hard orchard apples,Lacquered on the wing of his black soutane,And tell them the Latin for cooker and for pippinand which was the Fruit in the Garden of eden.They would sink their teeth in them after Communionon the pillbox dome of the school Bomb Shelter,a half-way house between pig swill and Pentecost.

he was Church and State, their own father told them,Broadswords and breviaries in his blue bloodstream.Yearly the Times would publish his birthday:“The o’Conor Don, the last descendantof the high Kings of ireland, is today aged —.’’ When he consecrated, a wolfhound barked twice,once for the host and once for the chalice.But unless he eloped with a child-bearing brideTo beget a royal republican Don,his line would end in a limbo forever,an apple-core fed to the prodigal swine.

if the dream of a son made him cry in his sleepShe could drink his tears to become pregnant.There’d be Fruit of her womb then, a kingly priesthood.no wonder The o’Conor Don SJWandered around the farmyard with his prayer-book,Worrying which kind of a Father he should be;Yet still finding time for the likes of two brothersWho would leave this golden autumn for the winterTo marry the filth and the flood like the Doge of VeniceWith Jesus stuck on the train-tracks of their teethand the smell of pig-shit in their balaclavas.

They Freewheel past me still. It is far down the road.Desertion, death, and the closed hospital wards.It is a turning that we turn From in slow-motion,Spellbound by our last sight of the twentieth century Where adam blamed eve and eve blamed the serpentand a stray went home on all fours to his family.Seminaries silent. Churches sold. Priests in prison.Children impaled. The annihilated father. and all that harvest Fruit preserved now only as pot-pourri in a toilet, an atomised windfall.

Holy Saturday 2010aidan C. Mathews Class of 1974

The o’Connor Don: Charles o’Conor SJ strolling through the grounds of Gonzaga in the snow


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1960-61: Gonzaga community

Back row (L to r): Fr J. Hutchinson, Br. P. Nolan, Fr H. Lawlor, Fr K. Laheen, Fr S. Redmond, Fr J. Veale, Fr J. Kavanagh, Fr W. Lee, Fr E. Keane, Mr N. Barber. Seated (L to r): Fr P. Leonard, Fr S. Hughes, Fr J. McMahon, Fr J. Brereton, Fr W. White

society. Its practical problems were readily observable: shortage of space, applicants greatly

outnumbering places and with preference given to siblings of students, it seemed to some that

the school was becoming too closed; the introduction of ‘Free’ secondary education in the late

1960s left Gonzaga, conscious of its Christian and social role, somewhat uncomfortable; some

of its past pupils were articulate in urging the school itself to have a clearer social vision; the

Jesuits themselves began to ask if their social role was compatible with a fee paying school;

as the qualifications for entry to university rose, the possibility of remaining aloof From the

examination system became unrealistic and was abandoned; the economic viability of the small

familial school was unsustainable and so the size of the school increased. As these issues were

debated a fully fledged crisis developed and the future of the school came into question. Indeed

a commission set up to look at the future of the school spelled out five possibilities in 1974:

1. Turn Gonzaga into a comprehensive school for the Ranelagh area

2. Make it a two stream academic school charging realistic fees

3. Enter the ‘Free’ scheme

4. Amalgamate with a girls’ school

5. Close the school.

At that time the strong preference was for the first option. The Jesuits had transformed

Crescent College Limerick into Crescent College Comprehensive and many thought that this style

of school, catering for all classes and levels of ability, was the way to go. This belief took stronger

hold as it emerged that the students in Crescent From similar backgrounds to those in Gonzaga

did just as well academically as their peers in Gonzaga. However, it is not my brief to discuss

GONzAGA IN THE EARLY DAYS

My first glimpse of Gonzaga, at the age of eight, was in May 1954 when i walked up the avenue with my mother to be interviewed by the Rector, the aristocratic Fr (Charlie) o’Conor. The grounds in Front were surrounded by low wire fencing and stiles. There were boys happily playing cricket in the nets and i was excited by this. i wore my peaked wine-and-green school cap as i cycled there each day. There were two bike sheds, one at the

Park Drive entrance and the other at the end of the avenue. Bikes had to placed in the iron stalls in either unlocked shed; leaving them around the school grounds was not allowed. The priests kept their bikes in an enclosed shed beside the boys’ Park Drive one and all of them cycled with clips holding in their black trousers. i don’t recall any of the priests driving at that time. The Prep classrooms were in the

basement, which had poor natural light. outside the classrooms was the cloakroom where dark and often wet coats hung and added to the gloominess. each morning the Prefect of Studies, Fr (Wally) White entered the first class and asked in soft tones: ‘Cé tà as lathair?’ and ‘Bainne go tapaidh’ and some of us,who stayed in for lunch, put up

our hands to order half-pint bottles of Dublin Dairies milk which arrived in noisy metal crates. as Prefect of Studies Fr White was energy personified and was as versatile as a circus employee. Despite his many duties he was always considerate of us; if you forgot your lunch he would make up some tasty jam sandwiches in the priests’ kitchen. Fr White delivered the biffs in his untidy, paper filled room. Outside his room was a

high metal radiator and as you queued you warmed your hands to lessen the impact of the biffs.

The lunch break was an hour and boys who lived nearby cycled home to be fed by their mothers. The rest of us ate sandwiches with our Dublin Dairies milk and played sport until classes recommenced. Some boys who were not interested in sport joined what was called ‘the Corporation’; this involved helping Fr O’Conor keep the grounds tidy by collecting leaves and litter into a red coloured wooden cart with long handles. Fr o’Conor rewarded them with apples From the orchard.

We had exams at the end of each term and the school report was posted, with Gestetner print on the envelope, to obne�s father; in those days mothers were not written to. each year there was a school prize-giving ceremony at which four book prizes were awarded for 1st, 2nd, Most improved and religious Knowledge in each class. The first lay teacher, I recall, was Signor Volpi, an Italian who conducted drill (later Pe) in the courtyard and who introduced us to the delights of the French language: Toto est petit. Toto ouvre la porte. Signor Volpi told us far-fetched stories From around the world in which he starred as the Walter Mitty hero. He finished his exotic stories with the encouraging words ‘You will go...’

There was great enthusiasm for sports even though we had limited success against other schools. There were twenty-eight in our class and selecting fifteen for a rugby team invariably meant we had a few weak links. against some of the bigger schools we often played against their 2nd fifteen.. We had a match on either Wednesday or Saturday afternoons. In the early years we had classes on Saturday mornings followed by Confessions in the priests’ house. Team selections were posted on an outside notice board in the courtyard. In those non-ecumenical days we did not play against Protestant schools other than when drawn against them in the Junior or Senior Cup.

Some of us played soccer on Sunday mornings in the school which involved boys From all classes. This internal competition had three teams: Clonskeagh Dynamo, Sandford rovers and Syndicate. Many of those playing used go to nearby Milltown on Sunday afternoons to cheer on Shamrock Rovers. After-school soccer was also played and some priests, Fr harry Lawlor and Joe Kelly - then a Scholastic, participated.

Cricket was the main sport of the Summer term and some success was achieved. it was directed by Fr ned Keane. The opening of the season was signalled by the smell of Freshly mown grass generated by Fr Keane as he manoeuvered the sit-on Dennis motor mower around the cricket pitch. We played, it seemed, always on sunny days in the shadow of the magnificent copper beech tree. Nerves used affect most young batsmen and a team score of around 40 was generally a winning total. Fr Keane photographed many of the sports activities and he developed and printed the photos himself.

There was an intimacy about the school. Authority was firm but fairly administered. Academic achievement was encouraged, and sport was savoured. above all, to my recollection, boys liked being at Gonzaga.

David FassbenderClass of 1964

Corporation Men


22

these options but to draw attention to the serious situation of the school which then lacked self

confidence and a sense of identity.

Cometh the hour cometh the man. Fr Dermot Murray was appointed Headmaster in October

1974. His practical and shrewd management of a pretty desperate situation saved the school

and laid the foundations for what it is today. He set about building proper facilities, establishing

firm discipline, maintaining excellent relationships with staff and managed to retain much of

the ethos of the old Sixth Year with the new academic demands of university entrance. In this

Fr Alan Mowbray played a crucial role. But it was not only on the practical level that Fr Murray

made his mark on the school. He was a scientist by training, and a keen musician. Under him the

scientific and aesthetic strands of the curriculum assumed a greater importance and he left the

school with a more balanced and humane curriculum. I do not think that one can underestimate

the role he played at a critical time.

Father Murray stabilised and developed the school and merits the very high esteem in which

he is held. However, despite his outstanding work, there were factors affecting the school which

indicated that it still lacked a sense of identity. Two issues remained unresolved. On the one

hand, it emphasised faith and justice, and on the other, it charged fees; in the eyes of many this

was an uneasy fit. The school was not at home with itself. It was a tightly knit community being

religiously, socially, and academically selective; the boys were all above or well above average

ability and came From families that were overwhelmingly professional and higher managerial

which provided them with the support of an educated and knowledgeable home environment.

Many questioned if this provided the boys with a sufficiently broad social experience. Certainly

one could observe that some were led to an insensitive bias to their own group or class and

others were led to a romantic rejection of their own social group. It was argued that the school

should earnestly seek ways to prepare young men to take their place in society and to serve as

agents of reconciliation, social harmony and justice without which the two previous qualities

cannot exist. There was in short a social ideal to be realised.

Secondly, the number of Jesuits available to teach in the school was decreasing and

the Jesuits were asking themselves if the school could remain Jesuit in these circumstances. I

recall having many discussions with my Jesuit colleagues about how many Jesuits were required

in a school for it to be a genuine Jesuit school. In fact what was happening was that a ‘family

firm’ in which the family retained the control and management and provided the personnel

of the ‘business’ was being transferred into a ‘public company’ in which an increasing number

of the management and staff was not members of the family. That transition was not without

its tension. The question gradually became: Can a school without Jesuits be a Jesuit School? Fr Dermot Murray: appointed headmaster in 1974

The early learning environment, and an early prospectus – not that prepared by Fr Veale


24

However, the diminishing Jesuit presence on the teaching staff did not lead to a dilution of its

quality. There was an intake of outstanding teachers among whom were Michael Bevan, in

Classics and English, Tom Slevin in Chemistry, David Murray in Irish Denis Cusack in Maths and

Physics, Noel Mc Carthy in Irish and Kevin Whirdy, who was to become Headmaster, in PE and

Maths. Gerry Murphy gave music a place of significance in the college and with music Chess.

I would consider Fr Alan Mowbray played a particularly significant part in ‘interpreting’ staff

and management to one another. This role Fr Joe Brennan continued to play on Fr Mowbray’s

departure.

The LaY SChooLBy the end of the 1980s the future of Gonzaga remained unclear but despite this a lay

Headmaster was appointed; Mr Patrick Potts replaced Fr Peter Sexton and remained Headmaster

for 17 years. These years saw a great development of the plant; it would be difficult to find a

better equipped school in the country; the musical, dramatic and sporting traditions blossomed;

debating continued to thrive and experienced new life in recent years; there has been a growth

in outreach programmes and fund-raising for charity culminating with building homes in zambia,

and this has inspired parents and past pupils to follow the students’ example and go themselves

to AFrica to do similar work.

Mr Potts (right) served it with rare commitment and distinction for 17 years during which he

won the esteem and affection of staff, parents and students.

He oversaw its physical development and, more to the point,

strove with remarkable success to enhance its Catholic and

Jesuit ethos through his unremitting cultivation of its cultural

and religious roots. His commitment to excellence in all

aspects of school life, his insistence on the highest standards

and the breadth and depth of your own intellectual and

cultural interests have made you more than an outstanding

educational administrator; he was a profound educator.

Gonzaga, Ireland, the Irish Jesuits have all changed greatly

since 1951; the culture shaping the institutions and society

has changed out of all recognition so we have a lay Jesuit school in a secularised society. One

observes that a goodly number of people have quite an extraordinary desire to retain the Jesuit

ethos. I am not certain what exactly they mean by ‘Jesuit ethos’ or even if there is a common

understanding of the term. I am, however, clear that over the past 20 years Headmasters strove

Fr rector, John a Dunne SJ, turning the sod at the start of construction of the new sports hall and classroom developments

mightily to ensure that the characteristics of Jesuit education animated the school’s activities.

One could say that the strains and tensions that were there over the years have been largely

resolved due to the ability of two Headmasters, Fr Murray and Mr Potts. Even the tensions arising

From its being a fee paying school has been resolved in principle. It was determined some years

ago that no person would be refused admission to Gonzaga because of the ability to pay the

fees. Once a boy is accepted then the fee can be tailed to the financial means of his parents. This

means that those who can pay support those who are unable to do so in whole or in part. There

have been difficulties in working out the scheme in practice. However, once the principle has

been accepted it is a matter of time in making it work.

Finally, its basic educational philosophy is that education is not a functional or utilitarian

enterprise but that educational activity is itself its own goal in enhancing the personal, intellectual

and religious qualities of the person; this was the fundamental philosophy of the founding fathers

of Gonzaga and has been elucidated more recently in The Characteristics of Jesuit Education.

This philosophy drives the school today as it did in 1951.

noel Barber, SJ

31 May, 2010

Gonzaga Staff 1986-1987

Back row (L to R) Mr M Bevan, Mrs. P. Crosbie, Fr J. Moylan SJ, Mrs. M. Deane, Mr J. O’Briain, Mr D. Murray, Mr.D. Keenahan, Mr D. Cusack, Mr B. Byrne, Mr D. Cefai SJ Middle row (L to R) Mrs. K. Evans (College Secretary) Mr P. O’Súilleabháin, Mrs. K. O’Dúill, Fr W. Lea SJ, Ms. C. Leahy, Fr J. Brennan SJ, Mr G. Murphy, Mr D. O’Connell, Mr B. Regan, Br. J. Barry SJ Front row (L to R) Ms. A. Nevin, Mr J. Walsh, Ms. I. MacConville, Fr E. Keane SJ, Mr D. McNelis, Fr P. Sexton SJ (Headmaster). Mr J. Mulgrew (Deputy Principal), Mr C. O’Gara, Ms. M. O’Kelly, Mr K. Whirdy, Mr T. Slevin. Fr Peter Sexton SJ was Headmaster from 1986 to 1990. Kitty Evans (whose son Hugh was a member of the class of 1963) was College Secretary for some twelve years, retiring in 1988

reflections on GonzaGa’s 60th anniversaryPeter Sutherland

I never liked IQ tests and this aversion probably started when I did one to get into Gonzaga. I

never understood the result. However, apparently I passed and moved into an environment that

certainly greatly influenced my life in many ways. I hope that there was no mistake in attribution

that resulted in a deserving boy being declined. I suspect however that there was.

In 1954 Gonzaga was a very intimate place. The relationship with teachers was close and

continuing in a way that I imagine is not found in larger schools. The ethos was created by Jesuits

such as the O’Conor Don, Wally White, Joe Kelly, Frankie Kavanagh, Joe Veale, Stephen Redmond

and Jack Hutchinson but its distinction I now think was founded more on the traditions of the

Society itself than merely on the great merits of the individuals themselves. More great Jesuits

were to follow. Later I have met alumni of various Jesuit schools from different parts of the world.

It is clear that there is a shared heritage that has a meaning that is itself a profound expression of

the value of our education and the identifiable common elements in our experience.

I have been sitting for a long time on a September morning reflecting on what the essence of

that heritage actually is. Jesuits after all are not in the least homogenised by their long novitiate.

As individuals they remain very different but they share, of course, a common vocation and a

remarkable education and training. We were the beneficiaries of their remarkable learning and

wisdom. What they shared with us obviously combined a belief in God and in His Church and

in its values, but that of course could be said of Catholic education generally. They also gave us

a liberal education. Liberalism may have been in the 19th century the great besetting evil for

the Church but many of its dispositions, though of course not all, were core and differentiating

elements of the Gonzaga ethos and I believe the Jesuit ethos more generally. We were taught

to think for ourselves and to question independently the great issues of life and our time. There

was something more: the Church was not presented as an authoritarian church. This does not in

any way imply an acceptance of relativism but simply the self-confidence to be open to others

and tolerant of their opinions. Our reading included some who were more radical in their views

than Rome might fully approve. But apart from religion our required reading lists were eclectic

and often stretching for our years, as was the teaching more generally. If there was a lacuna in

our education, it was shared by virtually every Irish school at the time; namely, the absence of

economics and business related subjects (even though this is belied by some illustrious products

of the school such as Brendan Walsh).

reflections on GonzaGa’s 60th anniversary

Peter Sutherland and Fr Joe Kelly SJ

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