December 7, 2012
In ten years as principal at John Carroll, I got to know Br. James Kelly a little. I would see him at the two or three meetings a year for high school presidents and principals of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. I had been alarmed at how he looked the last time I saw him at one of those meetings – his hair mostly gone, his color not good.
It was a tonic, then, to see him looking better when I took part in a retreat for administrators new to the Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools network when I came on board in mid-summer. Br. James regaled us with story after story of the men who had founded and sustained the charism of the Xaverian Brothers. He took us, too, on a tour of his beloved Mount St. Joe campus on one of those brutally hot and humid summer days that are a Baltimore specialty. Looks, of course, were deceiving and improvement temporary. The cancer was winning.
I got to see Br. James three more times before his passing. In August, he hosted me to lunch. I learned all sorts of things: more about the history of the Congregation; his approach to tuition collection; and how he fostered connections with alumni. Listening to Brother (and you tended to do a fair bit of listening) I recalled a poet friend from my New Zealand days. He wrote of another proud Irishman, a brother who taught him and who was fond of saying: "in every man there is the boy, in every boy the man." He could have had Br. James in mind; he was always all about the boys, even those long graduated.
Brother had also accepted an invitation to rejoin the Board of Directors of Our Lady of Good Counsel High School. By the time our first meeting for the year rolled around in October, reports of his health were not encouraging. To our surprise, Br. James came and, although clearly fatigued, was his feisty self at the board room table. One of our board members made the mistake of referencing a Jesuit outlook on something. Enter Br. Jim with a vigorous and eloquent crash course on who we are – Xaverian, Xaverian, Xaverian, to the core.
On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, I was honored to be among those at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen to witness the awarding of the Papal Medal. Everyone expected him to be in a wheelchair but he was having none of that. With two people assisting him, he made it to the altar rail on his own steam while a packed cathedral rose in ovation.
And so, just 16 days later, I was back at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen for the funeral Mass of this remarkable man. We learned that to the end, Br. James Kelly had his ready opinions and was true to his lifelong commitment to make a difference in the lives of young people. Befitting an English teacher, there was even something poetic and theatrical about his hanging on until sunrise on the Feast Day of St. Francis Xavier, patron of the Xaverian Brothers. The final tribute at Mass celebrated the extraordinary connection of Br. James to the boys. The entire Mount student body stood to recite a prayer to St. Joseph composed by Brother himself. Stirring stuff.
The passing of Br. James Kelly is a big loss to those of us who lead Xaverian schools. His example as historian, teacher, advocate, leader, storyteller, provocateur, friend and brother has an influence on all our schools – he was a Xaverian's Xaverian.