Page 98 - Gonzaga at 60
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GONZAGA AT SIXTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS
Prep drama
was. They will recall her determinaion to ire the imaginaion by journeys to Narnia, to Hobbiton,
and to the strange world of Dahl. For many, Maire’s classes opened the ear to the polyphonies
of Rossini, Bizet and Tchaikovsky, or to the sounds of French vowels. All, parent and child alike,
beneited for over a quarter of a century from her shrewd insight into the psychology both of
childhood and of parening. Maire was, of course, the irst woman to teach in Gonzaga, joining
the staf in 1968. Her account of her experience in the Jesuit magazine Interfuse (1984) evokes
the diiculies this caused both for herself and for the Jesuit community.
Fr Keane menioned too the immense contribuion of Philomena Crosbie and Terry Egan
over so many years – Phil Crosbie from 1979 to 1995. Together they were responsible for many
aciviies outside the classroom – trips, plays, liturgical ceremonies, tennis coaching – some
recorded in photograph here, all leaving a lasing impression.
The Prep past will recall other, more leeing presences: Frank Walshe, Marilyn Bimstein,
Josephine McGrane, Daniel Leddy. For some years Ronan Ward made a very disinct mark, both
in music and in drama, but most paricularly in Irish, a subject that Gonzaga boys tended to
believe had a place in the Naional School, but certainly was no real concern of theirs. Ronan’s
producion of ‘Joseph’ as Gaeilge is a case in point.
Under the gentle and paternal leadership of Paul Farquharson S.J., and Daniel McNelis’
caring wisdom, the Prep saw out the last twenty years of its existence as pressures to prepare for
an expanding Senior School developed; Gerry Murphy assising as organist at Prep liturgies and
giving boys their irst taste of chess; Bobby Byrne teaching Geography and supervising swimming
coaching; Siobhan Keogh giving art classes. A developing curriculum also included for many
years regular drama classes directed by Daphne Felton. Ater Paul Farquharson let for other
duies, Joe Brennan SJ was the signiicant Jesuit igure, serving the Prep as chaplain and principal
celebrant at liturgies; it was however to the dedicated commitment of the lay teachers, men and
women, that the boys owed their formaion in faith.
Prep schools now appear an anachronism – private havens of cosy inimacy in which,
as Stephen Spender put it, parents could keep their sons ‘from children who were rough’.
Outside the mainstream, immune to certain elements of the naionally expected curriculum
(especially Irish and Gaelic sports) and demanding less than the rigorous training of teachers
in the state system, they may also have prepared their children less fully for the social realiies
of the larger world.
A ten year Gonzaga experience certainly let a deep and enduring mark and well deserves
the afecion and respect of those who shared it. Perhaps, however, the school now serves a
slightly broader church.
GONZAGA AT SIXTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS
Prep drama
was. They will recall her determinaion to ire the imaginaion by journeys to Narnia, to Hobbiton,
and to the strange world of Dahl. For many, Maire’s classes opened the ear to the polyphonies
of Rossini, Bizet and Tchaikovsky, or to the sounds of French vowels. All, parent and child alike,
beneited for over a quarter of a century from her shrewd insight into the psychology both of
childhood and of parening. Maire was, of course, the irst woman to teach in Gonzaga, joining
the staf in 1968. Her account of her experience in the Jesuit magazine Interfuse (1984) evokes
the diiculies this caused both for herself and for the Jesuit community.
Fr Keane menioned too the immense contribuion of Philomena Crosbie and Terry Egan
over so many years – Phil Crosbie from 1979 to 1995. Together they were responsible for many
aciviies outside the classroom – trips, plays, liturgical ceremonies, tennis coaching – some
recorded in photograph here, all leaving a lasing impression.
The Prep past will recall other, more leeing presences: Frank Walshe, Marilyn Bimstein,
Josephine McGrane, Daniel Leddy. For some years Ronan Ward made a very disinct mark, both
in music and in drama, but most paricularly in Irish, a subject that Gonzaga boys tended to
believe had a place in the Naional School, but certainly was no real concern of theirs. Ronan’s
producion of ‘Joseph’ as Gaeilge is a case in point.
Under the gentle and paternal leadership of Paul Farquharson S.J., and Daniel McNelis’
caring wisdom, the Prep saw out the last twenty years of its existence as pressures to prepare for
an expanding Senior School developed; Gerry Murphy assising as organist at Prep liturgies and
giving boys their irst taste of chess; Bobby Byrne teaching Geography and supervising swimming
coaching; Siobhan Keogh giving art classes. A developing curriculum also included for many
years regular drama classes directed by Daphne Felton. Ater Paul Farquharson let for other
duies, Joe Brennan SJ was the signiicant Jesuit igure, serving the Prep as chaplain and principal
celebrant at liturgies; it was however to the dedicated commitment of the lay teachers, men and
women, that the boys owed their formaion in faith.
Prep schools now appear an anachronism – private havens of cosy inimacy in which,
as Stephen Spender put it, parents could keep their sons ‘from children who were rough’.
Outside the mainstream, immune to certain elements of the naionally expected curriculum
(especially Irish and Gaelic sports) and demanding less than the rigorous training of teachers
in the state system, they may also have prepared their children less fully for the social realiies
of the larger world.
A ten year Gonzaga experience certainly let a deep and enduring mark and well deserves
the afecion and respect of those who shared it. Perhaps, however, the school now serves a
slightly broader church.
