John Thornburg
Headmaster
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Dear Malden Catholic Families,
It is hard to believe that Easter Sunday is almost upon us. We have one more week to prepare ourselves to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. This is the Passion Week - a time when Christ's early ministry was in its final steps. Here, we hear the words, and we can recount the actions that reflect His passion. I find this week to contain some of the most impactful messages that define our faith. From His final journey to Jerusalem, the Last Supper, and His betrayal, we find Christ immovable in His love of the Father through His obedient steps.
When my children were young, I wanted to make sure the Easter events were not lost on them. I did my best to reenact several of the major events. My efforts culminated in creating a "tomb" in the hollowed-out tree trunk in our yard. On Good Friday, I recounted the crucifixion story and then placed one of my children's dollhouse figures in the tomb with a large rock over the opening. Early that Sunday morning, before my children awoke, I removed the dollhouse figure. After breakfast, I asked them to check the tomb. Emily, my oldest, reached it first and found the rock moved and the tomb empty. She turned around and exclaimed, "He's gone!" Her sincere and innocent revelation still reminds me today how the disciples must have felt.
As you know, we moved to our Red Phase on Friday, and all students, faculty and staff were remote. This was an important reminder that although we are hopefully moving towards the end of the pandemic, we still need to remain vigilant in our efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus. Although we have not had a single case of transmission within the MC school building, new cases outside our environment have occurred and will more than likely continue to occur in the foreseeable future. I am thankful that our families have been informing us quickly regarding positive cases and supporting our efforts to keep our school community safe.
As the landscape of the pandemic changes due to the warmer weather and vaccine accessibility, I want to emphasize the need for Malden Catholic to continue our health and safety protocols. This week's Headmaster's Update includes our Large Gatherings and Travel Policies document which provides updated information regarding quarantining, gatherings and travel limitations and requirements. The safety of our community is paramount. I ask all families to review these policies, and I expect that we will all carefully follow them.
We will continue to move forward with our plans for Commencement and special events for Seniors. We will also distribute our Return to School Plan this week, which will outline our process for finishing the year with full, in-person learning and we look forward to providing every opportunity possible to celebrate students and their achievements, while maintaining a safe facility.
Thank you for your support,
John K. Thornburg
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Monday, March 29
Blue Day 1
NHS Induction for Blue Cohort 1:00 pm
Inductees report to the Auditorium at the start of F
Tuesday, March 30
Gold Day 1
NHS Induction for Gold Cohort 1:00 pm
Inductees report to the Auditorium at the start of C
Wednesday, March 31
Gold Day 2
Thursday, April 1
Blue Day 2
Holy Thursday
Rosary - Please join us in the school cafeteria at 7:30 AM
Friday, April 2
Good Friday - No School
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We hosted our second annual STEM Innovation Fair on March 24. Twenty two MC students participated in the event, held in the gym. The projects presented at the STEM Fair were judged by a panel from the Greater Boston area who work in the fields of engineering, biotech, pharmaceuticals and defense. Congratulations to our winners listed below!
First Place
Olivia Gowrie
What are the effects of sodium lauryl sulfate on hair?
A proposed study that aims to determine the damaging effect of common hair-care chemicals.
Second Place
Thuc Trinh
Plant Mediums
A proposed study to determine the relationship between soil medium and plant growth.
Third Place
Kaylee Shipps
Fishy Frequencies
A proposed study on the impact of different tonal frequencies upon fish swimming behavior.
We would also like to thank our judges who spent time with each student and evaluated the STEM projects!
Dr. Gerard Shipps
Mr. Sergio Toscano
Dr. Joseph Sullivan
Dr. Magali Hickey
Mr. Doughlas Shattuck
Mr. Vern Robertson
Dr. David Chuckran
Mr. Eric MacCuish
Mr. Timothy Cremin
Mr. Gary Reardon
Mr. John Thornburg
Mr. Chris Sparages
Dr. David Diller
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National Honor Society - March 29 and 30 |
On March 29 and 30th, Malden Catholic will host the induction ceremony for the Brother Gilbert Chapter of the National Honor Society. Based on current COVID-19 gathering limitations, we will induct 100 members into the NHS via two live ceremonies in the MC Auditorium: one for the Blue Cohort on March 29 and a second one for the Gold cohort on March 30th.
Both ceremonies will be shared live on the MC YouTube page through YouTube Live. At the conclusion of the event, the students will process outside where parents can take pictures and enjoy a socially distant reception. Congratulations to all of our inductees!
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Good Friday Virtual Prayer Service |
Malden Catholic Campus Ministry will host a Good Friday Virtual Prayer Service on Friday, April 2nd at 11 AM. We invite students and parents to join us for a half-hour of prayer and reflection to mark the sacredness of Good Friday. You can join the prayer service through this link.
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Large Gatherings and Travel Policies |
Malden Catholic has established a Culture of Health and Safety that has allowed us to successfully operate our school since September 2020. We have gone to great lengths and have made a significant investment in measures to provide a safe environment for our school. As we move into warmer weather this spring, and the vaccine is distributed to larger groups within our population, we understand that individuals in our community may feel the desire to gather for celebrations. Unfortunately, we are still in a pandemic and it is important that we maintain best practices to ensure that our community is as safe as possible by continuing to observe social distancing practices and following all guidelines established by national and state health agencies.
Events that cannot accommodate proper social distancing place our students and our entire community at extreme risk. With this in mind, Malden Catholic has strict guidelines in place regarding large gatherings, travel and revised quarantine requirements. The attached guidelines will help serve to keep our families safe.
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Q&A from the State of the School Address |
We would like to thank the families who joined us for the State of the School Address last week. We had a tremendous amount of participation and quite a few questions asked regarding academics, testing, athletics, events and incoming student information. We have prepared a Q&A document has been prepared to respond to the questions. We hope that it will serve as a helpful resource going forward as we approach the end of the year. If you were not able to join the State of the School Address live, you can find it through the link above. The Q&A is available on the website through this link.
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MC Virtual Gala on April 29 at 7 PM - Save the Date |
Mark your calendars and hold the date for Malden Catholic's 15th Annual Gala which will be held on April 29 at 7 PM! We will honoring our Plus Ultra Award recipients, the MC faculty and staff throughout the evening, and will have over 40 exciting online auction items to bid on. These include vacation homes, golf outings, bicycle cruisers, themed baskets and unique MC experiences. This is an event you won't want to miss!
This year, our MCPC Advancement Committee is coordinating our online auction and we need your help! If you have premium auction items that you can donate to the Gala such as a week at a summer home, sporting tickets, golf outings or the like, please reach out to our Director of Advancement, Sarah Hamilton at [email protected]. Also, if you would like to assist the Advancement Committee with coordinating the auction items, please reach out to Missy Barrett at [email protected].
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Earth Day Dance Performance |
The Malden Catholic Dance Company filmed eight talented dancers in the Fells this week in preparation for an Earth Day dance celebration. The dance will premier on Malden Catholic's YouTube channel on Thursday, April 22 at 4 PM. |
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After Your College Acceptance |
Many families are waiting to receive college decisions so that students can make their final college acceptance choice. In previous years, MC has hosted MEFA's After the Acceptance Night for seniors and their families to help parents better understand their financial aid packages. While we can't do so in person this year, our School and College Counseling department would like to share the MEFA video which will assist families by providing important information regarding college expenses. Please see the attached video: https://www.mefa.org/videos/family-webinar-series-after-college-acceptance
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Pizza and Prayer - April 8 |
Campus Ministry is hosting Pizza and Prayer on Tuesday, April 8th at 5:30 PM in the cafeteria for the Blue Cohort. This live event has space for 25 students and pizza will be served.
If you are interested in attending the event, please email Ms. Foley at [email protected] to be added to the list.
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Malden Catholic has partnered with Pleasant Auto School to offer online classes for this spring. The next sessions begin Monday, March 29 through Friday, April 2nd and are held from 6 - 8 PM. For more information, please contact Pleasant Auto at 781.284.4388.
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MC Seniors gathered at school for the final Senior Days event and the boys reflected upon their future path after graduating from Malden Catholic. We thank our Seniors for attending events and hope everyone enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with classmates over the past few weeks. If you were not able to attend Senior Days, please stop by the front office to pick up your Monogramed MC Shirts and pennants.
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Campus Ministry hosted Agape Latte for the Gold Cohort on Tuesday, March 23. We would like to thank Father Eric Cadin, the Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Boston, for joining us in person and sharing his inspiring stories about how God has worked in miraculous ways throughout his life!
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TKS - Exclusive MC STEM Opportunity |
Malden Catholic students have been invited to apply for a unique STEM-based program entitled, The Knowledge Society (TKS). This program is designed to train students to maximize their ability to make an impact on the world with a 10-month program that focuses on using emerging technologies such as blockchain, genomics, space tech and nanotech to solve important problems to shape the future. The program was created by entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley, who have built and sold companies and designed this unique experience with successful CEOs and global leaders, while also adopting new ideas from innovative companies like Google and SpaceX.
A limited number of students will be chosen from over 80 schools in the Boston area. The tuition is $439/month for the virtual program. Two seats for TKS have been reserved for MC students and the application deadline is April 5th. For more information, please see the attached link.
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MCPC T-Shirts
The MC Parent Council has created t-shirts for all proud Malden Catholic parents and grandparents. They are available for only $10. Shirts may be ordered through the MCPC website page.
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Amazon Smile - Give Back to MC |
AmazonSmile is a simple way for you to support Malden Catholic every time you shop online! If you sign up for AmazonSmile, Amazon will donate a portion of the proceeds for every online purchase to MC. Plus, there is no cost to you! Just go to smile.amazon.com and load AmazonSmile on to your web browser. (This can also be activated in the Amazon Shopping app for iOS and Android phones.) Help contribute to the Fund for Malden Catholic and start using the AmazonSmile charity link today.
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Mission Moment with Brother Puccio |
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Mission Moment: The Annunciation of the Lord - March 25th
“The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.”
Two very simple lines from the prayer “The Angelus” announce the coming of the biggest event in human history! It’s hardly possible to understand the magnitude of it. But try! Can you imagine – out of the blue – getting a phone call from somebody really really important, sharing with you some incredibly wonderful news? If not that, at least all moms can appreciate the wild range of emotional responses possible upon learning of a first pregnancy.
On the Feast of the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, exactly nine months before Christmas, we celebrate that God’s emissary, the Angel Gabriel, “declared unto Mary” that she was to give birth to God’s Son. The announcement set in motion the human enactment of a plan prepared by God from all eternity that He would enter our world as Man. This arrival of Jesus would bring to fulfillment centuries of salvation history, allowing men and women to regain the possibility of the Paradise lost in Adam & Eve’s fall from grace.
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Fall II Sports Games Schedule |
March 29:
March 31:
April 1:
April 3:
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