President's Update
Dear Families,

During the summer of 1994, I traveled to Yellowstone as part of a college elective course. We were able to see many points of interest in the park, including some of the mountains. One of the highest mountains is Mt. Washburn. The walking trail that allows easy access to the peak sets it apart. Any hiker with enough motivation to hike the six miles there and back again can do it. Our class, comprised of educators looking for college credit to maintain their teaching certificates, decided to hike to the top.

We were an eclectic group with a wide range of ages and backgrounds. One of the older teachers in our group, Arne, had distinguished himself during the week as being the first in everything we did. A few of us decided to reach Mt. Washburn’s summit before he did. We set off at what we thought was a record pace. We walked briskly, passing many other people along the way. Arne had to be far behind us. We reached the top, out of breath, only to find him waiting for us. To this day, I am not sure how he did it.

It is easy to misjudge our progress without comparing it to others. My hiking group thought we were the fastest on the mountain, only to discover that wasn’t the case. Schools can be the same way. Each day is full of activity, and it is hard to gauge our progress. A recent study led by the Lynch Foundation, involving 96% of the Catholic schools in the Boston area provided some insight into our progress at Malden Catholic.

Boston area Catholic schools were asked to anonymously submit data related to enrollment, student outcomes, and school finances. Case studies of success were also considered and shared with other Catholic schools. The findings were presented to Catholic school leaders. I included some of these findings at our MC Parents Club meeting this past week and will share them with you today. 

Something special is happening at Malden Catholic that is not occurring anywhere else in the Boston area. We are the Catholic high school (9-12) that leads the way in growth. We have almost doubled our enrollment in six years compared to an overall decrease of 3,700 students in Boston area Catholic schools (where one in three schools reported continued decreases in enrollment). We match other high school programs that send 96% of their graduates to college (as compared to less than 65% for public schools). We lead the way for 9-12 Catholic schools in the support we receive from our donors. Our student outcomes (SAT) match or exceed other Catholic schools and are well above the public school average. 

As we journey toward Malden Catholic’s exciting future, it is good to know that we are leading the way. We have not reached our “summit” yet, but we can celebrate our progress. This reflects our great school community of outstanding faculty and staff, and supportive parents and alums. 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that weighs us down and the sins that so easily distract us and with perseverance run the race that lies ahead of us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. (Hebrews 12:1)

Let’s continue to blaze the trail for 2023!

John K. Thornburg
At a Glance
Monday, January 16
Martin Luther King Day - No Classes/Offices Closed

Tuesday, January 17
Day D
Winter Coat Drive Ends

Wednesday, January 18
Day C
Praying of the Rosary - 7:25 AM

Thursday, January 19
Day B
Junior College Kick-Off: College Admissions Panel - 6:30 PM

Friday, January 20
Day A
Weekly Mass - 7:20 AM
MC Attendance Policy
Due to an increased number of absences and tardiness, MC Administrators ask that you review the Attendance Policy. We have included additional details regarding the policy and proper procedures for contacting the Main Office. 

Dismissal Policy
Students who do not feel well need to report to the MC Nurse’s Office. One of the nurses will call parents if a student’s condition warrants dismissal. MC students should not be calling their parents to come and dismiss them if they feel ill. Students must be seen by one of the MC Nurses first. Thank you for your understanding.
MC Weekly Dining Menu
We are providing the MC weekly dining menu in the President's Update to make it easier for students to plan lunch throughout the week. The menu is also available through the Malden Catholic Mobile App along with easy access to the online portal for adding money to student lunch accounts. Search for "Malden Catholic" in the app store on your phone.
School and College Counseling - Naviance Reminder
MC’s School and College Counseling department would like to remind Grade 12 students to contact their school counselor, as well as update their Naviance account with all college decisions (acceptances, deferred, wait listed and denied). Please reach out to Mrs. DelGenio with any questions at delgenios@maldencatholic.org.
What's New?
Important Date Changes for Sophomore Dance and Junior Prom
Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Malden Catholic Sophomore Dance, previously scheduled for Friday, March 24 has been moved to Friday, March 31. The Junior Prom scheduled for Friday, March 31 has been moved to Friday, March 24.
Brother Daniel Cremin, C.F.X., Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Ticket Sales - 1.15
Malden Catholic is delighted to announce the 2022 inductees into the newly reignited Malden Catholic Brother Daniel Cremin, C.F.X., Hall of Fame. Please join us in celebrating the following distinguished individuals at the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on March 2, 2023!

  • David Caputo ’85
  • Steve Freker
  • Stephen Joseph Harris 68
  • Ryan Layton 02
  • Sean Layton 03
  • Jack Leavitt 02
  • Richard Mazzei 74
  • Brian Parow 04
  • Dario Pizzano 09
  • Domenic “Junior” Vincenzo Jr. 94
  • Stephen Wishoski 68
  • 1960-61 MC Boys Basketball Team
  • 2010-11 MC Boys Hockey Team

The Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held on Thursday, March 2 at 5:30 PM at Anthony's of Malden. The cost is $75 per person, which includes dinner. There will be a cash bar. A limited number of tickets are available, so be sure to purchase your tickets soon through Eventbrite.

Any questions regarding ticket sales can be directed to MC's Communications Assistant, Shannon Hoar at shoar@maldencatholic.org.
Winter Coat Drive - through 1.17
Malden Catholic's Campus Ministry has teamed up with Malden Warming Center, Salemwood School, and Coats for Kids and Families for the annual Winter Coat Drive. Students are encouraged to bring in gently used coats for kids, long underwear, and handwarmers until Tuesday, January 17. Collection boxes are located in the lobby and in the Campus Ministry Center. This is an ideal time to look in your closet and donate a coat that you no longer wear.
Pizza and Prayer - 1.18 at 4:30 PM
Campus Ministry will be hosting Pizza and Prayer on Wednesday, January 18 from 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM in the cafeteria. During the event, students are invited to expand their spirituality in a communal setting while listening to and discussing scriptures and reflecting upon their personal and shared experiences. Please sign up in MC's Campus Ministry by the morning of January 18 if you would like to attend. All are welcome!
Class Rings - Orders are open from 1.18 to 2.8
Grade 11 and 12 students are invited to order a Malden Catholic class ring during Balfour's three-week sale from January 18 - February 8.

Choose a ring style through this link and place all orders through Balfour's designated site for Malden Catholic here. If you are unsure of your ring size, please print out the Balfour Ring Sizer instructions or stop by a local jewelry store to get a correct size.
 
If you have any questions regarding ordering your Class Rings, please call the local Balfour Sales Office at 401-467-7018 or email ANDScholasticGroup@gmail.com.
Junior Class College Planning Kick-off and College Admissions Panel - 1.19 at 6:30 PM
The Junior Class Parent/Guardian College Admissions Panel and Kick-Off event for both parents and students will be held on Thursday, January 19 at 6:30 PM in the MC cafeteria. This event will feature a question-and-answer session with a college admissions panel that will provide a framework of the admissions landscape, an overview of the entire college application process, and other other information that will make applying to college easier. The event will be recorded for families unable to attend.
Malden Catholic Alumni Get-Together - 1.27 at 6:30 PM
The MCAA will be hosting an Alumni Get-Together on Friday, January 27 at 6:30 PM. The alumni group will first attend the Boys Varsity Basketball game at MC and then meet for dinner at the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) Division No. 12, 259 Charles Street in Malden. The cost to attend the event is $20/person which covers admission to the game and dinner. There will be a cash bar at the AOH. Please R.S.V.P. through this link and submit payment via Venmo to Chris Caprio @cappa22.
MC Parent Book Club - 1.31 at 6:30 PM
The MC Parent Book Club Meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 31 at 6:30 PM at MC in the Campus Ministry Center. The January MC Book Club will be discussing The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd, a 2015 New York Times #1 Bestselling novel which follows the lives of two Southern women in the 1800s as they navigate the different restrictions placed by society on women and slaves.

Please contact Vange Egizi at: vangiemassagain@yahoo.com or Brother Puccio tpuccio@maldencatholic.org if you are interested in attending.
What's Happening Around MC?
Grade 10 Girls Retreat
Grade 10 Boys Retreat
Mock Trial Practice
Chess Club
Student Art Portraits
Michael Casey ’25
Elicia Perez ’26
Xuemei Qu ’24
Matthew Fukuda ’25
Mission Moment
Martin Luther King: What about Now?
"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality.   I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."

I enjoyed a change of pace this week, helping at the sophomore retreats for our boys and girls, one on Wednesday, the other on Thursday. One of the presentations included a Chris Daughtry (American Idol fame) song/video from 2008 called “What about Now?” The lyrics were paired with stark images of poverty, war, racism, environmental devastation – pretty depressing stuff! The video, though, went on to offer alternatives to these blights in images of individuals who, in small but purposeful ways, were trying to make things better.   Part of the song’s refrain was: “What about now? What about today? What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?” It was a call to action. It was a nudge toward fixing what’s broken. It was a reminder that each of us has the power to inspire others to grow into who they ought to be. That power is love.
 
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, I guess you could say, was a “What-about-now-kind-of-guy.” He famously told us, “The time is always right to do what is right,” and “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Speak up for truth. Act for justice. Truth has had a hard time of it these past few years, a laughable Long Island Congressman being only the most recent, infuriatingly inane example. The “vibe” of the day, perhaps, makes it difficult for us to imagine a man like Reverend King, idealistically inspired enough to believe in the power of “unarmed truth” to have the final word. Jesus, we know, was such a man, too.
 
Every Martin Luther King Day in recent years, I recall a little pilgrimage I made while in Atlanta about 15 years ago, attending a National Catholic Education Association Convention. Fellow Xaverian Brother Brian Davis and MC alum/teacher (now State Rep.) Steve Ultrino had a free afternoon, so we decided to head to the Martin Luther King National Historic Site, which includes King’s birthplace, his grave, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church where he worshipped and preached.  None of us knew that the Atlanta rapid transit system would not drop us off near the site, but about a mile away. There must have been bus routes from the station, but we didn’t have the ingenuity to figure them out. So, maps, in hand, without benefit of GPS, on a 90-degree, humid, sunny day, we wandered through a quiet blue-collar neighborhood, not unlike parts of Malden – three white guys feeling a little bit out of place.  

The walk was well worth it. When we finally made it to the site, I spent a good 40 minutes in the Ebenezer Baptist Church. The National Park Service that supervises the site regularly plays aloud recordings of full sermons of Dr. King. His voice crackles with the tin-echoes of an old recording across the empty wooden walls, and one can sit in the pews, close one’s eyes, and imagine the dreams inspired there, the solace of hopes offered to the down-trodden there, the power of “unarmed truth and unconditional love.” The words, inspirational and moving, gave me chills. 
 
Yes, King was a “What about now” guy; but prophets take the long view. They look beyond current conditions to what can be, what ought to be, and invite others to imagine that vision.  For that reason, Dr. King, while so deeply immersed in the activism of the moment, could also await the “final word” – assured that it would come -- and acknowledge that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” He knew, however, that it does not bend by itself!
 
Brother Thomas Puccio, C.F.X., Ed.D., H’18
Sports
MC Basketball
Malden Catholic's Boys Basketball team is off to a great start this season! Check out this article from their recent win against Catholic Memorial in the Boston Herald.
Malden Catholic stays perfect, bounces Catholic...

WEST ROXBURY - The Catholic Conference goes through Malden Catholic. Nick Martinez poured in 21 points while Matthew Gaffney and Buckley Moody each added 18 as Malden Catholic captured a key Catholic Conference road victory with a 76-63 win over...

Read more
www.bostonherald.com
Girls High School Hockey Highlights: Malden Catholic Upends HPNA
Check out the HNIB article on the MC Girls Hockey team, featuring Mikayla Holland ’25, Nevin Mustone ’26 and Bella Gillis ’24. Girls Hockey is going strong!
Winter Sports
Senior Banners may be purchased from Dracut Threads through this link.
Stay up to date on all athletic events, changes and postponements by signing up for alerts at: maldencatholichighschoolma.bigteams.com
Monday, January 16
3:30 PM Girls JV Ice Hockey @ Waltham HS
12:00 PM Girls Varsity Ice Hockey @ Winchester HS

Tuesday, January 17
3:30 PM Boys Freshman Basketball Home vs St. John's High School
3:45 PM Boys Varsity Swimming @ Xaverian Brothers High School
3:30 PM Boys Freshman Ice Hockey @ Catholic Memorial School
5:00 PM Boys JV Basketball Home vs St. John's HS
6:30 PM Boys Varsity Basketball Home vs St. John's High School

Wednesday, January 18
5:00 PM Girls Varsity Ice Hockey @ Burlington HS
5:00 PM Girls JV Basketball Home vs Ursuline Academy
6:30 PM Girls Varsity Basketball Home vs Ursuline Academy
6:00 PM Boys Varsity Wrestling @ Catholic Memorial School
7:00 PM Boys Varsity Ice Hockey @ Catholic Memorial School

Thursday, January 19
4:00 PM Boys Varsity Swimming @ Boston Latin Academy
5:45 PM Girls JV Ice Hockey @ Belmont HS

Friday, January 20
3:30 PM Boys Freshman Basketball @ St. John's Prep School
5:00 PM Boys JV Basketball @ St. John's Prep School
5:00 PM Girls JV Basketball @ Notre Dame Academy--Hingham
6:30 PM Boys Varsity Basketball @ St. John's Prep School
6:30 PM Girls Varsity Basketball @ Notre Dame Academy--Hingham

Saturday, January 21
9:20 AM Boys JV Ice Hockey Home vs Catholic Memorial School
10:30 AM Boys Freshman Ice Hockey Home vs Catholic Memorial School
5:00 PM Girls Varsity Ice Hockey @ Bishop Feehan High School
12:20 PM Boys Varsity Ice Hockey Home vs St. John's High School

Sunday, January 22
8:00 AM Boys Varsity Indoor Track @ Catholic Conference Indoor Track Meet
3:50 PM Girls JV Ice Hockey @ St. Mary's
More photos from Boys Swimming Senior Night can be viewed on MC's SmugMug site
(password - maldencatholic99)
December Athletes of the Month
Marcella Bonfardeci ’24
Varsity Basketball
In a recent home game against Burlington High School, Marci scored a career high of 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Her all-around hard work has helped the Girls Basketball team continue to improve all season. Marci has started every game and lead the team with 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists per game. Coach Keane said, "Marci has really improved her game this season and has established herself as a top player in our league. Even as teams have started to double team her, she looks to find an open teammate and does whatever it takes for us to win."
Andrew Maher ’23
Varsity Wrestling
Currently, Andrew has a 16-3 record and has placed at the Pentucket Holiday Tournament in addition to earning a gold medal at the Wakefield Lisitano Memorial Tournament. Coach Stanton said, “Andrew is an extremely hard worker who puts it all out there on the mat both in competitions and at practice. As captain, he is modeling what it takes to be a wrestler and an outstanding young man of character and is an exemplar of the Xaverian Values. It is a true blessing to have him on the team and to be his coach.” 
December Lancer of the Month
Olivia Arsenault ’26
JV Girls Hockey
Olivia has been an amazing contributor to the Girls Hockey team in December, both individually and as a teammate. She is our leading scorer and earned a hat trick in the game against East Catholic, as well as scoring two goals against Boston Latin. Coach Coughlin said, “Liv has been one that we have come to count on to make plays and is a great representation of Malden Catholic.”