Profiles of Service
By Jeanne Gray Loughman

Affiliation is the highest and most special honor the Brothers can give to individuals whom they feel to be so close to the Brothers in support of the Lasallian mission and in their friendships with them, that they are declared to be honorary Brothers.

On Saturday, September 18, 1999, the affiliations of Jerome W. Keating and Thomas M. Brady to the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools brought to thirty-one the number of recipients of this honor in the history of the Brothers on the West Coast. The first such honor was bestowed in 1888 on Joseph S. Alemany, Archbishop of San Francisco, whose efforts brought the Christian Brothers to San Francisco in 1868 to conduct the high school and college of Saint Mary's. Lay men and women, doctors, priests, bishops, judges, alumni, and friends distinguish the list of affiliates.

At the Affiliation Mass at Saint Joseph the Worker Church in Berkeley, Brother David Brennan, Visitor, presented Jerry and Tom with formal Letters of Affiliation signed by Brother John Johnston, Superior General. Among those in attendance were honorary Brothers Ben Frankel, John Sabatté, and Bishop John Cummins of Oakland, who celebrated the Mass.

In his remarks to two hundred guests at the celebration, Brother David hailed both Jerry and Tom as men whose personal and professional dedication to the mission of Lasallian education has been an inspiration to the Brothers, to their colleagues, and to the students whose hearts and minds they have touched. Deep and abiding mutual respect and affection were apparent in the words of the Brothers about the new affiliates and in the responses from both men to the honor given to them.

"The bestowal of a Diploma of Affiliation is indicative of the esteem the Christian Brothers hold for a person of insight, integrity, inspiration, and indefatigable commitment to Lasallian ideals," proclaimed Brother Mel Anderson, who named Tom Brady the first lay administrator in the District in 1965. In reciting Tom's Citation he said, "Your profound commitment to Lasallian education identified you as a candidate for academic leadership. During your tenure as President of Saint Mary's College High School, the addition of coeducation added yet another dimension to the ethnic and racial diversity characterizing the school, diversity you cherished and promoted throughout your career. And as a member of the District Leadership Team, you have been intimately involved in developing plans for the future under the titles, Context for Action and Action Plan."

Brother Edmond Larouche, President of Saint Mary's College High School, spoke on behalf of the Brothers in commending Jerry Keating in his Citation: "Your zeal for the education we seek to provide young people is beyond measure. Your abiding faith in the vision of Saint La Salle is a blessing to teachers and students alike. You have demonstrated your appreciation for the Lasallian mission through your commitment to its successful realization in every Brothers' apostolate in which you have participated."

Tom Brady's association with the Christian Brothers began as a sixth-grader at Saint Joseph's Academy at Peralta Park in Berkeley, and continued at Saint Mary's High and Saint Mary's College. In 1960, he returned to the high school to serve for thirty-five years as a teacher, administrator, parent, and the school's first President, before joining the District Leadership Team in 1995 as Coordinator of Lasallian School Boards. Jerry Keating, a 1941 graduate of Christian Brothers High School, Sacramento, is the President of SKS Die Casting Company in Alameda, and parent of seven sons who have themselves received a Christian Brothers education. For the past twenty years, his service has been focused at Saint Mary's High, as a regent in the 1980's and '90's, a trustee since 1994, and board chair since 1996.

A formal dinner in the auditorium and gymnasium complex on the Saint Mary's High campus followed the liturgy. Both Jerry and Tom played key roles in the successful construction of the facility for the school's historic transition to coeducation in 1995.

In sharing their own tributes at the dinner, the two new affiliates reflected on their lifelong partnerships with the Brothers as teachers, colleagues, and friends, and expressed their gratitude, as well, to their wives and families.

"After Vatican II," remarked Jerry Keating, "the Brothers developed the concept and put into practice shared mission which opened the door of opportunity for myself and others to, in some small way, repay - a very inadequate word - the Christian Brothers for their generosity. It is with gratitude, appreciation, and humility that I receive this honor of Affiliation to the Christian Brothers. It is my hope that I will continue to be part of and contribute to the Brothers' Lasallian educational mission."

"When I think about the great teachers in my life," said Tom Brady, "I remember faith-filled people - full of life, compassionate, energetic, optimistic, spiritually grounded, approachable, committed to their discipline, respectful of the mind and its powers, and possessing an intuitive ability to listen to the hearts and unspoken concerns of their students." He continued, "I see at work the growing power of a new movement of Lasallian educators who have already stepped into the shoes of the great teachers of my youth and my generation. In the days, months and years ahead, we must always remember that good intentions alone will not get the job done; we must also have the mind, the heart, and the will to carry out our mission of 'giving a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor, according to the ministry which the Church has entrusted to us.' "

In concluding the evening's celebration, Brothers Thomas Levi and Jack Henderson toasted the newly-affiliated Brothers, their families, their health and happiness, and saluted Jerry and Tom, in the words of the Affiliation Citation, as "admired and cherished Partners with the Brothers of the Christian Schools."