Bro. Michael J. Galvin S.M.

1941 - 2023

BRO. MICHAEL J. GALVIN, S.M. died in the service of the Blessed Virgin Mary on January 1, 2023, at the age of 81 and with 63 years of vowed life. He was born in Brooklyn, NY on August 30, 1941, to Michael John Galvin and Rita Mary Horan, the third of 8 children. His parents are both deceased as well as his brothers and sister Joseph, Jimmy, and Kathleen. His surviving siblings are Virginia (Termire), Rita (Bock), Peggy (Schellenberg), and Patty Ann (Galfano).

Having graduated from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Elementary School in Queens, NY, Michael moved to Most Holy Trinity H.S. where he met Brothers Frank Russell and Charles Roggemann, who both encouraged him to consider becoming a Marianist. Giving it a try, he went to the Marianist Novitiate where the camaraderie was contagious and was captured by the Marianist Charism. He was amazed that New Yorkers and Midwesterners spoke two different languages. After a packed program of studies in the Scholasticate, in 1963 he had an opportunity to do graduate studies at John Hopkins University in Baltimore through a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship after his undergraduate studies at the University of Dayton. Completing graduate studies, he began teaching Spanish and French at Cardinal Gibbons H.S. and soon was made Departmental Chairperson, a task both challenging and rewarding. In 1968 he was assigned as Principal of Chaminade H.S. in Hollywood, FL., inheriting a school that with low faculty morale, ill-defined objectives, and problems with enrollment, curriculum, and finances. Fortunately, there was a cadre of competent and dedicated Marianists and lay persons that made it possible to make positive changes amidst the current unstable culture. With society and post-Vatican II Church upheavals, it was a challenging time for everybody, especially students, parents, and educators.

Following a sabbatical in St. Louis, Bro. Mike moved to Colegio San Jose in Puerto Rico, where he taught English and French along with Departmental and Guidance Counselor responsibilities.



He was appreciative of the warm and affectionate nature of the students, parents, and people in general. During another sabbatical program in Cambridge, MA in 1992, he acquired some fluency with yet another language, Portuguese, while talking with a Brazilian cook at the residence. That new language offered him the opportunity to assist a steady stream of Brazilian immigrants seeking assistance with a multitude of needs, when that kind of help was so rare. Marianists in leadership positions encouraged Mike to develop structures to help remedy that vacuum, eventually establishing the ministry Apostolado Brasileiro. In 2008 he moved to San Antonio, TX to serve at Holy Rosary Parish until moving to the Marianist Residence in 2017.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Marianist Mission, Mt. St. John, 4435 East Patterson Road, Dayton, OH 45430-1033 or a charity of your choice.

FUNERAL SERVICES

Sunday, January 8, 2023 Visitation will begin at 6:30pm with a Rosary Service at 7:00pm (followed by Story Telling.)

Monday, January 9, 2023 Visitation will resume at 3:00pm with Mass of the Resurrection at 3:30pm. Both Services will be held at Assumption Chapel at St. Mary's University. Interment immediately following at the Marianist Cemetery.

Both Services Will Be Live-Streamed:
www.stmarytx.edu/live