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pleased to present profiles of those who serve the Harvard Catholic
Student Center at St. Paul Parish. |
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Rev. Michael E. Drea, Senior Chaplain
On June 1, 2009 the Reverend Michael E. Drea was appointed the Tenth Pastor of St. Paul's Parish and the Senior Chaplain to the Harvard Catholic Chaplaincy by His Eminence, Seán Patrick Cardinal O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston. Father Drea studied for the sacred priesthood at St. John's Seminary in Brighton earning a Master of Divinity and was ordained on May 22, 2004 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. At the time of his ordination he was assigned as Parochial Vicar to St. Ann's Parish in the Wollaston section of Quincy. While there he began a series of evangelization programs for young adults including a highly successful Theology on Tap program. Prior to ordination, Father Drea served as a transitional deacon at St. Mary of the Nativity Parish in Scituate Harbor. Father Drea was born and raised in Whitman, Massachusetts and is the oldest of four children. His belief in and commitment to Catholic education was nurtured in his youth having graduated from St. Bridget's School in Abington and Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton. Father Drea is a loyal Boston College Eagle having earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1988 and a Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration in 1994. Following his undergraduate education he began a career in institutional advancement and alumni affairs at Cardinal Spellman High School and St. Sebastian's School in Needham. In the fall of 2009, Father Drea was invested as a priest-knight in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem at St. Paul's Cathedral in Worcester
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Rev. George S.
Salzmann, O.S.F.S., Graduate Chaplain
Although he began
graduate school at Yale in molecular biophysics, Fr. Salzmann completed
the Ph.D. at Harvard Medical School in biochemistry, during which time he
was in residence at St. Paul's, serving on Sundays at St. Catherine's,
Norwood. In between those periods, he was sent to study theology at the
Gregorian University, Rome, receiving the S.T.B. and S.T.L degrees in
theology, and had the good fortune to be ordained there in John Henry
Cardinal Newman's church of St. George's at the Velabrum. After a brief
period of research in early mammalian development at Hoffman-la Roche in
northern New Jersey, he was appointed Visting Fellow in Molecular Biology
at Princeton University, where he worked on the tumor suppressor gene,
p53, and also taught bioethics in the religion department there. During
his time at Princeton he served at St. Paul's, the university Catholic
parish. He is a member of the teaching order, the Oblates of St. Francis
de Sales. He serves as chaplain to the Harvard graduate and professional
schools.
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Rev. William F.
Murphy, Undergraduate Chaplain
Ordained in 1988 for the
Archdiocese of Boston, Fr. Murphy arrived at St. Paul's in 2004, after
assignments as a spiritual director to seminarians, with clergy personnel,
and in parishes. As part of his ministry in the seminary he studied at
Creighton University and received a Master's degree in Christian
Spirituality in 2003. Growing in Christian discipleship is what motivates
Fr. Murphy, whether in service to the Harvard undergraduates, St. Paul's
parish, or life with colleagues, family, or friends. To quote Calvin of
the "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip, "There's treasure everywhere!" Fr.
Murphy is grateful to be living and working in a community as vibrant as
St. Paul's.
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Ms. Marie-Claude
Thompson, Earthen Vessels Chaplain
Marie-Claude Thompson
received her Master of Divinity from the Jesuit Weston School of Theology
in 1985. She became part-time staff at the Catholic Student Center in
September of 1985 as a chaplain for the Earthen Vessels Tutoring Program
she created. The Program matches Harvard undergraduate and graduate
students with inner-city youth in one-on-one tutoring-mentoring
relationships. As a chaplain her work with the 45 students involved with
the program includes formation both practical and spiritual, through
weekly meetings, retreats (on issues of peace and justice in the light of
faith, the social teaching of the Church, and the discovery of life in the
inner-city); individual supervision; and spiritual guidance for the
students involved in the program.
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