Justin Fannon, a junior at Xaverian
Brothers High School, distinctly remembers
the day that Pope Francis was elected. It
was March 13, 2013 and he was home from
school that day, sick with an asthma attack.
The memory stands out because March 13 is
also Justin’s birthday. He recalls watching the
proceedings from Rome on his television and
knowing that someday, he wanted to meet
Pope Francis.
Fast forward to 2022 and Justin is an
active member of his parish church, Holy
Name in West Roxbury. During the summer
he earned the prestigious honor of being
selected for a two-year term on the National
Youth Advisory Council. This selective
council is composed of only 12 young people
from across the nation. Their input informs
the work of the National Federation of
Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM) with the
aim of empowering “youth to activate their
voices and gifts as members of the Church”
(nfcym.org).
For Justin, his service is born of
frustration with declining youth participation
in the Catholic Church. He wants to see a
change, and he wants to be a part of it. “Our
faith, the Catholic Church itself, seems to be
dwindling away from us,” says Justin. “There’s
no more participation. People blame COVID,
but we need to stop doing that. Personally,
I think the Church helps people. It helped
me navigate through a lot in my life. I want
everyone to have that, because the Church
A Dream Come True, in Service of the Church
isn’t as intimidating as kids might think. It’s a
welcoming place.”
Justin was drawn to youth ministry
because of the example of his older brother.
He looked on with envy and awe as his big
brother took off each week to his parish’s
Youth Service Project meetings with a
large group of his peers. That’s why Justin
joined the same Church group when he
was old enough, only for COVID to hit and
the activity of the group to grind to a halt.
However, his youth minister, Jim Flanagan,
saw something in Justin. It was he who
suggested that Justin consider serving on the
NYAC, and it was through that service that
Justin had the chance to make his dream
from March 13, 2013 a reality.
This October, Justin and his fellow
delegates on the NYAC traveled to Rome for
an audience with Pope Francis. They met
with the Pope’s advisors in iconic St. Peter’s
Square. They went to Mass at the altar in
front of St. Peter’s tomb. And after Mass,
they were blessed with a general audience
with Pope Francis, during which the Pope
encouraged them to bring joy to the world
and keep joy alive in the Church. “That stuck
with me for the next two days, walking around
Italy, thinking about the Pope’s message,” says
Justin. “I was asking myself, ‘How can I do
that? Where? How do I even start?’”
After the general audience, the delegates
had the opportunity to personally meet the
Pope, shake his hand, and, as representatives
for all Catholic youth in America, share
their hopes for the Church with the Holy
Father. What they want to see, they said, is a
welcoming community and safe spaces within
the Church for youth to express themselves
freely. In November, Justin and his fellow
delegates traveled to Long Beach, California
for the National Catholic Youth Conference.
There they shared the Pope’s message of
joy and their hopes for the Church with an
audience of thousands of Catholic teens. Only
a few months into his term, leadership in the
NYAC has given Justin once-in-a-lifetime
opportunities on an international scale, and
he’s grateful for it.
“Meeting the Pope and shaking his hand
changed my life forever. I recognize the
opportunities I have been given, and it’s
helped me develop a real sense of gratitude
for everything I have. I’ve learned that it’s easy
in life to focus on what I don’t have; but now
I want to focus on what I can give, because so
much has been given to me.”
I’ve learned
that it’s easy
in life to focus
on what I don’t
have; but now
I want to focus
on what I can
give, because so
much has been given to me.
4 www.xbhs.com
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“At Xaverian, there was always a sense
that you don’t live just for yourself,” says
Reverend Christopher Peschel, a
2006 graduate. “You live to be in the service
of others…not in an unhealthy way, but in a
way that honors the gifts you have been given
by sharing them with other people.”
It was this notion of a life lived in service
that led Father Chris to the priesthood.
After attending Xaverian and being an active
participant in the campus ministry program,
Chris went on to study at Franciscan
University of Steubenville. It was there
that he first understood his calling to the
priesthood. “It was a decision of personal
surrender,” he says. “I am here to serve at
the will of others, including the Lord my
God.” Father Chris joined the seminary at
19 years old. He earned a B.A. in philosophy
from Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary-
Overbrook, followed by a Master of Divinity
and a Master of Arts in Theology from Saint
John’s Seminary.
Now he’s the Pastor of Our Lady of
Mount Carmel in New Bedford, feeling
fulfilled each day by his place in the Church
community and in the affiliated St. Teresa
of Calcutta School. A heavily Portuguese
community, Father Chris is putting his talent
for languages to use, offering Masses in both
English and Portuguese. While he humbly
denies fluency, he is also proficient in French,
Spanish, Latin, and Greek.
The work of a priest for Father Chris, in
many ways, looks like that of a construction
manager. “There’s been two defining
elements of my nine years of priesthood,
and the first one is construction,” he says.
He previously oversaw the renovation of St.
John the Evangelist Church in Attleboro,
and now he’s in the middle of leading a
construction project for his parish school,
turning a former gymnasium into a middle
school. Acknowledging that this work
may seem banal, he says, “It can seem like
you’re a plant manager in some regards, but
there’s also a sense of which you bring in
the element of beauty to it all. When you’re
given that chance to do something artistic,
you recognize that the things we build in the
created world all point us to God.”
The school construction project brings
him to the second defining element of his
priesthood: education. “Whether I’ve served
a parish that had a primary school, or in my
last assignment as a high school chaplain
for an urban Catholic school in Fall River,
and even now with this school here in New
Bedford, I recognize that there’s a sense
of paying it forward to kids who want the
opportunity of an education that is rooted in
Catholic values,” he says. Father Chris looks
back on his 12 years of Catholic education
in grammar school and through his time at
Xaverian, and he recognizes the sacrifices his
parents made to make that possible.
“Being responsible for St. Teresa of
Calcutta School now as a pastor is the pride
and joy of what I do. It’s the heart of being
a missionary at home,” he says. “Mother
Teresa often would remind people that to be
a great missionary you don’t have to go to the
far reaches of the world. We all need to be
missionaries at home—in our own families,
in our own neighborhoods, and in our own
parishes.”
We were blessed with another beautiful early-
fall day at Wellesley Country Club for our
Annual Golf Classic held on Monday,
September 26. This year, 154 friends, family,
and alumni hit the links, helping us raise
$172,671 for our scholarship fund.
Thank you to our sponsors and our golfers!
Fundraising on the Links
Pictured (L-R) are
Adam Evans ’02,
Brad Bestgen ’98,
Andrew Sweeney ’02,
and Michael
O’Brien ’98
Pictured (L-R) are Brian Murphy, Rick Smith ’14, Paul Lyons ’83,
P ’14, ’17, and Steven Lyons
A Missionary at Home
Rev. Christopher Peschel ’06
Winter 2023
Xaverian Magazine
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