Kirk Phelps: Fifty Years as a Christian Brother

CM Communications Staff
During the week of his fiftieth jubilee, CM physics teacher Brother Kirk Phelps looks back on his life since joining the Christian Brothers in 1968.
West Roxbury, Mass.— Brother Kirk Phelps enjoys a good story.

If you catch him after his physics class, he may tell you about the time he found Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps on his family tree. Or maybe he sits back and reflects on his class’ latest circuit experiment.

Among the countless stories from his fifty years of lay ministry with the Christian Brothers, Brother Phelps remembered one in particular at the end of his jubilee week last Friday. Two years ago, a former Catholic Memorial School student returned to his classroom after his first year at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

“He was all excited because he was the only one in his class [at RIT] who knew how to use a soldering iron, which we had done as a practical, hands-on experience in a physics class,” said Brother Phelps, a physics teacher at CM.

“Obviously, other physics classes at other places had been more into the theory of things without any of the practical [activities].”

To Brother Phelps, the student’s visit felt different from a typical “thank you.” In fact, it reminded him of what makes his life in ministry worthwhile. When his students return and acknowledge the difference one of his classes made in college, he sees his faith rewarded.

“The idea of faith is that the seed you sow in the kid will come along,” said Brother Phelps.

“A lot of what you’re doing is based on faith, that what you’re doing does have a purpose and does have a meaning.”
This faith-inspired way of teaching students motivated him to join the Christian Brothers in September of 1968. While attending Bishop Kearney High School in Rochester, New York, Brother Phelps found mentorship in the Christian Brothers order, who taught and ran the school alongside the School Sisters of Notre Dame.

The Brothers saw intellectual and spiritual potential in Brother Phelps at a young age. Instead of a passive approach to teaching, they invested their time in him in and out of the classroom. On numerous theater productions, they spent hour after hour helping him hone his craft. Thanks to the Brothers’ unwavering trust and commitment in his theatrical ability, Brother Phelps realized how to turn his own gifts and talents into a lifelong vocation.

Upon his graduation, Brother Phelps decided to return the favor and joined the Christian Brothers. He graduated from Iona College and began serving high schools up and down the East Coast. After stops in Harlem, Rhode Island, and even England, he arrived at CM in 2003.

During his time at CM, Brother Phelps carried on the same active approach to educating students that he first experienced at Bishop Kearney. Teaching math, physics, and computer programming, he discovered new ways to demonstrate that same sense of trust in his students. This meant attending sporting events, extending availability for extra help, and producing theater events. The little things.

“[Brother Phelps] was a great teacher who made a subject that I struggled to grasp more fun than expected,” said Mr. Dan Shulman ‘14, who took Brother Phelps’ physics class during his junior year at CM.

Of course, each year brings a new challenge. Technology changes and he knows his teaching style must too.

“The process may change, but the idea behind it is the same,” said Brother Phelps.

“It’s much more problem solving:  we’re actually doing the math of things.”

This school year, Brother Phelps plans to incorporate student cell phones when measuring the physics behind car movement. The lesson plays a role in CM’s Knight Based Learning initiative, which combines the tradition of faith with project-based learning. He hopes his students understand how graphs appear on their calculator screens during his A.C. Power lab, not to just take them for granted.

“I think science makes it easy,” said Brother Phelps.

“A kid who is going to try and do something at home at least has a sense that there is an order to things as opposed to just plugging it back in again.”

Today, Brother Phelps continues sowing seeds in each class. He expects many more visits from alumni in the future. Who knows what the doctors, engineers, or even Brothers of tomorrow might say during that unexpected visit back to CM.

He only hopes that those former students pay the favor forward. After all, it may make for another nice story to tell.
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Catholic Memorial, the Christian Brothers School of Boston, prepares boys for college, manhood and a world full of unknown challenges, ambiguity and complex problems and the importance of relationships.