Dear Families,
This Easter Season I am overjoyed at the prospect of soon joining the Seton family as Principal of St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic School!
While visiting in late March, I had the pleasure of being joined by Fr. Casey in a series of dialogues with small groups of students and parents. I was particularly grateful for the openness and warmth with which I was received by those parents whom I had the pleasure of meeting. During my discussion with students, it struck me that their maturity, courtesy, and insight were well beyond their years: I was very impressed by their questions and comments! I also had the opportunity to spend time with faculty and staff at both parish and school—it is an honor to be chosen to serve among such hard-working, dedicated, and highly educated professionals. In my brief time visiting, in sum, I caught a glimpse of so many things that make the Seton family the wonderful community that so many have come to love so dearly.
Having worked in Catholic education for more than twenty years, I have been blessed to teach and administrate for an array of Catholic communities. Initially working at the university level, I made a transition to working for a Bishop’s Office after more than ten years in higher ed. As a member of a chancery staff, I was sent on mission to aid the schools of my diocese in their efforts to make all things new in Christ. It was there that I discovered how much I love advancing the mission of a Catholic diocese by serving the faculty, staff, students, and families of parish schools.
While working with the Bishop’s Office in 2019, I was called to serve in a deeper way by becoming Head of School at a cathedral parish just prior to the emergence of the global pandemic. Working closely with a team of extraordinary servant leaders, together we navigated covid, its immediate aftermath, and the need for increasingly tight safety measures at our downtown campus. In my time there I learned that an effective Principal listens carefully to the needs of the whole community and, working hand in hand with the Pastor and the parish and school staff, does all in his power to support the faculty in their teaching mission.
My most recent parochial leadership role was to lead a parish school in a successful four-year transition to a classical model. A similar transition is on the horizon for the Seton community, so I invite you to join me for a year of attentive listening. Over the course of 2025-2026, I hope to get to know well the Seton community’s faculty, staff, students, and families. I am also eager to explore more deeply with you the truth, goodness, beauty, and unity which are the hallmarks of the classical approach to teaching and learning. In the end, I hope you will see as I have seen, that to “go classical” is nothing more than to be ever more firmly committed to academic excellence and Catholic mission and identity.
I look forward to getting to know you very soon. In the meantime, be assured of my earnest goodwill and daily prayers for you each by name.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Marcel Antonio Brown, Ph.D., KHS
