The motto of Saint Ignatius High School has been since the phrase was coined, Men for Others. The expression, coming from the Former Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Pedro Arrupe in his landmark 1973 speech, was a rallying call for Jesuit institutions to make “education for justice” their “paramount objective.” Being a Man for Others means being a man (or woman) who “cannot conceive of [a] love of God that does not include a love for the least of their neighbors…convinced that love of God which does not issue in justice for men is a farce.” Having read, and taught, this speech over the years, I have come to see that being a Man (or woman) for Others is ultimately a quality of character: a way of interacting with the world and the people in it. A man or woman for others sees him or herself as responsible for helping to build God’s Kingdom of love and justice by striving to reform unjust systems in our local and global societies.
This is right and good. Arrupe was on point in claiming, with Catholic bishops in their 1971 synod, that such work is “a constitutive element of proclaiming the Gospel.” But what works on a global level applies to the individual level as well: we are called in our personal lives to be loving and just in what we do. We are called to do what is right, honest, and honorable.
Men for Others as a school motto is perhaps more aspirational than descriptive: after all, as a school community we are in the process of forming our students into these men—and admittedly some of our boys are further along the way than others.
Some are already there.
This past weekend, Brunswick AutoMart Arena hosted our Saint Ignatius Varsity Blue Hockey team in the Greater Ohio Hockey League Championship Tournament. The league, composed of programs such as St. Edward, University School, Gilmour, Toledo St Francis, Upper Arlington, and a host of others, is among the most competitive in the Midwest. Being invited to the eight-team tournament, let alone winning it, is therefore a major accomplishment for a team.
Late last week, one of the other participating teams, University School, suffered the loss of its only goalkeeper to an injury. Without that crucial player, the Preppers would have been forced to forfeit their games, leaving their other players out in the figurative cold. Saint Ignatius Blue Coach, Jim Millican—with the approval of the other tournament coaches—agreed to “loan” Gavin Fisher ’26 (with his consent, of course) to their east-side rivals for as long as U.S. remained in the competition. Saturday morning, having one tournament win under his belt for his Wildcat teammates, the Wildcat goalie donned Prepper black and helped them secure a victory, moving them along in the tourney.
Those who know the position of goalkeeper realize that most netminders are a rare—and “interesting”— breed. After all, who in his or her right mind asks to play a position where one’s job is to get in front of a ball or puck coming at him or her at an outrageous rate of speed? Who willingly takes on the role of the last line of defense? Their willingness to play that role may suggest to some that goalies are a “little crazy.”
It certainly suggests that they are a “lot responsible.”
That sense of responsibility and character was put to the test when University School earned an unexpected victory over Toledo St. Francis late Saturday night—pitting them in a championship match-up against Gavin’s Wildcat teammates. Few would have faulted Gavin for bowing out of playing for his rivals: it is a lot to ask for a young man to play against his own team and the friends who are on it.
But Gavin is an Ignatius man, and Ignatius men (the authentic ones, anyway) keep their promises and honor their commitments. It’s part of being a Man for Others, a man formed in the image of the “Man for others,” Jesus. We recall that in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus could have walked away from the prospect of a brutal, humiliating death but rather told His Father that “not My will but Yours be done” (Lk. 22: 42) because He had promised “not to do My own will but the will of the One Who sent Me” (Jn. 6: 38).
While Gavin’s commitment and sacrifice certainly did not reach the level of Jesus in His Paschal Mystery (few of us are called to such sacrifices), his willingness to follow through on his promise certainly paralleled the Lord. His act of selfless sportsmanship also required courage, understood—as we’ve discussed before in these pages—as the virtue of “doing what is right, when doing what is right is difficult or dangerous.”
I can’t imagine anything more difficult than playing against one’s brothers in a championship game. But that’s what Gavin did—and he did it well: posting a shutout.
Not all of Gavin’s teammates may fully appreciate his sense of integrity and commitment right now, but I guarantee his friends, his future clients, and business associates—and more importantly, his future wife and children—will.
When the game was over, one of the players from our Prep hockey team teasingly suggested that Gavin “could have let one through,” to which Gavin answered simply, “I couldn’t do that,” demonstrating not only a commitment to a job but also showing all who were there what honor looks like. It is the willingness to do what is right even when doing what is right means standing up to the people one cares most about.
It is the concept then-Senator John F. Kennedy illustrated in his 1956 book “Profiles in Courage” and one that many adults in boardrooms, legislative assemblies, and courtrooms could learn from the 17-year-old hockey player.
As we strive to form our students at Saint Ignatius, we remember that they can’t be Men for Others without first being men. And they can’t be real men without first having honor. This weekend, in helping out a rival team, Gavin Fisher demonstrated the best of what it means to be an Ignatius man: to be a man of honor, a man for others.
University School—2. Saint Ignatius—0.
A Wildcat victory.
A.M.D.G. / B.V.M.H.