Brother John Paige

“In the 1980s Uganda had no cash economy and no transportation system. I got out to the boondocks, where Holy Cross missionaries ran schools, and I found students on the edge of their seats, ready to learn. Why were those schools working when the rest of the country was falling apart? I tried to answer that question by telling how Holy Cross men stayed with the people in my book, Preserving Order Amid Chaos.”

Ask Brother John Paige what attracted him to Uganda, and he simply says, “There was a need.” Today he sustains that focus as Dean of Education at St. Edward’s University, where his student interns work in 15 to 20 K-12 schools in disadvantaged areas. “We only serve in needy schools by choice,” he says, “because that is our mission.”

Brother John learned attentiveness to the needs of others at Vincentian Institute in Albany, New York; there he also discovered Brothers as coaches, math teachers, and scientists. He earned his B.S. in Physics at University of Notre Dame, and then began his own teaching career as a pioneer in a new school, where he taught science and math and served as coach and athletic director. “I enjoyed it all,” he recalls, “and I got mentored along the way.”

After serving as a school principal early on, Brother John took a sabbatical at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.

“I wanted to update my theology,” he explains, “and subsequently I served as Novice Master in Albany, New York.” Following his work with young men studying to become Brothers, he went to Uganda to visit Holy Cross schools and serve as a visiting professor of social sciences. The experience, he says, “made my own vision much more Congregational,” as he could appreciate first-hand the international character of Holy Cross.

The experience stayed with him. After a stint as an inner-city school administrator in the 1990s, Brother John pursued his doctorate in education policy and leadership and decided to conduct his doctoral research in East Africa. He witnessed the aftermath of Uganda’s brutal civil war, when the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army burned villages, terrorized thousands of people, planted landmines in school yards, enslaved children, and destroyed the economy, healthcare system, and many schools. “Holy Cross men stayed at great risk through that horrible time in the 1980s,” he says. “Because of that, we were revered.” In addition to the tremendous respect for education in that country, Brother John noted the growth of vocations, with 100 Ugandan religious working with the people.

Today Brother John models that passion for learning as he guides student teachers at St. Edward’s University.

“I tell them, ‘We have a whole cadre of people who choose to make a simpler life. I love it still, and you will, too. Kids are getting tougher to teach today and public schools are embattled, and you are very much needed. If you can teach there, you can teach anywhere.”

Perhaps paradoxically, this dynamic pioneer anchors himself in his brotherly community.

“I live with farmer missionaries from Brazil, educators, cooks, and maintenance workers,” Brother John reflects. “When I entered, I knew Holy Cross would support me in any of those roles, and this community grounds me in a common call and commitment. Holy Cross encourages entrepreneurial spirit, and it has opened up my life to all kinds of experiences.”

Brother John is the author of Preserving Order Amid Chaos: The Survival of Schools in Uganda, 1971-1986 (Berghahn Books: July 2000) ISBN 157181213X