To our guests, I am Fr. Don Fraser, chaplain here at BK.  I want to join all of us here at Bishop Kelly in welcoming our friends from Bishop Manogue.  Its a long journey and we appreciate the opportunity to renew our connections and friendships.  You were very kind and welcoming to us last year.  Regardless of who wins today’s game, we are continuing the building of an important relationship.  We have much in common, not the least of which being we are both the only Catholic high schools in our respective Dioceses.

There are about 1200 Catholic high schools in the United States.  Following a long tradition, hundreds of them are named after bishops, archbishops, cardinals, or even Popes.  There is, however, only one Catholic high school in the entire country named after a priest.  That is Father Augustine Tolton regional catholic high school in Columbia, Missouri.  Father Tolton was a very special priest—the first African American to become a Catholic priest, he had been born a slave, the child of slaves.  He is now being considered for Sainthood, also a rare accomplishment for Catholic parish priests.  So far, there are no US parish priests who have been canonized a saint.

A long time ago, I lived in Sacramento after I got out of the Air Force and before I became a priest.  And I remember, there was a Catholic high school in Sacramento, named Bishop Manogue.  It was a girls’ school and has since been joined to a Christian Brother high school to form a co-ed school.  So last year, I was a bit confused when we were at Bishop Manogue in Reno.  And I wondered if they were the same person.  So, I asked a couple of players, some of the parents and no one seemed to know who Bishop Manogue was.  I remember sitting at lunch in the cafeteria with some of our players.  I mentioned that no one I asked knew who Bishop Monogue was. One of our player told me, “You know, Father, I don’t know who Bishop Kelly was.”

So I’m going to share a brief biography of the respective bishops. For one, we all, including Bishop Calvo of Reno all went to same seminary, although obviously at different times.

Patrick Monogue was born in Ireland county Kilkenny in 1831. He came to the United States as a 49er to prospect for gold in California. Thus, the sports mascot of your high school is the miners. As a priest, he was assigned to the Nevada Territory, where he established his residence in Virginia city, a rather raucous town in those days. One of the residents of Virginia City at that time was a loose reporter named Mark Twain. Western Nevada in those days was part of the Diocese of Grass Valley and ultimately the Diocese of Sacramento. Bishop Manogue was co-bishop of Grass Valley, but continued to live in Nevada City.

When he became Bishop of Grass Valley, he immediately moved the diocese to Sacramento. Thus, the high-school there was named after their 1^st bishop. But he continued to be in charge of Western Nevada. It was not until 1931 that Reno became its own diocese.

From what I have read, Manogue had a great sense of humor, was widely respected and there are stories of having once been a miner, he was not to be messed with.

Bishop Edward Kelly was born in The Dalles Oregon in 1890 and when he was appointed 3^rd Bishop of Boise, he became not only the youngest bishop in the world, but also the first bishop born in The Western United States.

He was Bishop of Boise for almost 30 years and died preparing for Mass in 1956.

This high-school was named after him in 1964, having previously been downtown called St. Teresa’s Academy, founded in Boise the year of his birth, 1890 and the year Idaho became a State. (That’s why this chapel is named St. Teresa of Jesus)

So there you have a brief outline of our respective name-sakes. There are historical and  contemporary connections between our two schools. This game this afternoon-in what I call the Battle of The Bishops, will be in tomorrow’s paper, both in Gazette-Journal and the Boise Statesman. We want to show that we are not exactly rivals, but friends. And whoever wins is not as important as our shared values and to demonstrate what true sportsmanship really is. Above all, we hope our visitors enjoy your visit to Boise. And we want you to have fun, a game with no injuries and a safe return to Reno, where we hope to meet again next year.

Please extend my greetings to your chaplain Father Richard.

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