William Haney, Jr., with Dom Damian Kearney '45

Allison Marie Sacco
July 30, 1987 - December 10, 2003

Haney Fellowships and Ali Sacco '05 Internship Selection Announced

Congratulations to our students who were awarded Haney Fellowships and the Ali Sacco '05 Internship for this summer!

2017 Haney Fellowship Recipients

The Haney Fellowships were established by William "Bill" Haney, III '80 in honor of his father, the late William Haney, Jr. This creative and generous fund was established to provide Fifth Form students with a unique educational experience during the summer before their Sixth Form year. Students focus their plans on a course of study or travel/work experience that significantly furthers an existing academic interest or allows for the pursuit of a specialized opportunity.

Thomas Brant '18 of Marblehead, MA, will attend Lindos Suenos baseball program sponsored by the Red Sox in the Dominican Republic and organize/coach an under-11 little league team in Chelsea, MA.

Mary Beth Falvey '18 of Plaistow, NH, will spend three-and-a-half weeks at Four Corners Home for Children in New Mexico. Four Corners Home for Children was established to care for disadvantaged Navajo children. During her time there, Mary Beth will act as a tutor, mentor and houseparent.

Emma Stowe '18 of Portsmouth, RI, will be empowering women in Kathmandu, Nepal, with Go Eco. During her three weeks there, Emma will teach English, computer skills, and activities.

Zhiyun (Katherine) Wang '18 of Beijing, China, will spend three weeks working with the Cambodian Community Dream Organization. She has done this for four years to improve conditions in villages near Siem Reap. She will spend her time providing a well and a latrine for a family.

Jia Kitty Zhao '18 of Shanghai, China, will spend four weeks volunteering at the Asian American Civic Association in Boston. The Asian American Civic Association provides limited English speaking and economically disadvantaged people with education, occupational training and social services enabling them to realize lasting economic self-sufficiency.

The 2017 Ali Sacco '05 Internship has been awarded to Sydell Bonin '18. The award was established by Children's Hospital in Boston in memory of Ali's spirit of curiosity, enthusiasm, and generosity. Ali died in December of 2003 during her Fifth-Form year at Portsmouth Abbey; she would have graduated with the Class of 2005. The recipient of this award is chosen each year based on academic accomplishments and outstanding personal qualities. The internship affords the recipient the opportunity to shadow physicians and medical staff in the Cardiology Department at Children's Hospital for two weeks.

For more information and the experiences of past winners, visit our Enrichment page.

Johanna Appleton '17

Johanna Appleton '17 was named to the All America Academic team for swimming. Johanna has been swimming for the Abbey for four years and is currently the captain of the team. Read the full story online.

Caitlin Villareal '12

Alumni Athletics Highlights

A number of recent graduates have been honored by their colleges and universities for outstanding performances this year:

Austin Krienz '13 at UPenn (Lacrosse), Claire Davidson '16 at Tufts (Squash), Seamus O'Connor '16 at Drew University (Lacrosse), Chris Baughan '14 at Skidmore College (Lacrosse), and Maddie Villareal '16 at Salve Regina (Lacrosse).

 
Caitlin Villareal '12, a coach and Spanish teacher at the Abbey, is playing in a semi-pro lacrosse league this summer. She is considered the Abbey's first female professional athlete. Read the full news story on Caitlin on our website.

Classics Day at Holy Cross: 

Each year, the Department of Classics at the College of the Holy Cross hosts Classics Day, a day-long series of events relating to the study of ancient Greek and Roman culture. Elizabeth Benestad, Head of the Classics Department, took a group of students to participate this year.

The two teams participated in upper level "certamen" (trivia), and then watched the final round together. Some students also watched the skits of Classical mythology (Daedalus and Icarus, Romulus and Remus, etc.).

Stations of the Cross

Rosary of the Sorrowful Mysteries

Holy Week 2017

The Portsmouth Abbey community observed Holy Week from April 10-17. This included special masses, retreats, vigils, and prayers in observance of Easter.

On Thursday, April 13, the community took part in a Holy Thursday Mass followed by a Tenebrae Service. After Tenebrae, Dr. Blake Billings '77 took students on a seven-churches pilgrimage, where they visited six local churches during their Holy Thursday ceremonies, ending at the Church of St. Gregory the Great. 

Good Friday was a full day of observance with no classes. The morning began with the Rosary of the Sorrowful Mysteries in the Grotto, followed by a retreat on the Stations of the Cross in the auditorium. In the afternoon underneath a burst of sunshine and warmth, Brother Joseph joined students and faculty in a recitation of the Stations of the Cross on Cross Hill. The day finished with a Good Friday Liturgy, and on Saturday the community observed Easter Vigil.

Sr. Maria Regina Immaculata with Chris Fisher, Executive Director of the Portsmouth Institute for Faith & Culture

Abbey Lectures

The Portsmouth Abbey Seton Lecture 2016-17: Sr. Maria Regina Immaculata, Sister of Life

Mother Theresa was canonized by the Catholic Church as Saint Theresa of Calcutta last fall. There are thousands of pictures and stories detailing the work that she and the order of nuns she founded have done for the world's poor. What we typically do not hear in conversations about Mother Theresa is what about being Catholic compelled her to serve the poor? What is it about human beings that demands caritas, or active love? That broader question—why are Christians called to serve--was the topic of Sr. Maria Regina's talk, "God's Gifts To Us: Identity and Mission"

The Sisters of Life were founded in 1991 and take a fourth special vow to protect the sacredness of human life.  They do this primarily through their prayer and their missions. They host retreats at their retreat house in Connecticut and evangelize across the country on the beauty and sacredness of human life and love.

Sr. Maria Regina grew up in Michigan and entered the Sisters of Life in 2010.  She made her first vows in 2013.  For a year she served at their Holy Respite convent in Manhattan, where pregnant women live with the Sisters, and for two years she lived in Toronto, Canada, serving in their crisis pregnancy mission.  She now serves as an assistant to the novice director at the community's Motherhouse in Suffern, New York.

Nick Benson with Chris Fisher

The Kearney Lecture: Nicholas Benson

On Friday, April 21, Nick Benson visited the Abbey to speak about stone engraving. He began an apprenticeship at The John Stevens Shop at the age of fifteen with his father, John Benson, in 1979. The John Stevens Shop, founded in 1705, specializes in the design and execution of one of a kind inscriptions in stone. Architectural and memorial lettering is generated by hand with a broad edged brush in the manner of the great Roman inscriptions and then carved into stone with mallets and chisels.

Nick has produced several site-specific typefaces for use on many large civic memorials. His work includes the National World War II Memorial inscriptions and the National Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial inscriptions in Washington, DC; the Louis I. Kahn, Four Freedoms Park inscriptions in New York City; and Maya Lin's The Meeting Room inscriptions in Newport, Rhode Island, among many others.

In 2007, Nick was awarded an NEA National Heritage Fellowship. In 2010 he received a MacArthur Fellowship, and in 2012 he received an Artist-in-Residence Fellowship at the Yale University Art Gallery. He is currently working on designs for the National Eisenhower Memorial inscriptions.

The Jannotta family at Pre-Prom in 2016

The Fournier family at Family Day 2016

Tyler White '18 and her cousin at Family Day 2016

Parents' Association

Pre-Prom Reception and Parent Dinner

Saturday, May 6, beginning at 5:00 p.m.

Parents of prom goers, please join us at the Winter Garden/Holy Lawn to take pictures of the students before they go off to the prom.  Following the students' departure, The Parents' Association invites you to attend a dinner for the parents at the Carnegie Abbey Club. 

RSVP for the Parent Dinner today!

Family Day 2017
Saturday, May 13, 12:00-5:00 p.m.

 We are looking forward to seeing many of you next month on campus for Family Day. Parking will be down at the fields; please stop at the Welcome Tent to pick-up your T-shirt and program for the day. Kids' Crafts for younger siblings will be available from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m., play rehearsal in the Auditorium will begin at 2:30 p.m., Student artwork will be displayed in the McEvoy Gallery in the McGuire Fine Arts Center, and check the website for the scheduled times for games! Snacks will be available at all events, and the all-School cookout will open at about 3:30 p.m. Bring your chairs, blankets and wear your Abbey gear! #goabbeyravens

REGISTER TODAY!

Annual Fund

Together, alumni, parents, faculty, staff, grandparents and friends have contributed more than $1.15 million toward our $1.65 million Annual Fund goal for the 2016-17 year.

Alumni wrapped up Abbey Madness on April 4. The Classes of 1984 and 1985 won the second annual Abbey Madness Challenge with a combined participation percentage of 62.81% and the Class of 2017 won the Redemption Round with a participation percentage of 67.39%. Together, 354 alumni and Sixth Form students contributed more than $75,000 during the Challenge to the Annual Fund. Thank you to all of those who participated and helped make Abbey Madness a success.

Over 66% of parents have participated with a gift to the Parents' Division of the Annual Fund, and parent volunteers will be reaching out to the rest of families during May as we strive to hit our goal of 100% parent participation.

Thank you to everyone who has made a direct impact on students and faculty with a gift to the Annual Fund this year. If you haven't had the opportunity to participate, you can make a gift online today. For questions or for other ways to make a gift, please email Alexandra Karppinen, director of the annual fund, or call (401) 643-1204.

Portsmouth Institute

 2017 Summer Conference: June 9-11, 2017

You are cordially invited to attend the Portsmouth Institute's 2017 Summer Conference, "Being Human: Christian Perspectives on the Human Person." In the Portsmouth Institute's interdisciplinary fashion, speakers will consider the meaning and ends of the human person in the context of theology, bioethics, politics, education, and more.

Register Today!

Speakers include:

Peter Kreeft on liberal learning and human ends

Ryan T. Anderson on the transgender moment in America

Sr. Bethany Madonna on the charism of life

Erika Bachiochi on human ecology

John F. Crosby on the personalism of Pope St. John Paul II

Fr. Tad Pacholczyk on Christian bioethics

Thank you to our sponsors:

Portsmouth Abbey, Saint Louis Abbey, Northeast Catholic College, Thomas Aquinas College, Collegium Institute