Marist Teacher Recognized For Holocaust Education

By KATHYN MORAN, Special To The Bulletin

Published: August 21, 2003

ATLANTA—While most high schools around the country are covering the history of the Holocaust in only a few days, Marist School has been offering an in-depth semester study of the subject for six years, thanks to history teacher Brendan Murphy.

After teaching survey courses of world history to freshmen for two years, Murphy became frustrated with the minimal amount of time he could devote to teaching the Holocaust. Murphy recognized the mission of Marist School as one that teaches a moral awareness to its students and felt the many facets of the Holocaust would help students confront basic moral teachings. The administration resoundingly agreed and decided to offer the course as an elective.

Murphy’s enthusiasm for and excellence in teaching the subject recently earned him the honor of being chosen a 2003 Museum Teacher Fellow for The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

After applying last winter, Murphy was chosen as one of 15 outstanding American educators on the Holocaust and invited to be part of a unique team of ambassadors for the museum. Murphy and the other teaching fellows traveled to Washington in August to participate in a week-long collaborative teacher-training program designed to strengthen their knowledge and teaching of this important era in history and to empower them to provide outreach programs beyond their schools and into their communities.

“It was intense and wonderful,” remarked Murphy. “I learned a great deal from the other dynamic teachers ... I wish it could have been two weeks.”

Now in its eighth year, the Museum Teacher Fellowship Program is a competitive program that selects “educators with excellent classroom leadership,” according to Daniel Napolitano, coordinator. As one of the three missions of the USHMM, education is seen as key to sustaining a living memorial of this tragic era. The museum looks for educators who know and can teach history to participate in this program.

Murphy is sure of one thing—teaching the Holocaust must be done right. He aims to dissolve common misconceptions about the Holocaust and teach his students that “this is not a Jewish subject, but a human subject.” Lectures, small group discussions, presentations, journaling, films and field trips help this message come alive.

Murphy firmly believes that studying the Holocaust provides “an important opportunity for Catholics to confront the legacy of Christian anti-Judaism that has endured 2000 years.”

“Catholics have an obligation to study and understand the Holocaust and its repercussions,” said Murphy. “Christians represent all four categories of people in the Holocaust--bystanders, rescuers, victims and perpetrators.”

Citing the important document, “We Remember: Reflections on the Shoah” (Shoah is the word preferred in Jewish communities for Holocaust), published by the Vatican in 1998, Murphy recalls the church’s remembrance of this tragedy and mandate for repentance of acts by Christians against the Jewish community during the Holocaust and also of repentance for Christians who failed to help the Jewish community. The document refers to the Shoah as “an unspeakable tragedy, which can never be forgotten (and) a major fact of the history of this century ... which still concerns us today.”

Pope John Paul II closes the letter with his “fervent hope” that the statement “will indeed help to heal the wounds of past misunderstandings and injustices”; that it will “enable memory to play its necessary part in the process of shaping a future in which the unspeakable iniquity of the Shoah will never again be possible.”

Murphy is taking this directive seriously by participating in this USHMM fellowship that mandates each educator create his or her own outreach project. As a way of reaching the larger community, Murphy will offer an adult education class from a Christian perspective on the Holocaust as part of Monday Nights at Marist. It will start in January from 7-9 p.m.

“Marist has been so supportive of all the seminars and programs I have been a part of,” said Murphy, “especially the administration and, in particular, the head of the history department, John Martin.”

Next May, Murphy and the 14 other fellows will gather again in Washington to report on their outreach projects. It will be a remembrance of a year’s worth of work and study, but also a testament to the remarkable work done to keep the history of the Holocaust alive.

Murphy, a graduate of St. Pius X High School, Atlanta, has a dual degree in education and history from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s in theology from Spring Hill College, Mobile, Ala., which has an Atlanta extension program.

When beginning his elective course in 1996, Carla Singer, former director of education for The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, was an invaluable resource of materials and advice for Murphy. To strengthen his knowledge in the subject Murphy has attended various seminars and programs over the years such as The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum’s teacher-training program, where he was also a presenter, the Bearing Witness Conference sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League, and the Lerner Fellowship in New York. He is also a member of the Georgia Holocaust Commission education advisory board.

Those interested in the Holocaust course offered in conjunction with Monday Nights at Marist may e-mail Brendan Murphy at murphyb@marist.com. For Catholic educator’s guidelines for teaching about the Holocaust, log on to www.ushmm.org.