Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Holy Ghost Prep has a long history of promoting diversity and taking action in the community. 

Back in March 1889, then-Archbishop Patrick Ryan wrote to Mother Katharine Drexel to inform her that he had secured a priest to minister to the Black Catholics in Philadelphia. There had been a growing need for a dedicated ministry for some time. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Black Catholics did not have a church of their own but rather attended Mass at various churches in the city. 

When Katharine Drexel was in Pittsburgh studying under the Sisters of Mercy to form her own order, she met the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. This order of priests, also known as the Spiritans, had numerous missions in Africa and through the work of Drexel and Ryan, agreed to come to Philadelphia. Father Peter McDermott, C.S. Sp. arrived in Philadelphia in 1889 and set up a small rectory, chapel, and school at 832 Pine Street, in a house purchased by Katharine Drexel. Right away the school had over 80 children, taught by the Spiritans and the Sisters of Notre Dame and the chapel was standing room only.

That mission of education while promoting diversity and taking action in the community continues today as Holy Ghost Prep offers Spiritan mission trips to the Dominican Republic and Tanzania, as well as to West Virginia, Harlem, and local spaces like the St. Francis Inn in Kensington.  

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts at HGP are co-coordinated by Maria Lehr-Fortino, Thomas Saxton ’99, and John Scanlon ’01. The school’s larger diversity team, made up of Holy Ghost Prep administrators and faculty members, includes president Gregory J. Geruson '79, principal Kevin Burke, Spiritan chaplain Rev. Dan Sormani, C.S.Sp., director of campus ministry Mark Whartenby, director of counseling Aaron Pollock, John Fitzpatrick ’89, and Lily Wurtz. 

This Diversity Team's goal is to ensure that Holy Ghost Prep provides a space in which all students can feel safe, welcomed, and able to proudly express who they are.

To learn more about diversity at Holy Ghost Prep, please email the school’s diversity director John Scanlon jscanlon@holyghostprep.org and follow us on Instagram (@hgpdiversity). 

The Diversity Team is comprised of faculty members and administrators who work to develop education programs for the school community:

• to better understand our student’s needs,

• to educate our community on issues relating to race,

• to provide a space for communication and conflict resolution

• to create programs to celebrate our community’s diversity, and 

• to foster healthy dialogue and engagement

The Diversity Team meets once a month to plan new ideas and events. Diversity Team members meet the leaders of the Diversity Parent Council monthly to communicate and coordinate events.

Highlights:

• Freshmen Summer Reading: Born A Crime by Trevor Noah

• Freshmen Orientation: COR group discussions of the novel and the impact of race in today’s American society

• Holocaust survivor, Mr. Peter Stern, spoke to the HGP community about his harrowing journey during the Second World War. The event was coordinated with the help of the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center.

• Diversity education trip to Washington, D.C. for faculty members.

Members: Maria Lehr-Fortino, Dr. John Scanlon, Dr. Tom Saxton, Dr. Aaron Pollock, Mark Whartenby, Fr. Dan Sormani, John Fitzpatrick, Lilly Wurts, HGP president Gregory  Geruson, HGP principal Kevin Burke

If you would like to learn more about diversity at Holy Ghost Prep, please email Diversity Director, John Scanlon jscanlon@holyghostprep.org

Holy Ghost Prep’s Parent Diversity Council (PDC) is a parent group that works closely with school leadership to ensure a welcoming environment for all HGP families.

As an advisory committee, the PDC assists Holy Ghost Prep with its mission to celebrate, educate, and promote a culture of acceptance, respect, and integrity when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the student body, faculty, and staff.

The Parent Diversity Council defines diversity in its broadest and most inclusive terms including racially, socio-economically, geographically, and culturally. And we strive to be a community that is accepting and understanding different traditions, values, and beliefs.

The PDC values partnership, collaboration, communication, and authenticity. The PDC's vision is a school community that embraces and embodies a true sense of belonging across all diverse spaces.

To realize that vision, the PDC's goals as a partner and voice within the parent community are as follows:

• Ensure a safe, supportive, equitable and comfortable school environment for the benefit of not only the young men currently attending HGP, but for all future students who will have the opportunity to take part in HGP’s academic excellence and educational opportunities.
• Connect HGP administration, faculty, and staff to our networks to help increase diversity and assist in diversity focused recruitment, hiring, and retention goals.
• Outreach and create strategic relationships with community leaders, schools, and parishes so that we can attract students that will diversify the HGP student base. We want our sons to look around their school and see a true reflection of the communities and partners that they will ultimately interface with in real life.
• Accountability: Help HGP stay true to its mission of cultivating inclusive and holistic leaders in our sons, future leaders who will have an awareness of the needs of those who are underrepresented or marginalized.
• Align our work, communications, programming, and events with the Spiritan values we all stand for.
• Take meaningful action and lead by example--stand up for what is fair, equitable, and inclusive to facilitate change where it’s needed.
• Inspire our sons to be their best selves through our work and communications.
• Provide education and programming through the lens of access—embrace all languages, cultures, traditions, values, and beliefs.

We are here to leave things better than we found them, to see our communities reflections in the HGP school community to help strengthen the welcoming and inclusive culture for the best interest of our young men.

The Parent Diversity Council needs YOUR help! We welcome fresh ideas and different perspectives! If you are interested in being part of the committee or want to share your ideas, please contact us via parentdiversitycouncil@holyghostprep.org.

In 2021, the members of C.A.F.É., inspired by a growing national awareness of the issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion, decided to rename the club D.I.C.E. (Diversity, Inclusion, Community, and Equity) in order to reflect its goals more accurately.

The D.I.C.E. logo was designed and painted on the wall of the new D.I.C.E. Room in Cornwells Hall by Dominic Rivera ’23, and combines familiar Holy Ghost Prep iconography and colors with symbols commonly used to promote racial justice, religious tolerance, and gender equality. The building blocks, in addition to being a play on dice, symbolize how many people working together can create something greater than the sum of its parts.

What D.I.C.E. does:

• Peer-to-peer counseling
• School-wide assemblies
• Cultural heritage celebrations
• Diversity education
• Big Brothers program
• Summer reading initiatives
• Alumni networking

For more information about D.I.C.E., please contact us at DICE@holyghostprep.org or, if you are a current student, join our Schoology Group!