Boston College High School, a Jesuit Catholic school, is rededicating its original building on Morrissey Boulevard named after the school’s founder, John McElroy, in light of his ties to slavery.
The building will be renamed St. Ignatius Hall, in a decision that comes after nearly two years of research into McElroy, BC High’s president Grace Cotter Regan wrote in an email to the school community Thursday. That research dove into McElroy’s “direct work” involving enslaved people while he served in the Maryland Province during the early 1800s, Regan wrote.
“Fr. McElroy, was an extraordinary man. ... His positive impact on the lives of thousands of boys and young men, since the School’s inception in 1863, is without question,” Regan wrote. “He was, however, also a man of his controversial times and it became critical to re-examine his life in light of recent findings.”
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BC High’s Board of Trustees voted in April 2022 to rededicate the building and also teach “the totality” of McElroy’s story, “recognizing both his great works and his faults,” which will be embedded in the school curriculum, Regan wrote.
The vote came after the board heard recommendations from its Mission and Identity Committee, which began in March 2021 to research the school’s founder and engage in conversations with faculty, staff, students, and alumni on its findings. The committee consulted several sources including the Georgetown University working group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation, and the Holy Cross Mulledy/Healy Legacy Committee, Regan’s letter stated.
“Of important note, as part of our rededication, we will continue to acknowledge Fr. McElroy as the founder of BC High by placing a plaque, which will honor and contextualize his legacy, inside the main entrance of the School,” Regan wrote.
Regan also wrote that the teachings of St. Ignatius, after whom the building will now be named, have guided BC High since it was founded in 1863.
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Consistent with those teachings, Regan said the school aims to inspire students to be “contemplatives in action” and work with people from all walks of life to develop true understanding, and cultivate and embrace change.
“Doing so helps us make sense of the increasingly complex world in which we live,” Regan wrote. “As a Jesuit School, we are always learning, and what we learn often causes us to pause, take a step back, and examine our past to better inform our present and our future.
“BC High is a school that respects and upholds the dignity of all people, and it is our responsibility to demonstrate these values to the faculty, staff, students, and alumni who walk through our halls each day, both now and in the future,” she wrote.
Sahar Fatima can be reached at sahar.fatima@globe.com Follow her @sahar_fatima.