By Brooke C.
Father Stephen Morris, Dean of Students at FFS, has been called back by his bishop to serve as a parish priest in his hometown Seaford, Long Island starting in September.
Father Stephen arrived here 15 years ago. He was assisting at St. Paul’s Church in Hancock when Tony Argiros, the owner of FFS, saw him offer Mass and decided he wanted Father to be the chaplain at the school. “Mike [Argiros] picked me up and we came down here and I met Tony and Betty,” Father said. “We hit it off very well from the start, and here I am 15 years later.”
Father Stephen was raised on Long Island, and after the death of his mother and father, sold the house he grew up in. At the time, he was teaching in Catholic schools in New York City, and he wanted a place to get away and spend his summers. This turned out to be Hancock.
Currently, he offers Mass on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturday mornings, and Sundays. He has performed baptisms and held confirmation classes at the school. He has also led retreats for Family School students at his Retreat House, which have included dinner, religious movies, and discussion.
He has always been available to talk to any student or member of the staff. Student Andrew D. said, “Father has taught me to really appreciate those around me and love them through Christ and our Lady the Blessed Virgin Mary.” Over the years, he has heard many thousands of confessions. He said, “Probably the thing that has been most impressive upon my life and on my soul has been hearing confessions…Young people getting so clear and honest has impressed me deeply and led me to greater honesty.” He has talked to thousands of students who have come through The Family School, and has helped them to find truth and God. Matt V., an FFS student who served Mass with Father Stephen for over a year, said, “Father Stephen has been a mentor and a good friend to me my whole stay. He’s always been there when I needed help, and he’d always tell me the truth as long as I was willing to hear it.”
Talking to students has been a large part of Father Stephen’s life at FFS. “I’ve enjoyed the endless conversations I’ve had with young people who are looking for God, who want their families back, who want to make something of their lives, and who want to grow up and become good people.”
It won’t be easy to leave, he said. “I’ve often said to people at 6:45 in the morning that I feel like the luckiest priest on the East Coast of the United States because there are kids, at one point 260 of them, praying with me, praying the Mass with me deeply, beginning the day in the darkness. I’ll miss that.”
However, he knows he is being called back to Long Island for a reason. The name of the church he will be working at is “Maria Regina,” which is Latin for Mary the Queen. He commented, “I take that as a lovely sign because I love Jesus’ mother, Our Lady, very much, and I like that Catholicism has this strong feminist dimension in Mary. I take it as a happy sign that I’ve been sent to a parish that has Mary as the patroness.”
His transition back to Long Island is going to have its struggles. He’s going to be living with other priests for the first time in years, and will be going from The Family School to a parish with 5,600 families.
He’s also anticipating the change of scenery to be difficult. “When I was a little boy, Long Island was country, and now it’s super developed and I’m just nerved out driving.” He fears that with all the concentration on material things, there is not much room for God, but he’s planning on making his way through it.
He also feels extremely indebted to The Family School. “The gratitude I feel to this place is inexpressible…There are not words to describe the joy I feel to God, gratitude to God, for God having found me and brought me to this place. It wasn’t easy: there have been disappointments, there’s been sadness, but underneath it all is just a profound sense of God’s presence here and in my life because of watching him reclaim people for himself.”
The Family School will also deeply miss Father Stephen. He has touched the lives of countless people—not only students, but staff, parents, and others who have passed through the school in the past 15 years, and it will be a much different place without him.
Mike Argiros, President of The Family School, said, “Even though I’m going to miss him, I feel the connection between what we’re doing here and what he’s going to be doing in Long Island is so strong that the principles we live by will keep us together.”
Father Stephen has been a spiritual presence at The Family School that will be very hard to replace.
