St. Paul Consortium for North County schools honors coach, graduate

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
LEOMINSTER – A teaching coach, a graduate who doesn’t let a handicap stop him, and a beloved deceased Catholic Schools Office member were honored Nov. 8 at the 11th annual St. Paul Catholic Schools Consortium Dinner, held at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel.
The consortium exists to help support four Catholic elementary schools: St. Leo and St. Anna in Leominster, St. Bernard in Fitchburg and Holy Family Academy in Gardner. It also supports St. Bernard Central Catholic High School in Fitchburg.
Over the past 10 years the consortium has given the schools more than $350,000, said Keith D. Boissoneau, master of ceremonies and a member of the consortium board.
The dinner, which organizers said raised more than $47,000, included prayers led by Bishop McManus, an auction and challenge match collection, and a performance by elementary school students forming the St. Paul Consortium Chorus, directed by William Beck.
Thomas D. Bingham, head football coach at St. Bernard’s High, received the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Award for exemplary service in support of youth and Catholic education.
Joseph R. Mullaney, who attended Julie Country Day School, now closed, and graduated from St. Anna Elementary, received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award for extraordinary service to the community.
The schools each received a $7,500 scholarship. This year the scholarships were named for Sister Marguerite Timothy Young, David Perda, superintendent of Catholic schools, announced, to applause.
Sister Marguerite was a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, an associate superintendent in the diocesan Catholic Schools Office since July 2001, and principal of Julie Country Day School before that. She died  July 24 at the age of 86.
Superintendent Perda told how Sister Marguerite helped him and called for a moment of silence to remember her in prayer. He also congratulated the award recipients, telling them, “Your stories were inspirational.”
Coach Bingham is in his 14th season as head football coach, after spending seven seasons as an assistant to the head coach, the program booklet says. (Last Saturday, a few days after the dinner, the Bernardians won the Central Mass. Division 8 championship, 44-7 over the Blue Knights of Lunenberg High School.)
A few years ago Coach Bingham implemented a “no live contact” rule in practice that reduced concussions, a consortium press release said. In 2016 The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association named him Massachusetts State Football Coach of the Year.
The coach has taught morals and emphasized good sportsmanship and respect for all people, and has “special skills in the psychology world,” praising and instructing players, said Dr. Bernard Westerling III, the retired team physician.
“They started out as young boys” and became adults, he observed.
“I am so proud of the boys,” Coach Bingham said. “The challenge of making everyone come together as a team – that’s why I coach.” He starts off with individuals who need to put teammates ahead of themselves and earn the privilege of playing in games, he said
Mr. Mullaney, 23, with his  “relentlessly positive attitude,” has been “an inspiring example since he was diagnosed at 13-years-old with Friedrich’s ataxia, a rare degenerative neuromuscular disorder,” the consortium press release says. He uses a motorized scooter to get to public speaking events and his graduate classes at Emerson College.
A leader as a student, he is now working on his autobiography and writing a blog about making time count, www.joeymullaney.com/blog.
Mr. Mullaney said he learned many valuable lessons in Catholic school and talked about challenging and supportive teachers.
Introducing him, his father, David R. Mullaney, had called him a gift from God who is always there for someone in need.