About Us

St. Michael’s College School was founded in 1852 by the Basilian Fathers, and stands as Ontario’s only independent Catholic school for young men.

The school offers students in Grades 7-12 an enriched, Catholic, Liberal Arts education complemented by a number of diverse co-curricular programmes. As a community within the Catholic Church, St. Michael’s strives for excellence through a synthesis of culture and faith.

The motto of the Basilian Fathers and St. Michael’s College School is “Teach me Goodness, Discipline, and Knowledge” (Psalm 118). This recognizes that being a good and disciplined individual, in charge of your own actions, is as important as the knowledge acquired through formal education. The motto is reflected in our mission to educate the whole person. Toward that end, St. Michael’s offers a Catholic, Liberal Arts education that exposes students to a wide a range of knowledge, encompassing the Humanities, the Arts, and the Sciences.

While St. Michael’s strives to prepare its students for university, we are also fully committed to preparing them to be future Catholic leaders within their community. We are inspired by the teachings of Jesus Christ and we prepare our students to recognize and to choose good, to contribute to society, to be a neighbour, to form family, and to seek life eternal in union with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Our Motto

The motto of the Basilian Fathers and of St. Michael’s College School is Doce me Bonitatem et Disciplinam et Scientiam, from Psalm 118 – Teach me Goodness, Discipline, and Knowledge. This prayer recognizes that being a good and disciplined individual who is in charge of one’s own actions is as important as the knowledge acquired through formal education.

While St. Michael’s College School strives to prepare our students for university, we are also fully committed to preparing them to be future Catholic leaders in the world. Guided by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we prepare young men to recognize and choose the good, to contribute to society, to be a neighbour, to nurture family, and to seek eternal life in union with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

SMCS students discussing class work with their teacher

Who We Are

Since 1852, under the direction of the Basilian Fathers, St. Michael's College School has been educating young men in goodness, discipline, and knowledge for lives of leadership and service, and forming them in faith to present the face of Jesus Christ to a world that is in need of his grace and his peace.

We are Canada's only Catholic, Basilian, faith-based independent school. We educate young men from Grades 7 to 12 in a university-preparatory programme. Our scholastic environment for all boys is well designed and suited to their particular strengths, aptitudes, and needs. It provides a unique learning and growing experience during which a boy develops the framework of his character and builds the foundation for his life as a man.

Our students discover the courage and find the strength to be a St. Michael's Student: one who is free in mind, body, and soul to pursue truth, choose goodness, create beauty, and build a civilization of love and care in service to our community and to the world.

Through our rich Liberal Arts programme, which combines different and necessary sources of nourishment for mind, body, and soul, our students unleash their passion for meaning and curiosity by embracing Deep Learning. This inquiry-based learning pedagogy inspires students to explore freely the profound questions of our world and to develop the confidence, knowledge, and skills for living a meaningful and productive life in the 21st century.

In graduating young men who change the world through lives of faith, character, and service, St. Michael's College School brings integrity, unity, and healing to a fractured and uncertain world.

The catholic school, St. Michael's College School's front garden in Toronto.

Board of Directors

Mr. John Dalla Costa, Director

John Dalla Costa is the founding director of the Centre for Ethical Orientation. He has provided ethics and governance consulting internationally to organizations in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. An original faculty member of the Directors College, for ten years he also taught business ethics and social responsibility at the Schulich School of Business.

Mr. Dalla Costa has authored five books including most recently, ‘Magnificence at Work: Living Faith in Business’, and bestselling, ‘Working Wisdom: The Ultimate Value in the New Economy’.

A newly appointed Fellow of the Caux Round Table, Mr. Dalla Costa is working with an international network of business leaders and the Vatican to foster the moral principles for ‘Inclusive Capitalism’. He is also part of an interdisciplinary task-force at the Pontifical University of Thomas Aquinas that is developing a framework for the integral economy based on the Apostolic Exhortations and Encyclicals of Pope Francis.

Mr. Dalla Costa holds a BA in literature from Dominican University, as well as a BA in Sacred Theology and a Master of Divinity from Regis College.

Mr. Patrick Fradley-Davis '77, Director

Patrick graduated from St. Michael’s College School in 1977.

He is a retired human resources professional with 32 years of experience at Ontario Hydro/Ontario Power Generation. His work experience within human resources has covered many facets including, health and safety, wellness, compensation and benefits, disability management, operational audit, and training.

In his post-retirement, Patrick has taught human resources and occupational health and safety at George Brown College and Sheridan College.

Patrick is currently a certified workplace investigator for a small law firm. He investigates harassment and discrimination claims under the Occupational Health and Safety act.

He has maintained close ties to his community by volunteering on local committees and community projects. Patrick’s board experience includes being the current board Chair for the Canadian Mental Health Association in Peel/Dufferin. An organization that offers grassroots mental health support to the communities in Peel Region and Dufferin county.

Patrick is also the Co-chair of the Working Committee for the Hills of Headwaters Ontario Health Team. A local, regional team assembled to provide integrated health services to Orangeville, Caledon, and surrounding communities.

Fr. Patrick Fulton, CSB, Director

Fr. Patrick Fulton, CSB, graduated with his Bachelor in Arts from the University of Saskatchewan in 1990, with a double-Honours-major in Philosophy and Religious Studies. He completed his Novitiate in Sugarland, Texas, and was then sent to Toronto, Canada, for theological studies, where he was subsequently awarded a Masters of Divinity from the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto, Ontario (1996). Later he attended the University of Alberta where he obtained his Bachelor of Education with honors in 2000.

In 2000, Fr. Fulton was assigned to St. Michael’s College School where he taught theology, was a club moderator, football and hockey chaplain and coached the swim team to several divisional titles and provincial records. In 2010, Fr. Fulton was named Principal of St. Thomas High School in Houston and most recently was appointed Principal of Detroit Catholic Central High School in 2019.

He holds a B.A. Philosophy, B.A. Religious Studies, from the University of Saskatchewan; a Masters of Divinity, from the University of St. Michael's College; and a Bachelor of Education, from the University of Alberta.

Ms. Susan Grundy, Director

Susan Grundy is a retired partner of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, where she practiced business restructuring and insolvency law for many years. Most recently she was a member of the firm’s senior management team as the firm’s General Counsel.

She has served on the boards of a number of professional and non-profit organizations and is currently a member of the boards of VHA Home Healthcare and Toronto Botanical Garden.

Susan has an ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors, is a Fellow of the Insolvency Institute of Canada and is a graduate of Queen’s University and University of Toronto Law School.

Susan is married with three adult children.

Fr. Glenn McDonald, CSB, Director

Fr. Glenn McDonald is from Airdrie, AB, and studied mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta. He met the Basilian Fathers at St. Joseph’s College, the Catholic College at the U of A. In 2001, he entered the Basilian novitiate in Tehuacán, Mexico. After professing temporary vows, he studied theology at the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto. During his final year of theological studies, he taught Grade 10 math at St. Michael’s College School.

Fr. Glenn’s life with the Basilian Fathers has taken him to several places: Christ the King Parish in Rochester, N.Y.; St. Joseph’s College, Edmonton; and St. Basil’s Parish, Toronto. He currently serves as pastor of the parishes of St. Alphonsus and St. Clare, Edmonton, and is a Division Chaplain with Edmonton Catholic School Division. He also serves as a board member of L’Arche Edmonton.

Fr. Morgan Rice, CSB, Director

Born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, Fr. Morgan Rice, CSB studied mechanical engineering at the University of Virginia and later worked for six years in the engineering field in Houston, Texas.It was there that he met the Basilian Fathers at St. Anne Parish and began to discern seriously the priesthood and religious life.

His Basilian journey brought him to Detroit where he taught algebra and physics for a year and then to Toronto where he completed a Master of Divinity degree at the Faculty of Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College.Ordained in November 2009, Fr. Morgan served as an associate pastor at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish in Rochester, N.Y., and then moved to Toronto in June 2017 to begin his term as Pastor at St. Basil's Parish.In July 2014, Fr. Rice was elected to a four-year term on the General Council of the Basilian Fathers. He was re-elected to a subsequent four-year term in 2018.

Mr. Peter E. Sweeney '82, Chair

Peter E. Sweeney is currently the Chief Financial Officer of SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), one of Canada’s largest fully integrated REITs specializing in retail and mixed-use real estate.

Prior to joining SmartCentres REIT in 2014, Peter served as the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Allied Properties from 2010-2014.

From 1996-2010, he held the position of Chief Financial Officer at DTZ Barnicke, a leading real estate brokerage and advisory firm.

Peter has been a Chartered Accountant since 1988 and he is a graduate of Ryerson University in 1986 and St. Michael’s College School (SMCS) in 1982.

His five sons all graduated from SMCS: Robert ’06, Peter Jr. ’07, Patrick ’08, Niall ’11, and Declan ’13.

Peter served an instrumental fundraising role for both the SMCS Centre for the Arts and the Basilian Fathers’ Presentation Manor retirement residence project.

In addition, Peter has spent the last 20 years as a member of the Southdown Board of Directors, a charitable organization that provides preventative and restorative care to clergy and vowed religious.