As he prepared to retire this summer as the principal of St. Bartholomew Catholic School in Bethesda, Frank English reflected on how his four decade career in Catholic education was perhaps “meant to be.”
Completing his six years as St. Bartholomew’s principal after earlier teaching for 25 years at Our Lady of Mercy School in Potomac, he was also a teacher, coach and administrator at St. John’s College High School in Washington for five years, and had earlier taught at St. Bernadette’s School in Silver Spring for three years, his first job in Catholic education.
He noted how careers in education run deep in his family. English pointed out that while his father was a cookie salesman for Nabisco – “He was a popular guy!” he added – his mother, a native of Ireland, was an elementary school teacher in Montgomery County, Maryland, and her father was a school principal and her mother was a teacher in her native country. His younger brother Sean, now retired, was a music teacher in Maryland, and his sister, Maura Napoli, taught in Florida.
“They (our parents) both stressed the importance of education, it was just the way I was raised,” he said.
English’s wife of 34 years – Brenda Enzler English – also has retired after a long career in Catholic education, first at her alma mater, Our Lady of Lourdes School in Bethesda, where she was an eighth grade math teacher.
“She’s the best math teacher I know,” he said.
His wife is the youngest sibling of Msgr. John Enzler, now the mission advocate for Catholic Charities in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and a chaplain at St. John’s. Over the years, she was also the admissions director at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington and taught classes there, and she later taught middle school math at Our Lady of Mercy School and at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda.
Their four children – Dennis, Katie, John and Brigid – graduated from St. Jude School in Rockville, like their father did, and the boys later graduated from St. John’s and the girls graduated from Visitation.
Frank English graduated from St. John’s College High School in 1975 and earned a bachelor of science degree with a major in accounting and finance from St. Francis College in Loretto, Pennsylvania. After graduating, he served in the Peace Corps for two years in the Dominican Republic. Then he got his first job in Catholic education, teaching fifth and sixth grade English and science at St. Bernadette School in Silver Spring for three years.
Although he had an accounting degree, St. Bernadette’s principal then, Sister Margaret St. John Brocato, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, “gave me a shot,” English said of the educator who became a mentor to him. She died in 2020 at the age of 92.
That experience solidified in English’s mind that he wanted to continue working as a teacher. After working there, he worked for a year in the archdiocese’s finance department, then he returned to Catholic education, teaching accounting and business law and helping to coach football, basketball and baseball at his alma mater, St. John’s College High School. In the last of his five years on the staff there, he served as the admissions director at St. John’s. A key mentor for him there was Christian Brother Edward Gallagher.
English was then hired to work at Our Lady of Mercy School in Potomac, where he taught religion and social studies to seventh and eighth graders there for 25 years and was assistant principal there. His mentors at Our Lady of Mercy included two principals he worked with, Sister Virginia Pfau, a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary who died in 2022 at the age of 76, and Joan Hosmer.
Reflecting on his six years as principal of St. Bartholomew Catholic School, English said, “I received more than I ever gave… I always tried to help these kids and do what I could to be a good role model. It was easy to do it. I loved them and felt their love back.”
The retiring principal said his role models in Catholic education taught him the importance of living and sharing the faith. English noted that St. Bartholomew students attended Mass at the parish’s church every Friday, and he would often talk to them about his goal in life.
“My goal is to get to heaven, and my hope is to bring as many of you guys here with me. That’s what we’re here for, that’s what it’s all about,” he would tell them.
During his years in Catholic education, English earned a master of arts degree with a major in guidance and counseling from Trinity College in Washington, and a postgraduate certificate of study from Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore with a major in education administration.
A special highlight of his years at St. Bartholomew was when the school and parish communities there rallied to keep the school open after it faced declining enrollment and a financial shortfall during the 2019-20 school year. By January 2020, those communities raised more than $872,00 and received pledges from parents to sustain and increase enrollment, which increased by nearly 50 students by the beginning of the 2021-22 school year. English noted how sustaining the school was a team effort, with parents even telling him that they wanted to raise the tuition to keep the school there.
“As a group of people and as a group of families, the school community and the parish community have been so warm and loving and kind and generous and embraced the school,” he said. That spirit, he said, goes both ways, with how the teachers and staff there care for the children at St. Bartholomew School.
While he was preparing to retire at the end of June, English was completing his work in closing out the school year, seeing that report cards were mailed to students’ families, and meeting with faculty members to discuss the schedule for the next school year. Cleaning out his office was the hardest part, he said.
“I’m leaving a great community. It’s bittersweet. I’m going to miss every single kid. I’m going to miss all the parents. I’m going to miss my teachers. I love them all,” English said.
His office mementos included a rubber chicken, which he kept there to keep kids at ease when they were sent to the principal’s office to talk with him. He emphasized to them that it was okay to make a mistake, but they had to think about “what kind of person you want to be.”
English praised his Catholic school mentors over the years, “the good people who kept me in education.”
“To be in charge of somebody, to be a leader, you have to have a good heart, put people first, be understanding,” he said. “It’s a great privilege to be a leader. Like anything else, if you put your heart in it, you get more out of it than you put in it.”
He said he would probably pass on the rubber chicken to the new principal at St. Bartholomew School, Kevin Giblin. As English was packing up his office, a sheet of paper remained on his bulletin board with the message, “Jesus Christ is the reason for this school, the unseen but ever present teacher in its classes, the inspiration of its students, teachers, administration and staff.”
(The new Catholic school principals in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington will be profiled in the Catholic Standard’s Sept. 14 Back to School edition.)
