St. Anthony's High School Principal Brother Gary Cregan Opens Suffolk Legislature Meeting

St. Anthony High School’s Principal Brother Gary Cregan opened the Suffolk Legislature’s Sept. 9 general meeting in Hauppauge, representing the 17th District.

Brother Gary, who was there at the invitation of Leg. Lou D’Amaro, D-Huntington Station, opened with a “non-denominational invocation encouraging wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge and leadership,” according to a news release. Joining Brother Gary in leading the prayer was St. Anthony’s senior Kelly Fitzpatrick of Port Jefferson.

D’Amaro invited the principal of the South Huntington high school to represent the 17th District before the entire legislature and other guests in attendance at the William H. Rogers Legislatiive Building in Hauppauge.

Brother Gary attended parochial schools in Queens, graduated from St. John’s University with a B.A. in Social Studies and Secondary Education and taught for four years at Saint Francis Preparatory in Fresh Meadows before entering the Franciscan Brothers and being professed in August 1982. His first assignment was to St. Anthony’s High School in Smithtown where he shared in the excitement of the school’s eventual expansion to South Huntington. During that time, he earned an M.A. in European History from NYU and continued to teach at St. Anthony’s until responding to a community request in 1994 to become Vice Principal of Cardinal Gibbons High School in North Carolina. He returned to St. Anthony’s High School as principal in 2003.

“Brother Gary Cregan is an outstanding role model for not only the students at St. Anthony’s High School but also the entire community,” D’Amaro said.

Photo: Leg. Lou D’Amaro (left) recently invited Brother Gary Cregan (right), principal of St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington, and St. Anthony’s student Kelly Fitzpatrick (center) to open the Legislature’s General Session meeting with a non-denominational prayer. They are shown here just prior to delivering their encouraging and meaningful words at the Sept. 9 meeting.