The President of St. Augustine Prep will be conveying the Augustinian message, in particular love.

The theme of the year for Malvern Prep is caritas, so it makes perfect sense that a long-time Augustinian should convey the message.

Fr. Don Reilly has been the president of St. Augustine’s Prep for the past five years. Recently, Head of Upper School Mr. Christian Talbot chose him to be the guest speaker at the Class of 2016’s graduation.

Fr. Reilly, who is originally from Lansdale, PA, attended Monsignor Bonner High School and Villanova. He was later ordained a priest in 1974.

Since he became an Augustinian Friar, Fr. Reilly has maintained connections to Malvern Prep.

Because he was the Provincial of St. Thomas of Villanova from 2002 to 2010, Reilly said he was a member of Malvern’s Board of Trustees during that time.

Talbot, who asked Reilly to be the speaker, felt that it was most appropriate for an Augustinian to speak to this year’s graduates about what it means to have attended an Augustinian school.

He thinks that an Augustinian will really put into context the three core Malvern values of truth, unity, and love, with a particular emphasis on love.

Malvern President Fr. James Flynn, who went to school with Reilly for two years in college, is also confident that he is the perfect man for the job.

“He’s an Augustinian and the president of an Augustinian school, so he certainly knows what he is talking about,” he said.

Flynn said he is also a very articulate and intelligent speaker.

In his speech, Reilly plans to emphasize the message of caritas by connecting it to Augustinian education itself.

“The underpinnings of an Augustinian education is to see the face of God through love of and service for neighbor,” he said.

Reilly plans to express the theme of seeing God in one another in his speech.

He aims to help the Class of 2016 reflect on their Augustinian education and realize the impact it will have on the rest of their lives.

“I want to talk about graduation as the commissioning of the graduating class into a world where they will be successful because of the excellent education they received, but also where they should be agents of change who live their life based on the Gospel values,” Reilly said.