On October 31st, two of Malvern’s students created a weekly gathering called Friar Fellowship. Both seniors, Rylan Arata ‘25 and Pete Bozzone ‘25, came up with the idea when brainstorming how to bring our Brotherhood together outside Malvern and model the experience of our weekly Mass.
Friar Fellowship aims to provide students with a welcoming community to attend church together weekly, especially those without frequent family attendance or a local parish. The attendance at their Mass is on average about ten to twelve students and growing rapidly. Also, inclusivity is one of Friar Fellowship’s main goals because everyone from freshmen to seniors should be able to bond together through their faith.
“[Friar Fellowship] allows some guys not to be afraid to profess and practice their faith on a scale outside of school. Malvern’s Masses are great, but how can we kind of model that feeling into the weekend?” Arata said.
As of February, Friar Fellowship has visited over 20 parishes all across Chester County. Additionally, they reached a peak of 25 students at a single Sunday Mass, marking their record. Some of the special opportunities they offered were when they organized a special Fr. Bill Sunday Mass before the Monte Coco 5K Run/Walk. They also held an exclusive Friar Fellowship Mass at Villanova’s Corr Chapel with Fr. Riley as the main celebrant, followed by a generous pre-paid lunch on Villanova’s campus. Also, they are in the process of collaborating with Villa Maria to attend Mass together to foster a connection.
Since the gatherings started, Rylan and Pete have not missed one weekend and have been to see many different priests. Malvern senior Charlie Murphy spoke to Friar Fellowship’s similarities and differences with Malvern’s weekly Mass.
“I think it’s a very different dynamic when we get new priests that like to preach different homilies, new speakers coming in, and the opportunity to meet new people in these parishes. Overall, I think it is slightly modeled off Malvern Mass because we do the same things as we do in Mass, but with new people in new environments.” Murphy said.
While Rylan Arata and Pete Bozzone use word of mouth to get community members to come out to their Masses, they wanted to go above and beyond. They started an Instagram page that has amassed over 175+ followers and posts every week to gain more possible participants. The Instagram can be found at @mpfriar_fellowship on Instagram.
When asked about other ways Friar Fellowship is being actively promoted, Pete Bozzone said, “I helped put together this [film] for my class that raised awareness with Mr. Rogai and Mr. Watson. I thought it was a pretty cool class. So I was able to make an awareness video, which is five minutes [and it shows] some things we’ve done, some parishes we went to, so I don’t know. We might post that soon and put it in our bio or something.”
While these two seniors plan on growing Friar Fellowship as much as they can before their departure, they understand that whoever they pick to keep running Friar Fellowship has some big shoes to fill.
When asked how Friar Fellowship will carry on after the 2025 Malvern Graduation, Pete Bozzone stated, “We won’t be here next year. We’re going to college, so we’ve kind of thought of ways where we can help carry this on. Maybe it’s something we say after a Mass. If you want to put your name in the hat to maybe take this over. Obviously, you would have to, like, you know, meet certain criteria, interviews, and stuff like that. So maybe it’s something that can be passed down, because that’s what we ultimately do want to happen.”
All in all, Rylan and Pete have enlightened many students by showing them that Mass is fun and also a good learning opportunity. After Mass has concluded, they usually discuss the homily as a group to ensure everyone’s voice is heard. It is safe to say that Friar Fellowship has brought our community together, and if handled properly, it will continue to do so for many more years to come.
