Br. Emmett Brian

Michael  Regis Flaherty was born on March 22, 1940, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of  Patrick J. and Mary (Casey) Flaherty. He was one of five children having  three sisters (Barbara, Matie, Kathleen) and one brother (John). Mike was  active, uninhibited, and as ordinary as any of us.  He met the Brothers when he enrolled at St.  Patrick High School in Chicago.  After  his freshman year at St. Pat’s, Michael transferred to the Juniorate in  Glencoe. Michael entered the Novitiate at Glencoe in August of 1959 and a  year later entered St. Mary’s College in Winona, Minnesota where he earned  his B.A. degree in May of 1963.  Polio  left him with a limp but never dependent. Later he received his M.A. from  Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois. In 1963he was assigned to teach at  Notre Dame – Bishop Carroll high School in Wichita, Kansas.  He remained at St. Joe until 1966 when he  was assigned to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois. He spent the  next two years working at La Salle Manor Retreat House in Plano, Illinois but  returned to St. Joseph High School in Westchester in 1971. Brother Michael  was assigned to Driscoll Catholic High School in 1977 and taught there until  1986 when he returned to St. Joseph High School in Westchester for a third  time. (for a total of 17 years at St. Joseph High School). He remained there  until 1994 when he left the classroom for parish work at St. Mary’s Parish in  Mundelein, Illinois. In 1996 he was assigned to La Salle Institute in  Chicago, Illinois, but in 2001 he joined the staff at the Midwest District  Provincialate in Burr Ridge, Illinois. After several years there he moved to  the St. Patrick Community in Chicago but was assigned to De La Salle  Blackfeet in Browning, Montana in 2012. In 2016 he joined the Resurrection  Community in Chicago, Illinois. Mike was a man of faith, gentleness,  humility, and generosity, and his kindness, firmness, caring, and humor were  appreciated and valued by his students and by his Brothers in community.  Brother Michael died on December 3, 2019, at age 80, three months shy of his  birthday, having been a De La Salle Christian Brother for sixty years.