Inducted in 2015
Prep Teacher (1962-2010)

So you want to know why the windows in Shea Hall don’t open?  Well you see, there was this one time over in Hughes Hall — it was back in the ‘60s — or maybe it was the ‘50s? — Fr. Flood’s classes had always met on the fourth floor, but for some reason they had been moved down to the first.  No, really! Joe was there!  Joe who? You know — Joe from the Class of Sfifxty-Two.  

Oh, yeah, that Joe. 

They were still telling that story in the early ’80s, but by then, a whole new chapter had been written.  You know, the one about how Fordham had gone completely bankrupt back in ’70-something and the campus had to be sold off to the Botanical Garden to settle a water bill that hadn’t been paid in 99 years.  But luckily — at the very last minute — Fr. Flood was able to buy back the land and work out a deal with the water company that won’t expire until September 19, 2070.  Rumor had it that he secretly controlled the Swiss banks.

The water bill had been completely forgotten by the early 21st century, though some of the Prep boys still recalled the Swiss bank connection — or was it a bank in Germany? But anyway, hey, can you believe that Fr. Flood was one of the creators of the Lollapalooza Festivals back in the ’90s?  No, it’s true! And, yeah, they used to say that he still had big-time connections in the music industry.  They even used to say he was going to bring U2 to Rose Hill one of these days.  Now who would believe that?!  Like Bono would actually to come to Fordham!

The joke of course was never on Fr. Flood.  The joke was on us.  And the punchline, contrived, no doubt in the heaven of heavens: that despite himself, one of the humblest and most placid souls in the whole of school history would wind up one of its most fantastic figures, and that to him we would apocryphally attribute even Fordham’s very existence. 

As for Father, for nearly fifty years he served the students and whole Prep community tirelessly, and he never failed to pray for us — genuinely, earnestly, and with great love.  In his quiet and unassuming way, he likely never gave so much as a thought whether or not he would be remembered.  But the truth is — and this really is the truth — we are grateful for all that he taught us, and for all of his prayers, and for his examples of goodness and holiness and a life lived simply for the greater glory of God.  For these things, Fordham Prep will never forget him.  And if indeed we consider cura personalis a foundation of our tradition, then perhaps, in a way, Fr. Flood was — and is — more of a cornerstone than he — or we — ever imagined.

Matthew Clement Flood was born in the Bronx on January 12, 1929 to Irish immigrants Michael Flood and Ellen “Nellie” Horan Flood. His father was in the insurance business and his mother was a homemaker. The family soon moved to Queens where young Matt grew up with his brother William, who would also answer the call to join the priesthood and eventually come to serve and reside at their boyhood parish, Blessed Sacrament in Jackson Heights, Queens. Matthew Flood attended his parish grammar school and then went on to Xavier High School from which he graduated in 1946.

He entered the Society of Jesus shortly after high school graduation on August 14, 1946 at St. Andrew-on-Hudson in Hyde Park, New York. He remained there through 1950, leaving to continue the philosophate portion of his Jesuit formation at Woodstock College in Maryland and at Bellarmine College in Plattsburgh, New York. As a scholastic, Mr. Flood, SJ arrived in New York City in 1953 to teach German and to moderate the Xavier Band and Bugle Corps down on West 16th Street. He remained at his alma mater for three years before returning to Maryland to study theology.

Fr. Matthew Flood was ordained at Fordham University on June 17, 1961 by Bishop Joseph Pernicone. After ordination, he spent a year completing his studies at the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, New York.

In 1962, Fr. Flood began his long tenure at Fordham Prep. During his nearly fifty years at Hughes and Shea Halls, he taught German, Spanish, Latin and religion, serving as chair of the Modern Language Department more than once along the way. Among a faculty full of larger-than-life personalities, Father stood out as straightforward in his instruction, but profoundly kind and dedicated. It was this dedication that drove Fr. Flood to constantly hone his own linguistic and pedagogical skills that he might better serve the students whom God and their parents had placed in his care. To this end, he spent many summers living and working at the Kirche St. Otto in Nuremburg, Germany, immersed in the German language and culture. He also spent time in Spain, and well into his forties, decided to undertake further studies in Spanish — not only for the sake of his classes, but also that he might be better able to minister on weekends to the increasing numbers of Hispanic immigrants in the local Bronx churches. He completed a master’s degree in Spanish at Fordham University in 1987. 

Besides sharing his love of language with the Fordham Prep community, Fr. Flood was also generous with his other great passion: music. He was an accomplished vocalist, performing for many years at Carnegie Hall with the renowned St. Cecelia Chorus, lending his voice to other parish choirs and professional choruses, and last but not least, performing with a barbershop quartet that also featured Prep counselor Fr. Robert Groenewold, fellow Hall of Honor inductee, Fr. Edward Maloney, and former Brooklyn Prep president, Fr. Jack Alexander. For many years he moderated the Prep Band and the Prep Orchestra, and in these capacities, served as chairman of the Fine Arts Department in the late 1960s. In both Collins Auditorium and later in the Leonard Theatre, he worked with the Dramatic Society alongside fellow Hall of Honor inductee Fr. John Leonard — especially on the musicals. In the words of alumnus Thomas Ehbrecht, Class of 1988, “Theater was a big part of my experience at Fordham Prep and I knew Fr. Flood through his role as the music director for the annual musicals. I remember his gentleness of spirit, his humility and, certainly, his patience. These are qualities which teenage boys may not fully appreciate, but they had a profound impact on many of us.”

Beyond the gates of Rose Hill, Father dedicated himself to several ministries. Besides his pastoral work in Europe, he also spent some time serving the faithful alongside his brother Jesuits in Nicaragua. Closer to home, he was a Sunday associate for many years at St. Brendan’s Parish on Perry Avenue in the Bronx, and regularly celebrated early morning weekday masses, in either English or Spanish, at several parishes in the Castle Hill section. In the words one of Father’s parishioners, Jim Salerno, Class of 1983, “I had the pleasure of knowing him through both his vocation to teaching as well as through his ministry of the Eucharist. We exchanged Christmas cards for 30 years after my graduation, and it was my honor to keep in touch with him.”

Father moved from the Modern Language Department to the Prep Library in 1999, assuming the duties of assistant librarian. As the boys from the twentieth century had, the boys from the early 2000s also had the opportunity to appreciate Father for his tranquil holiness and for the extraordinary dignity with which he received them in the Bibliothek McNamara. Among those boys of the new millennium was none other than Fr. Matthew’s own cousin, Patrick Flood, Class of 2007.

In addition to working in the Library, Father also spent his last years at the Prep as an assistant chaplain to the alumni. His chaplaincy was never about generic hellos or simple handshakes and smiles. For Fr. Flood, it was a chance to look back over a half-century of his boys, and to welcome them home warmly. He retired in 2010.

Rev. Matthew Flood, SJ passed away on March 7, 2014 — an angelic choir, someone remarked at his wake, must have needed direction.

Years before, Father had been asked if teaching at the same school for all those years had ever become tedious. “What makes it worthwhile,” he replied, “is to see people develop. To see students become competent in German and Spanish, to see and hear them sing and dance and play and act in a musical — and most of all, to see many begin to get a handle on what it means to be brothers of Jesus Christ: these are the rewards."