Schools

For One Family, Teaching in the Diocese Has Been a Legacy

February 2, 2024
By
Paul Morisi, in his office at Bay Ridge Catholic Academy, not only works at a Catholic school, he is a product of Catholic schools. He attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help School and Cathedral Preparatory School and Seminary. (Photo: Paula Katinas)

BAY RIDGE — Paul Morisi’s family tree has a number of branches connected to the Diocese of Brooklyn.

When Morisi, the principal of Bay Ridge Catholic Academy, stands in front of a classroom full of students, he is carrying on a family legacy that dates back more than 50 years. His family gene pool is filled with Catholic educators. 

Not only is Morisi a school principal, but his grandmother, mother, and sister were teachers in the diocese. “I’ve always felt called to be a teacher. Coming from a family of teachers makes it easier to see yourself doing it,” Morisi said. 

Even his wife Alison taught for a time at St. Saviour Catholic Academy in Park Slope. She is currently the director of religious education at St. Gregory the Great Church in Bellerose. 

The Morisi family’s legacy in the diocese began with Paul’s maternal grandmother, Marie Pinto, who taught typing and business classes at St. Edmund Preparatory High School in Sheepshead Bay in the 1970s and 1980s. “She was really dedicated to her job. She taught until she passed away in 1989,” Paul said.

Paul recalled how delighted he was when he conducted a religious retreat at St. Edmund Prep a couple of years ago and was approached by several people who still remembered his grandmother.

The legacy Pinto started was carried on by her daughter, Debbie Morisi (Paul’s mom), who taught at several schools over the years, including St. Agatha School in Sunset Park, Holy Ghost School in Borough Park, and Our Lady of Grace School in Gravesend. 

She spent the bulk of her career — 19 years — teaching pre-K at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) School in South Ozone Park. 

The Morisi family also lived in South Ozone Park and attended church at OLPH. Paul and his sister Stefanie attended OLPH Catholic School as children, although neither sibling had their mother as a teacher.

Marie Pinto, shown in a St. Edmund Preparatory High School yearbook from the 1980s, dedicated herself to Catholic education partly as a way of making up for lost time, her family said. “When she was a child, she wanted to go to Catholic school. But she couldn’t because her parents couldn’t afford it,” her daughter Debbie Morisi said. (Photos: Courtesy of Morisi Family)

Debbie retired from teaching in 2014 and now lives in Pennsylvania with her husband Steven. He, by the way, also has a background as a teacher, albeit in the public school system. He taught at a school in Carroll Gardens for a few years before switching careers and becoming an insurance actuary.

Paul followed the path laid out by his grandmother and mother. He taught at Sacred Heart Catholic Academy in Glendale and Holy Child Jesus Catholic Academy in Richmond Hill. He left the classroom to serve the diocese as director of youth and young adult ministry from 2010 to 2020.

He returned to Catholic education in 2020, taking a job as the principal in a school in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. In 2023, he arrived at Bay Ridge Catholic Academy.

The teaching bug also hit Paul’s sister Stefanie. She was a teacher of religion and Latin at Holy Child Jesus and OLPH for a couple of years before leaving the profession to become a freelance copy editor. 

But for a short time, Stefanie got to work alongside her mom. Mother and daughter were teaching partners in a pre-K class at OLPH for a few months. It was a thrill for them both.

Stefanie now works in the field of insurance compliance. “I guess you could say I spent the first part of my professional life following in my mother’s footsteps and now I’m following in my father’s,” she said.

Debbie grew up admiring her mother and decided to become a teacher just like her. “She saw it as a way of helping children find the right path in life. I wanted to do that too,” she recalled.

While Debbie didn’t push Paul and Stefanie to go into the profession, she realizes looking back that she probably encouraged them without saying. 

“We all went to school together at OLPH because I taught there and my kids were students there. I remember we would get to school early and they would sit in my classroom until the school day began and they had to go to their classrooms,” she said.

“They spent a lot of time in my classroom. It must have sparked something in them,” Debbie added.

Stefanie recalled always having an interest in teaching. “I played teacher as a child, I had a chalkboard and my stuffed animals were my students,” she said.

Years later, when they entered the profession, Paul and Stefanie often sought their mother’s advice. And she always enjoyed giving it. “They would ask me things like, ‘Has this ever happened to you on the job?’ Or, ‘Has this ever come up in your classroom?’ I usually found that yes, it had,” Debbie recalled.

Those conversations brought her closer to her children, she said. “You’re a mentor to your children because you are a mother, but I got the chance to be a mentor to them professionally,” she explained.

Debbie, Paul, and Stefanie also had something else in common during their careers — all three served as coordinators in their schools for the Aquinas Club, an enrichment program for students boasting an average of 95% or higher.

Debbie, who coordinated the program at OLPH, was pleased when Paul brought it to Sacred Heart, the first school where he worked. And her pride swelled when Stefanie served as the club’s coordinator at her school, Holy Child Jesus.

The Morisi family has certainly left its mark on hundreds of students over the years. And now Paul continues that work as a principal. “We are part of a faith community and we want to use our gifts the best way we know how,” he said.