Formed at Brother Rice, Guided for Life

Dr. Chris Brede ’00 Reflects on the Lasting Impact of a Brother Rice Education at the 2025 Baccalaureate Mass

We were honored to welcome Dr. Chris Brede ’00 as our speaker at this year’s Baccalaureate Mass, where he delivered a heartfelt message to the graduating Class of 2025 and their families.

He is a highly respected physician, a man of faith, and a devoted husband and father. His journey from the halls of Brother Rice to a life of service in the medical field is a testament to the values instilled here: faith, integrity, and purpose.

Dr. Brede earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Duke University in 2004 and his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Michigan in 2009. He completed his urology residency at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 2015 and has since been serving with distinction at Corewell Health in Grand Rapids as Chief of Urology.

He married his wife Erin in 2014, and together they are raising five wonderful children: Mary (10), James (8), John (6), Regina (4), and Thomas (2).

As an alumnus, Dr. Brede experienced firsthand the rich tradition of excellence at Brother Rice and the distinctive faith formation that defines an Edmund Rice Christian Brothers education — a foundation that continues to guide and ground a man long after his days at 7101 Lahser Road.

Dr. Brede shared the following message, rooted in experience, perspective, and the enduring spirit of Blessed Edmund Rice: 

I was shocked a couple of months ago to receive a phone call from Dan McGrath. This was a guy who I looked up to as an eighth-grader at my first Brother Rice experience at summer basketball camp. This is the guy who trained corner three against Catholic Central while I watched from the stands in amazement. And now he’s calling me to come back to Brother Rice? What an honor!

During this time of transition, it is exciting to look to the future and what it holds, where you will go, and what you will do. Take comfort that your time and experiences at Brother Rice have prepared you well and will resurface constantly, often at unexpected times.

I am now amazingly 25 years out from my time at Brother Rice. I know I don’t look it. But even after 25 years, the most important lessons I learned at Brother Rice, I’m reminded of every week. At Sunday Mass at my home parish, St. Thomas the Apostle in Grand Rapids, our pastor, Father Jim, opens prayer by asking parishioners to quiet their minds and say the name of Jesus in their hearts.

Brother Rice will pop into memory or conversation in unexpected situations, accompanied by a flood of emotions with it. It’s a random conversation with a college teammate from California, where laughter erupts as you both share your experiences of getting a book thrown at you after falling asleep in first period. It’s when your kid throws a spoonful of soup on the ground at a restaurant, and you are transported back to that last food fight on chili day in the cafeteria, or the honor of having the opportunity to write a message for your younger sister-in-law’s Kairos retreat, fifteen years after your own.

You will continually be reminded of how special this time was.

Recently, my kids asked me what I thought was the best cheer I had ever seen during an athletic event, and I told them, hands-down, with a tear in my eye, that it was the primal scream and mosh pit accompanying the Brother Rice chant at the start of every swim meet. 

Life is not always this easy. 

It’s not all fuzzy feelings. Life gets hard. You will be challenged to your core. Challenged in your belief system. Mine certainly has been. At various points in college, when the only morning to sleep in from swim practice was Sunday, and none of my close friends attended Mass, or in medical school, when I was subjected to some hard science that was quite unpopular to question. Or even now, raising five children with my wife. We always try to remember the goal is not “making the soccer team” or “getting into that school,” but rather, getting them into heaven. 

Be who God intended you to be.

All of these ongoing lessons keep pointing me to one thing: be who you are.Continue the hard work. Seek the real goals. Surround yourselves with those who will make you a better person. Call your parents. Not just for money. Have an attitude of gratitude. Embrace the opportunity to be moved to tears.

You’ve got the foundation.

Thanks to your families and this family of Brother Rice faculty and staff. May you continue to grow. As St. Catherine of Sienna said, “Be who God created you to be, and you will set the world on fire.”

Now it’s your time to move on.

I think you will find it becomes a privilege to be able to tell people with confidence, with humility, and with pride: I went to Brother Rice.

I will close with what probably seems very ordinary for you at Brother Rice. But the ordinary can be extraordinary. What is timeless is God’s love for us. So, as Blessed Edmund Rice taught, we strive to…

Live, Jesus, in our hearts. Forever!