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St. Joe’s organizes special prayer service for Brandon

BY Laurie Watt, Staff October 20, 2008 16:10

Staff and students at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School are praying for missing teen Brandon Crisp every morning.

Brandon, 15, left home Thanksgiving Monday on his yellow bike, with just a few basics in backpack, after having been grounded from Call of Duty – a military simulation game he played day and night with others from around the world.

He was suspected to be heading into Oro-Medonte, where two of his teammates live – one on Line 7, the other on Line 10.

“The chaplain has special prayers planned for the whole week, and on Wednesday or Thursday, we’ll have a special prayer service,” said St. Joseph’s principal Matt McCann.

“Counsellors have been busy today (Monday). We have a school social worker and guidance people (helping).”

The special prayer service is still in the planning stages and could include music and reflections from other students; it would last 15 to 20 minutes.

“He is a fairly quiet guy, a good student, very pleasant,” McCann said of the Grade 10 student. “His hobby was computers. There were no attendance problems whatsoever.”

McCann and his staff are working with parents Steve and Angelika Crisp, who also have two daughters at St. Joe’s; the eldest is Natasha, 17, and Brandon’s twin sister, Samantha.

The girls are not attending school this week – a move McCann supports.

“We’re in to the second week of this. We’ve been respectful of the family; they wanted us to keep a low profile out of respect for his siblings,” said McCann, adding the girls won’t face any adverse academic consequences. In fact, the school is doing what it can to support them.

“The pressure of being out in public is hard for teenagers when it’s this close to home. The parents can keep them very engaged (in the search).”

Natasha is staying in touch via e-mail and texts, and was talking to police Monday afternoon.
Police also have investigators working at St. Joe’s; they ventured in Friday and continued work Monday.

“We’re talking about everything from e-mail to conversations in the hallway to rumours (with police) – to get it all out there and then the police can decipher that,” said McCann, adding, “I’m pretty proud of the kids.”

The Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board is also supporting the work to find Brandon, as well as offer prayers for him, his family and his school community, said Public Affairs Director Diane Legg.

“At the board, we’re extremely concerned. It is very disconcerting and we are hoping he will be reunited with his family,” she said. “We’re hoping to get information out to all our school communities. Time is critical in helping.”

The board is posting the information on its website, as well as calling on people to pray for Brandon.

“We’re encouraging everybody to keep the family, the students and the school in their prayers. Brandon’s a good kid. We’re really hoping for the best.”

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