The Society of Mary, which has educated thousands of Hawaii residents since its first band of eight men arrived in Honolulu in 1883, will celebrate its 125th anniversary tonight with festivities at Chaminade University.

Hawaii Catholic Bishop Larry Silva will preside at a 5 p.m. Mass at Mamiya Theatre. Several hundred people are expected to join the 26 Marianists still assigned at the only Catholic college in Hawaii and at Saint Louis School and St. Anthony Parish in Wailuku.

Words of praise are bound to flow about the Marianist model of education, which aims to develop the character of students in tandem with fostering academic achievement. They'll be talking the talk.

On any given day at the Catholic campus, students are accustomed to walking the walk. Besides the textbook-reading, paper-writing, concept-grasping hoops of academic life, a student is likely to be found at a center for immigrants helping people overcome language difficulties and prepare for the test to become naturalized citizens.

A student might put in hours with high school students and their families to prepare financial aid applications, the only chance some will have of getting into a college.

There are many occasions where student becomes teacher, tutoring elementary, middle and high school students in public schools.

Hours are spent at homeless shelters, helping the employed poor negotiate the maze of tax forms to apply for an earned income tax credit that might be enough to make a rent deposit on their own place.

“;We hope, through service learning, our students will develop a habit of serving so when they leave school, they will go into their communities and serve,”; said Brother Thomas Spring, one of about a dozen Hawaii-born members of the order.

“;One of the things I like about Marianists is that we have as our primary example a woman, Mary the mother of Jesus,”; Spring said. “;Psychologically, it brings out our feminine side that makes us more gentle with kids, more nurturing with people. We call it family spirit, and everyone is part of the family.”;

Spring, 75, retired as coordinator of the Service Learning Program, but he's still a volunteer, driving a van to deliver students to tutoring appointments. He still does one-on-one tutoring in mathematics in the college Academic Achievement Program, which, he said, would be called probation in a less nurturing educational environment.

He was one of the innovators of the service program. “;I sent my students to Aliiolani (Elementary School) to tutor little kids in math. They would come back to me with confidence in their mathematical ability just sky high. And my students and I could converse as teaching peers and trade ideas on how to teach math. It was wonderful.”;

Much of Spring's 55-year career has been as a math and physics teacher in California and Hawaii. His education included graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis, and study for a mathematics doctorate at Yeshiva University in New York City. There was a stint as director of admissions at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif., and in the development office at the Marianist California headquarters.

Then there was his musical sideline, developed while he lived in New York, where he sang with the Young Men's Hebrew Association and with the Collegiate Chorale in concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center. It led to an invitation to be music director of a San Jose parish for several years.

Spring has never collected a paycheck. That's what the vow of poverty is all about. Down through the years, the paychecks were made out to the Marianists.

Marianists and members of other Catholic religious orders take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, making a lifelong commitment that sets them free to develop spiritually.

If that raises a specter of a hooded monk, all solemn and pious, think again. “;Brother Tom”; strolls the campus in jeans, aloha shirt and slippers. “;Lighthearted”; is the word that comes to mind, encompassing all the good ways to view light in a life.

Ask him, How do you explain obedience in a world where the emphasis is on freedom?

“;It means a commitment to the corporate goals of the order and accepting whatever decision comes down, which may not always be what you hoped for.”; He first encountered that as the 15-year-old who “;wanted to be a working brother,”; he said. “;One brother I admired here was a carpenter; another was a printer. The head monk said, 'We need teachers. You will be a teacher.' I was too shy to argue.”;

The vow of chastity? People today really don't get that, do they?

“;A wag says it means not loving one, but loving all,”; Spring said with a twinkle in his eye. “;It is a vow of love to all God's creation, so no exclusive relationships. And, of course, no sex.”;

The days of recruiting a 15-year-old are long past. A person wanting to join the Marianists must have “;manifested some maturity, living independently, has had a job and some education, not necessarily a finished college degree. He can take care of himself, has handled money and probably had a significant relationship with a person of the opposite sex.”;

“;We want somebody who would act out of faith, letting the principles of faith be their guide to some degree, not someone guided by consumerism or worldly things like that.”;