I have some very vivid memories, for example, what happened during the Holy Year of 1975. I could have access Pope Paul VI whenever I needed to. He had said to me, "You can come to me anytime; no problem. Just phone my secretary, tell him that you want to talk with me. He'll set it up." So on this occasion, I told the secretary about the message I had gotten from the Italian Protestant layman in charge of the Bible Society of Italy. He had said to me, "Could we team up during the Holy Year and distribute to the pilgrims a portion of the scripture as part of the Holy Year experience?" When I passed this message to the pope, he was receptive, and said to me, "That's a good idea. You may do that. In order to do so, I want you to go and visit the cardinal in charge of the Holy Year events and tell him that you have my permission to have that kind of an event take place. It can be done on the front porch of the Basilica of St. Peter." So I did. That meeting with the pope with its follow-up with the cardinal in charge of the Holy Week was an interesting experience, I'll tell you that!

I was one of the editors of America magazine. One day the telephone rang and a voice said, "This is Cardinal Suenens. I'm calling from Brussels. A friend of yours is sitting by my desk telling me that I should talk to you about something." Cardinal Suenens was one of the four moderators of Vatican II, speaker of the house... He said, "I have accepted invitations to talk to key faculty at important American universities about the council as well as cooperation with Catholics in general. I need an American priest always at my side to steer me in the right direction to the right people and say the right things. I need your help. I speak English but sometimes I may be misreading my audience, and you'll get me back on track." Whew! It meant traveling with him for a solid week. Just then the editor, Fr. Thurston Davis, came in my room, and I asked him about this. He said, "That's very important. Alright. Go ahead!" So I did.