I was already fairly primed for my vocation to the Jesuits when
I went to BC High. I had been reading Joe McGloin's book, I'll
Die Laughing, and John LaFarge's The Manner is Ordinary. I also
read several other publications about Jesuit saints and martyrs.
One thing that was really attracting me was the desire to be a
missionary in Asia or to do something like that. I was inspired
by the stories of Francis Xavier, John de Brito, and others. Also,
my friend from grammar school, John Cruickshank, had an uncle
who had been a Maryknoll missionary in China and was interned
during World War II. He was active in the area, and I met him
a few times. I also knew something about the Columbans.
After I had been teaching at Weston for a year or so, Bob White,
the rector, asked me how I liked it. I told him I was enjoying
it. Bob was especially happy that I was also involved in archaeology,
which enhanced my knowledge of the subjects I was teaching. But
then I told him that I felt the need for some more pastoral involvement.
A few months later he asked me if I would like to take on directing
the Field Education Program. I agreed to take on the job, and
I did it for three years, which turned out, providentially, to
be a very interesting period for me.
Moving to John Carroll opened me up several very interesting challenges
for the future. It was a career path and a fork in the road. I
regard the change as providential, and I don't have any regrets
about that decision. I began to become quite involved in academic
administration. As Field Education Director, I had been doing
some of that, but being department chair was quite different.
During my six years there, the president was Tom O'Malley (NEN),
who sadly just died a few weeks ago. I found him an extremely
supportive senior administrator. The academic vice president and
the dean were also very helpful. I really enjoyed the challenge
of running what was a very large department in a medium sized
university. We had a master's program, a strong summer institute,
and many other activities. I discovered I liked the work very
much. I also taught, and I continued to do some academic writing.
I got tenure and was promoted to associate professor after about
five years.
I love the Filipino community, and I'm comfortable in the environment.
I work within the context of the Arab church, but I serve the
Arab church by ministering to the huge number of non Arabs who
would otherwise have no priest. The parish is actually a very
large institution. It's a non territorial parish, and I don't
have a church as such. As a parish priest, I have pastoral jurisdiction
for the whole of Amman, which is a city of three million people.
I can perform weddings anywhere in Amman, though I am focused
on the northwest part of the city, where most of the foreign community
lives. I have Masses every weekend in the churches of four different
Arab parishes. Wherever I have a Mass, that's where the parish
is. Of course, when I'm not there, the church belongs to a different
parish. That's the nature of a personal parish.
