I entered after my first year there at Boston
College. An interesting thing happened to me that year at Boston
College. I had picked up the trumpet during my second or third
year in high school and played in the band. So I did the same
thing at BC along with John Kerdiejus, whom I didn't know that
well, and John Caskin and Bob Regan, whom I did.
We were a famous class, and I'll never forget what happened in
the BC cafeteria after our last exam of the year. I said to John
Kerdiejus, "I don't know if I'm going to ever see you again.
I'm entering the Society of Jesus." And he said, "Is
that right? Holy Smokes!" So, I entered on August 14, 1947.
A couple of days later, the names of those entering in the next
group in September were put up on the board. Lo and behold, John
Kerdiejus' name was on that list! I said, "You son of a gun!"
He later explained, "I really didn't know. You kind of gave
me a kick in the pants, and I decided to enter, too."
We taught English at Notre Dame de Jamhour, which
was a beautiful new building, only two years old. And I had a
wonderful view over the city. I could have stayed there the rest
of my life-it was just gorgeous: the blue Mediterranean to the
west and the snow-capped mountains to the east. I couldn't ask
for better. And the Lebanese were wonderful. So from 1954 to 1957
I had a great time.
I also had permission and opportunity to go Germany each summer
to study modern European history. I also wanted to improve my
German. I had started studying German under a very good teacher
at Boston College named Mr. Cahill. Why not? I already had French
up to my ears! Later on, XXXI was joined by Ray Bertrand, and
we had two wonderful years together.
I asked the provincial, Bob Manning, if I could
go to the Diocese of Manchester so I could be closer to my Mom.
And he said yes. I liked Odore Gendron of Manchester.
I made a number of retreats at St. Anselm's while Bishop Gerry
was the abbot. XXX I went to see him, and we talked about spirituality.
He later became my boss again at St. Pius Parish in Portland.
But before I got to St. Pius, I was assigned to St. John the Baptist
in Suncook, which is a little northern suburb between Manchester
and Concord. Once again, I was at a francophone parish, where
I preached in French at the eight o'clock Mass. All the other
Masses there were in English. Also, at that time, I worked at
Bishop Brady High School as a freshman counselor.
Those eight years in St. Pius X were very good
for me. I had a town meeting my first summer there, and people
were quite angry about the change, especially one person. He apparently
thought that I didn't know anything about the church finances.
He and a number of others claimed that the church had a lot of
money in various places. I said that we'd look into it, and we
did. Then, after a while, I was able to build up a wonderful parish
council with some truly dedicated, able, and efficient people.
They took care of a lot of the affairs when I started a stewardship
program.
It was while I was working at Connolly
High School in Fall River that I found that a French horn professor
lived near the high school, so I thought this was a sign from
God to start the horn. I was able to play with the Fall River
Symphony and planted the seed for a music program at the school,
which, unfortunately never reached fruition...
Portland offered me more opportunities to play. I joined the Italian
Heritage Band, organized a quintet, which played at different
parish functions. We even played in downtown Portland and received
a stipend. I also played with a horn quartet every Monday morning
for a couple of years. These and the band concerts were an exciting
and life-giving tonic in my life. Sadly, I did not play at all
during my 2004-2005 sabbatical. However, the experience of trying
to play this wonderful instrument was a great time in my life.
