The atmosphere at Fairfield University rekindled the feeling I had after the overnight trip with the altar boys to the seminary. It made me refocus myself. I now saw the Jesuits as people I could really sign up for and live with. I was just wowed by freshman year. In my second year, I had a course in rhetoric taught by an Irish gentleman. One day in class he mentioned that, statistically, there would be three people out of our class of 60 or so who would enter religious life or the priesthood. Though he said this in the front of the class, I somehow felt that he was talking about me. It became a moment of conviction, a moment of recognition. It seemed to be more than an Irishman talking to me. In my sophomore year, I went to see Fr. William Murphy, alias Moose, the student counselor. I mentioned my interest to him and things just developed from then on. I graduated from Fairfield in June 1956, and a couple of months later, on August 15, I was in the Jesuit novitiate.

I was hired on in the Student Financial Aid Department at the University of Detroit. My background in mathematics made this hire possible. I liked my work; it was fine. It's wonderful to have a full time job giving money to other people. It was a systematic and mathematical job. It made college possible for many students. At the time, we had the resources to provide needy students with transportation, tuition, and book money. In addition, there were loans available if a student wanted to live on campus. In many ways, it was an ideal situation. They have a need, we have the resources, and the combination worked out very well. As a matter of fact, it was a very happy time for me, because, beside the pleasant work, the Jesuit community was very welcoming to an unusual degree. There would be bridge games after supper and poker games sometimes with the scholastics on Saturday nights. There were movies with just about everybody in attendance. It was a very supportive environment.

I do woodcarving. I don't remember exactly when I got into it, but it was probably while I was studying mathematics at Boston College. I had seen an article about it which caught my eye. I just picked it up myself. My first attempts were only wood-butchering. But over the years I developed some skills and assembled the basic tools I needed. Some places, like the University of Detroit and Wheeling, had a common hobby room. It was great. One place even had a superb set-up with an architect's drafting table and excellent light. That helped me meet the challenge of designing projects. I experimented a lot. I liked to do plaques.

I have felt guided and supported by God's providence. I have had situations where I was in danger of something seriously harmful in some way. This was true of my having to look for jobs one after the other and having to try them all. And at the same time, of course, there was always another dimension in my life, namely the Lord's governing direction. As we age and time goes on, you begin to recognize what is truly important, as we were taught as novices by the Spiritual Exercises. We learned the important lesson of indifference. If you don't have a choice, it is nice to be indifferent about things. All the changes that come along need to be seen more and more as expressions of God's providence rather than random events.