And I had some very good teachers. BC High was a good experience
for me. I was never in what we called the "the brain room."
I was a good student, but never in any way outstanding. Fr. J.
J. Ryan taught us Latin in my senior year. He was probably the
one Jesuit who took any personal interest in me. I'm not saying
the others didn't take a personal interest in us, broadly speaking,
but he was special. They were all good teachers. I did what I
was supposed to do, but J. J. was very good to me. He helped me
in clarifying what I might do after BC High.
l
When I went back after ordination, we had that beautiful new chapel.
And it was great to be able to preside at the Eucharist in that
chapel, especially because of all the changes in the liturgy that
came out of Vatican II. Though we were not involved in making
the changes, we embraced them wholeheartedly. They were really
great. And this was connected with my helping out in local parishes
on weekends.
I went to Cheverus as rector and
taught a couple of math courses. Then, after four years, Bill
Russell, the Jesuit president of Cheverus, resigned. So we set
up a search committee, and the members of the committee thought
I could do the job, because I had been headmaster at Cranwell.
Also they seemed to think that it was an easy enough job to be
president of Cheverus! So I became president along with being
the rector of the Jesuit community. I was also teaching a course
in theology. I was rector from 1976 to 1982 and president from
1980 to 1983.
While I was on retreat at a monastery, I was chatting with an
abbott from another abbey. When he asked me how my retreat was
going, I said, "It's OK, but my prayer is not as good as
it should be." Then he said something to me that has stuck
with me over the years and which I've used on retreats. He said,
"How would you know?" I, like thousands of others, think
they can determine just how things should be. So I've learned
to use the word "should" as little as possible. I use
little phrases like, "Thou shalt not should on thyself,"
and "Thou shalt not should on others." "Thou shalt
not let others should on thee." I think the "shoulds"
in our lives can get us into a real mess.
Due to death or sickness some
of these selected readings have been read by someone other than
the author. This page contains one such replacement.
