A LIFELONG PASTORAL MINISTRY

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The Pastor and My White Gloves

I used to wear my father's wedding gloves, which I ended up losing somehow! We altar boys used to borrow each other's gloves. We had lockers to store our cassocks, but they had no locks on them. Without our gloves, we were not allowed to serve. Well, I tried putting my hands inside the sleeves of the surplice, and I said to myself, "I'll hide them there and he won't see me." This was helped by the fact that at the 11:30 Mass there were three rows of altar boys.

So my hands were hidden, but I was caught. The pastor spied my bare hands. And he motioned to me, "Come over here." So I approached him and he said, " Where are your gloves?" And I said, "I couldn't find them." And he said, "Get off the altar!" I was twelve or thirteen at the time. There I was at the big 11:30 Mass in front of all those people! I was embarrassed and humiliated. I went off the altar, went down to the locker room, and took my surplice off. I said out loud, "I hate him! I hate him!" But all of a sudden Fr. George Roche, who was in charge of the altar boys, happened to come by and heard me. He said, "Jackie, what happened?" So I told him. Then he came over and did the most beautiful thing ever, he hugged me! That really meant something to me.

A 90 Percent Average

So, that's where my thoughts were filled with the seeds of a vocation. When I was young, I was influenced by the diocesan priests and later by the Jesuit regents at BC High. The home room teacher, however, thank God, helped me a lot. I was thinking about the priesthood, but I wasn't focused on the Jesuits. Finally, I said to myself, "I don't know; I'm going to talk to someone about joining the Jesuits."

So I decided to ask someone about it. I won't tell you his name because he's dead now. He asked me, "What's your school average?" "Well," I says, "I'm not good in math. My overall average is 85." And he said, "That's not enough. You've got to have a 90 percent average for all your marks." So I said, "Well, I'm not good at math. I'm lucky if I get 60 for anything beyond algebra."

But that didn't stop me! If I want something, I'll fight for it despite any obstacles. If they point out my limitations, I'll accept that. But I won't give up. And I didn't. So I went to my home room teacher, Fr. Blatchford, and asked him, "Father, I'd like to become a Jesuit, but here's the bad news a scholastic gave me." So he said, "Forget him! What he told you is stupid. You want to become one of us, you just apply. An 85 percent average is just fine."

European Tragedy

Weekends at South Dartmouth were quiet, so naturally I looked for a place to help out with Masses. St. Anthony's once had a sign on our bulletin board asking for a priest to help out. So I went there and I just liked it. They also had a missionary priest there, but he was dying. So I asked, "If he dies, you'll be looking for someone. Would you be interested in me?" And they said, "We'd be glad to have you." . . . Then Arthur McCarthy, a colleague at South Dartmouth who was great to work with, said, "Jack, now that we have to leave, I'm going to Europe, and I'd like to have you come along with me." I said, "That sound's great. I'd love to come, but if I don't take this job at St. Anthony's now, somebody else will. I don't want to lose this job, because I have a feeling that I will like parish work. Besides, I'm Italian, and they're all mostly Italians there, and I seem to be driven toward it." He understood and went to Europe alone. But, tragically, he died all alone on a train over there!

Supporting My Pastor Against an Attack

And then a new pastor came. And I've been with him for about six years. He had to withdraw for eight months, because of some allegation against him. The very day it happened, I said, "I've been with you for two-and-a-half years. You're innocent. I just know you are. You're not the type! I'm older than you are, and something in me tells me that you're innocent." He says, "Thank you, Jack, I am innocent." But for several months it was very hard on him.

RR: He was finally completely exonerated, wasn't he?

JM: Finally, yes. He got a civil lawyer from our parish rather than a church lawyer. His lawyer vigorously took on the accusing lawyer. In his argument the pastor's lawyer said,"He picked Father out from a group of people. Why did he pick him? Is he certain he was the one?" And the complainant's lawyer said, "You know, he's now beginning to doubt that he was the one." That kind of doubt was all that was needed. The fellow actually apologized to my pastor. His parishioners were angry and said, "Sue him! Sue him!" But he said, "Enough is enough. I can't go any further with this. I thank God for helping to bring out the truth."

 

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