Teaching in Jamaica

It was delightful to teach first form at St. George's College in Kingston. That's why, when the bishop asked for somebody to go back after ordination, I volunteered. I said, "I'll go back for a couple of years." And I did and I enjoyed it. I helped out at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Montego Bay.

Joking Was His Saving Grace

Giving nicknames was part of my safety mechanism where I'd always joke about everything. I've never taken anything seriously or with a straight face. In the jail that was my saving grace. Every day the officers and I would engage in buffoonery in order to take the pressure off us.

Prison Chaplaincy

The sheriff offered me a lifetime contract with the jail, provided I wanted the job and my health permitted it. I worked there, but at the 30 year point, a superior said, "You've been there a long time. How come you never asked for a change of assignments?" I said, "Well, no one's ever asked me to change assignments!" Then he asked me, "Did you ever think of moving?" "No," I said.

Looking Back

At my 50th in 1999 I went over to New Orleans at the insistence of my stepbrother. I said, "Yes, I would do it all over again. But I would cut off my years working the jail at about twenty, twenty five years instead of thirty one and a half. People ask me why I keep the thirty one and a half. Because for ten and a half years I was the only Catholic chaplain in the place. That's why."

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.