Ordination in Leuven, Belgium

I would like to talk about my experience in Europe because there was so much that happened there to me and to many other people. There were several other American Jesuits there-I think it was ten or twelve at the tine and it was a wonderful group-as well as people and Jesuits from all over the world who were there for their studies. So it was a very rich experience all by itself.

But the Rector was very anxious for us to travel, unlike what might have happened here in the United States. They were practically pushing us out the door in the summertime so we would spend at least two months, maybe more, traveling around the country. We did that for three summers, which gave us a tremendous insight into Europe and into many other things. It was a very wonderful experience.

One of the nice parts of it was when my parents came from the United States for my ordination. There were about thirty-five of us who were ordained at the time. It was very impressive, and they thought it was just great. We had the first mass there and all that kind of thing. It was something that was very good for them and very good for me, and very good I think in many ways for others in our families.

I would like to add something connected with my ordination. At the time, the ordaining Bishop was the local assistant bishop, if you will, in Belgium. Over the years, of course, he developed in many ways. He turned out to be Cardinal Suenens who was one of the four major leaders in the Vatican Council II. He did many things not only during the Council, but after the Council. That was also a great experience, which was part of that whole period in which I was able to learn a lot and do a lot when I was in Europe.

Catholic Representative at the National Council of Churches

Another important development in the Catholic Church, if you will, at the time was the Ecumenical Movement, as everyone is aware, I'm sure. When it got started it went very slowly because it was something new and different. Almost by accident I got involved at Fairfield. Through that I helped the Bishop. The Bishop actually appointed me and one other Jesuit to direct the Ecumenical Movement in the diocese so one thing led to another.

At one point I went to a meeting held in Atlantic City of priests who were involved in the new Ecumenical Movement. It was very instructive. It was clear that we were just getting off the ground, just beginning, and that there were a lot of things to learn, a lot of things to do.

Later on, when I got back, I decided maybe we could do something to make it easier for us to learn and to do things in this area since it's all so new. I sat down and sent a letter to the Cardinal in Baltimore and asked him if he would support a meeting to do this. To my surprise he was very enthusiastic about it, got right back to me, and said, 'Now, you don't have to worry about it. I'll get my staff. They will do the whole thing. You just kind of lead them or tell them where they should go," and so on, "and this should work out." We had the first meeting in Baltimore. To my surprise there were loads of Catholic priests there; and to even my greater surprise there were a number of Protestant ministers there who came from all over the country. I didn't know exactly how that happened, but there they were.

That was quite successful and it led to further meetings like that in New York and St. Louis, and all over the country. All together I managed eight of those in getting the bishops and their staffs to create the thing, in a sense, in the physical way. Each one of those was quite successful. It just increased and increased, and more Protestants came. It became, in a way, the main way to discuss the Ecumenical Movement among American priests and also Protestant ministers that I think did a lot to promote the Ecumenical Movement.

Connected with this was the fact that I was asked to join the National Council of Churches as an unofficial Roman Catholic representative. I was there for a few years. That was something I think was very fruitful not only for myself, personally, but for connections between the Catholic Church and the Protestant churches leading to genuine ecumenical development. As I said, I had led this group of meetings for some time. It was the board of directors, if you will, of the National Council of Churches that I finally turned to and said, "Look, I'm just an individual here. This is too big, I think, for me. I'd like to turn it over to you." When I asked them if they would manage it in the future they agreed and that continued. This has gone on ever since although, of course, I'm sure today it takes on a different look and action.

Gratitude for the University of Scranton Press and the Oral History Program

One of the great things that has happened to me in recent years has been the University of Scranton Press. How it happened was: I'd always been interested in writing; I had written a few small books, and people would come to me and ask me for help in doing this kind of thing in their work, the various professors. I helped them as best I could, they were grateful, and one thing led to another.

After a while it became clear to me that actually what I was doing, I was becoming a kind of publisher in that I was helping people to publish. So then I became more specific about it, clear about it, direct about it, and decided I would be a publisher and I would call it the University of Scranton Press. That's how it started. It was small at first, but it got good support certainly from the faculty-the faculty members were very much in favor of it-and the administration was also helpful in many ways. It grew gradually and gradually. Finally it settled down as being a really sound project. When I decided it was time to retire I turned it over to a former director who had done this before. He was only too happy to do this, and he is now running it and doing a very good job.

The other thing is something that has happened here at Campion Center: the Oral History Program that has begun here, something I was asked to do though I had really no background in it. It has started off small, but it has been quite successful with the various members of the community. We are taking the histories down and trying to present them as best we can, and putting them out as small booklets. At this point we are up to close to seventy-five and almost ready to move on to other parts of the province to do certain things along the same line that I think people are already asking us to do.

Both of these things have been so important not only to me, but in many other ways that there's no other explanation for this except for the fact that we're getting guidance from God in doing this and that He is leading us into this kind of future in a way that is beyond my own powers, but is making it succeed on its own.

Spiritual Direction and Divine Providence

Just some thoughts about spiritual life and spiritual direction. The great teachers, like Dick [LaSad] and [DeSales], have said over and over again in a variety of ways that there is what they call a continuation in God's relationship with us. That's a bit of an unusual term, but I think they are trying to say that we sometimes think that God is acting for us and with us and to us in only small ways here and there when He can think of it. But continuation means that He continues to look after us, continues to bring us help, continues to support us, continues to lead us; and we need to surrender ourselves to that, to allow it to happen, so that the things that he is leading us to and with and for can really happen.

I might add that the wording, if you will, of some of these spiritual discussions can change from time to time. So I'd like to suggest a formula or a phrase that sums up, in a modern way, this continuance of God's love for us. We might say something like, "The guidance of the spirit." The guidance of the spirit. I think that speaks for itself.