I had never seen so many pretty girls in the same place at the same time. When all of the “would-be” nun candidates filed into their seats, I was stunned. There was an iron bar to my left used for defining sections, with chain-link fencing stretched to the top. I sat in the last seat of the fourth row, all the way towards the other reserved section. It was situated next to another section reserved for what we soon found out to be occupied by “would-be” nuns! I remember thinking: Bad idea!! Here’s a bunch of 14-year-old boys and girls who are still in puberty - what could go wrong? As sure as God made little green apples, calamity struck! There was a separate section of the stadium reserved for all of us “would-be” priests. Having been raised so close to and in the service of the church, I felt a strong bond with Jesus, so much so that I enrolled in a Franciscan seminary for the fall of 1962 after Mom and Dad gave me a chance to visit a seminary with my pastor and associate pastor during the summer of 1962, to see if I was cut out to be a priest. The 1960s were upon us and, for me, things would become much more hectic.Īn important constant during my first 14 years of life was the presence of the Lord. They allowed us the freedom and independence to form our own opinions.
Our parents taught us the Golden Rule, the values of hard work, honesty and integrity, being respectful to everyone, and being trustworthy. Mom and Dad together would walk us to church on Sundays, as we only lived a block away. We had a wonderful Catholic grade school education and attended church daily. Mom and Dad weren’t overly devout, but they believed in a firm religious structure to our lives.
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