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I grew up in Kensal, North Dakota, although in my earliest years
I lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When I was four, my mother
suddenly died upon giving birth to my brother Marcy Stephen. I
was then taken to Kensal to be raised by my father’s sister
Anna, and the newborn Marcy was taken to Pittsburgh to be raised
by my mother’s sister Marie. Kensal was my father’s
birthplace. His parents had been immigrant pioneers in the
Dakota Territory, and raised ten children, who all attended the
one-room school across the road from the homestead in Nogosek
Township. Some of the youngest, including my father, had then
gone to high school in Kensal. These uncles and aunts
constitute my family. They mostly lived on small farms, but I
lived with my Aunt Anna in town.
After two years at
Moreau Seminary, I was granted my desire to study in Rome, where
I immersed myself in the study of theology in Latin at Gregorian
University, where about a third of the seminarians were
Americans. Initially, we lived on Via Aldrovandi, from which we
walked to school through the gorgeous Borghese Gardens; but
beginning the second year we opened the new Collegio di Santa
Croce and Generalte on Via Aurelia Antica outside Rome, and rode
to school on our bus. I loved theology and wanted to become a
theologian able to bring Catholic Tradition to the faithful. I
was ordained with my class in Rome on October 28, 1956 by
Archbishop Carinchi, then 94 years old, and three years later I
was sent to obtain a doctorate in biblical theology at the
Institute Catholique in Paris.
After completing my
studies, I taught dogma for one year at Holy Cross College in
Washington, and then was called back to Rome to replace Fr.
Heston as rector of the Collegio di Santa Croce. He has been
assigned as English press officer for Vatican II, which was
about to begin. During the four years of the council we had
daily contact with the proceedings of the council, as well as
visits from the major theologians of the council, which Bishop
Mark McGrath invited one by one to our house of studies. I
became involved in teaching fundamental theology for Sisters
studying at Regina Mundi, and later Fr Bernie Mullahy joined me
on the faculty. I also took on a heavy load of preaching
retreats at seminaries, novitiates, and with the Better World
Movement. In the months following the closing of the Council,
this hyperactivity took a toll, leading to a breakdown in my
emotional health, and I had to be replaced as rector by Fr. Bill
Hogan. I was sent to St. Vincent’s Hospital in St. Louis for
recovery from clinical depression, and then, at my request, went
into parish work to assist Frs. Tom Peyton, Jim Gillis, and Joe
Miller at Sacred Heart Parish in New Orleans. Two years later I
went back to academic work by being assigned to the faculty of
theology at Notre Dame, under Fr. Jim Burtchaell.
With the loyal
assistance of Fr. John Connor, I was pastor at Coachella for 12
years, after which the Diocese of San Bernardino invited me to
be director of diaconate formation, with the task of creating a
new formation program of four years, following new norms from
Rome and a new National directory from the U. S. Bishops.
Rogelio and Virginia Luna assisted me, making possible
simultaneous translation into Spanish via headphones. We see
the key to formation to be the creation of a community of faith
and love, which includes having the wives involved with their
husbands in all aspects of the formation process.
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