Let me say, right away, I am forever grateful for whatever it was! I am in awe and wonder at what it is to be a Priest, because I am in awe and wonder at what it is to be a human being, and what it is to be called to be a Christian B someone in whom Jesus Christ lives. That is awesome!

There are seven sacraments. I know them off by heart, because I was raised on the Baltimore Catechism, when we had to memorize the answers to an awful number of questions. But I have only just begun to realize why Baptism is number one. It is really the greatest of them all. Baptism makes all of us, men, women and children, sharers in Christ=s Priesthood. All of us are called and enabled to pray and offer sacrifice. It does even more than that. That is why it is awesome. It=s enough to desire Baptism to be in the grace and favor of God.

It is no surprise to me, to find Reconciliation as number two, since I=m always in need of forgiveness and peace, if I dare to think of God wishing to dwell in me. Thank God I=ve been confirmed! At least the Church thought I was needing, and, in some measure, prepared for the Gift of the Holy Spirit.

When it comes to the Eucharist, I reckon I=m in my 58th year of Holy Communion. As a Pastor in a Parish, I have begun to realize that we prepare children for their First Year of Holy Communion, which they will, please God, continue into Heaven.

Matrimony comes before the Sacrament of Holy Orders, for natural and supernatural reasons. I grew up thinking people get married and live >happily ever after.= No so, I know now. That is a very special grace and favor of God, and comes with hard work and hard suffering, if Christ Himself is to be found there. The same is true for the Priesthood.

Holy Orders is the third vocational sacrament, after Baptism and Marriage. Now I understand it a little more. It also contains a unique presence of Christ, of Christ the Servant, and of Christ the King. I grew up thinking it was far beyond me. Priests were awesome.

We always sat in the front pew of St. Mary=s Church, Ardmore, just three miles outside Derry, in Northern Ireland. Even though they had their back to us, I could see, by the frequent and vigorous motion of their arm and hand, making signs of the cross, one after another, that they were working for all they were worth, to make that bread into Jesus. No wonder they needed all those altar servers, who came in with them, two by two, and knelt down.

Monsignor O=Doherty was the Parish Priest there, when I left for Canada in 1957. He was still there in 1967, when I came back to sing my First Mass in Latin at 11:00 am on the Sunday after my ordination in Vancouver. I had asked him to preach, and he did so, in his inimitable way, attributing my vocation to my grandmother! He had a high-pitched voiced, and loved to linger on last syllables, in his broad Northern Irish and Donegal accent.

He recalled meeting my parents, in 1962, on a walk up on Ned=s Top, a nearby mountain. >What=s the news from Canada?= he asked them. They told him of the letter they had received from me, announcing my decision to leave the practice of law and go to the Seminary in Mission, to study to be a Priest. My father was very upset with the news, and could not bring himself to write to me.

In November of that same year, my father was seriously injured in a car accident. Fr. Prior at the Abbey, gave me permission to go >and stay till after Christmas.= He was still recovering in hospital, when I returned in January, but, by then, we had spent many hours together.

He had a way with words, my father did. When he spoke of his long delay in writing to me, to express his misgivings about my decision, he came out with a phrase which remains with me to this day: >The reason I wrote to you, in the way I did, was because I knew, if it was the right thing for you, it was the best thing for you; but if it was the wrong thing for you, it was the worst thing for you.=

I had gone into law largely because of the marvelous stories he would tell at the supper table, of his cases in court and largely because I could not think of anything else to do. I went to Canada to get far away from my father and older brother. I couldn=t stay to be compared with them. >What did they know in Canada, anyway= was my attitude. >I could make my fortune there!=

So I did, but not in the legal profession.

I went to Mass at St. Augustine=s, and became a member of the Crusader=s Club of Ushers. Each Monday night, we would meet to get our team assignment for the following Sunday, and hear a talk from our pastor, Fr. Keighley, O.M.I. My best friend in Canada, to this day, Jack Toovey, was a member. I remember the names of many others, and we are >instant friends= again, whenever we meet. All of that played its part, in my response to an unforgettable moment in the Holy Rosary Cathedral.

I came after a 5:10 p.m. weekday Mass, on a day I now believe was the feast of St. Peter Damian. I remained there, in the pew, as I sometimes did, until everyone else had left. I watched the tall figure of Fr. Paul Foran, tidying up and walking quietly, in his long black cassock, and was suddenly struck by a thought that had never entered my mind before: I could be a Priest. I was overwhelmed by it. I was disturbed and amazed by it. It took hold of me and unsettled me completely. I couldn=t wait to rush out to the Abbey, to see Fr. Prior, who had become my special friend there, whenever I would go out for a visit or to stay for a weekend.

He calmed me down by his very first words: >St. Thomas Aquinas said, you know, that it is a good thing to be a Priest.= That brought it down to earth for me. It was suddenly no longer enveloping me. It was out there. It could be looked at. It could be considered. It was possible. I could happen. And it did, thank God.

Now... can you answer the questions: >What made me become a Priest?=



Back to Testimonies