I am the product of a Catholic education. I'm proud of that because I believe it instilled in me some genuine , strong values and I have St. William school to thank for giving me direction. That said, I certainly do not look down on those who do not have the spiritual boost that I had growing up, it's just that for me, this was a benefit I enjoy to this day.
Now comfortably ensconced in "the new school", the scholastic equivalent to being called up to the big leagues,we could concern ourselves more with reading,writing and arithmetic and less with malfunctions in the classroom,ear splitting bells and why those urinals didn't automatically flush more often.
Besides the nuns and lay teachers we encountered daily,we also had numerous priests serving St.William parish paying occasional visits to our classroom to remind us of our obligations to our faith as well as provide sort of a spiritual "road map".
The first priest who didn't seem imposing or officious and who didn't deal in fire and brimstone was Father Francis Veto, a young reverend recently appointed to St.William. Father Veto was a down to earth guy who had a sense of humor,charm and wit,someone to whom we could relate. He used to allow us to write down questions anonymously,put them in a box during the week,and he would draw them out and answer them on his usual weekly visits. We all looked forward to Father Veto's drop ins. I learned several years later that Father Veto left the priesthood but that did not diminish his influence in my eyes.
Not every priest had the gifts Father Veto had that would enable us to look forward to his classroom visits.
It was someone's bright idea to ,on occasion,have the priests visit to distribute report cards. This amounted to a frightening day of reckoning because giving out our report cards might be.... Father Chester Ubowski. Father Ubowski was a good priest.When he celebrated mass,you KNEW mass had been celebrated. His sermons invariably started in his regular calm voice but would inevitably work himself into a lather, his voice booming out in righteous indignation. Yup,he had the fire and a more than an ample supply of brimstone . I am sure that on his day off he was a nice guy and even may have laughed once in awhile, (we have no witnesses) but when conducting his priestly duties,he was a force with which to be dealt.
So on report card day,when we had Father Ubowski distributing those progress reports,we were,well, ..petrified. He didn't just put the fear of God in us,he put the fear of getting less than a C+.
Father Ubowski didnt just call your name and give you the card,he would glance at the report and if he saw something he didn't like, and he didn't like much, he wasn't shy about expressing it...sometimes in a voice loud enough to be heard in the classroom next door or the next county .You got your report card with a side order of shout. He was the first priest I ever heard swear.I can still hear it. Whatever he had seen in one of my classmates' card riled him to the point where he declared "It makes me so damned mad!" I think the possibility that Father Ubowski might be delivering the next report card made us determined to do well and thus escape his wrath.
I've already run out of time so the life altering incident and the time I remember getting my first laugh must wait for the next installment. And after discussing the priests of my youth, there are teachers to be remembered as well. Stick with me and feel free to add comments of your own .I would enjoy hearing your own "St.William story."
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