June 29th 2010

This photo of me was taken at Maryknoll, New York last year when I celebrated my 50th Anniversary in Maryknoll as a Maryknoll Missionary Brother.

It was on this day that I took my first Oath to the Society of Maryknoll in 1959.
at our Maryknoll Brothers Novitiate in Brookline, Massachusetts.
There were 38 of us that entered the Novitiate in September 29th, 1957. Now 53 years ago.

My parents had driven me up in the car from our home on Walnut Street in North Quincy. My brother and sisters were with me on that day.
Father Thomas Nolan was the superior at the time. Others in residence were
Fathers Reardon and Hannon. Also in residence in the house was Bishop Raymond Lane.

The novitiate was a time of reflection and preparation for life as a Maryknoll Brother and missionary life.

The property of the Maryknoll Brothers Novitiate and the building was the Sears Estate. The family had hoped to join the Bostonian Society from Chicago but it didn't materialize for them Probably the Boston Society was too snobbish for them.

Today is Wednesday, June 30th. I had to stop my writing yesterday because we had a small celebration here at the Maryknoll Mission Center in honor of Maryknoll's Foundation Day on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

We celebrated our 99th year of existence because we were founded by Bishop Walsh and Father Price in 1911. They attended an Eucharistic Congress and was founded by these two men and with the approval of the Pope.

Next year we will be celebrating 100 years.

We also had Mass in the Society Chapel here in Maryknoll in Cochabamba. Fr. Gene Toland was the celebrant and Ray Finch read a paper from our Founder James Anthony Walsh which was a good reflection as we look forward to the future of Maryknoll.

Present for the Mass was Dae Kim a young seminarian who is here for overseas experience in Mission. Larry Kenning, one of our older Brothers and he has been in Bolivia for many years. He is a farmer from Minnesota. Gene Toland is from my hometown of Quincy, Massachusetts. Actually Wollaston. He also served on the General Council many years ago. Also present was Ray Finch, the former Superior General of the Society of Marykn oll Fathers and Brothers. He is now Director of the Maryknoll Mission Center here in Cochabamba and also coordinator of the Cochabamba Pastoral Group here at the Center. Plus myself.

After Mass which ended at around 12:35 p.m. We had a nice lunch and it was pork chops and using the recipe of my sister Maureen Thayer in North Attleboro. The pork chops were baked in the oven and they were not dry.

We usually have as a diet here, chicken and hamburger and special occasions we have steak. We try to keep a healthy diet since we are old timers and we have to watch our diets. So we have plenty of vegetables and fruit for our meals.

The celebration of our Foundation Day went very well. And probably next Sunday which is July 4th, the Independence Day of the United States we will have a cook out. But it is not certain yet.

Well getting back to Brookline, I was there for almost two years, actually 21 months before going to Maryknoll, New York. You can see the seminary building behind me in the photo above.

I lived on the 4th floor with other Brothers at that time. It was the Brothers Wing. The Brothers house which was the former first seminary for the Society was torn down. It was not a very safe plae and actually a fire trap becuase the house could of went up in flames like a box of matches. Fortunately nothing like this ever happened even though we had some of the older Brothers living in that house.

At Maryknoll, New York we had Father Robert Sheridan as the Suprior. He had done missionary work in the Philippines. He was very conservative and trditional. He was training us to become "monks" actually. He loved to talk about the visitors that came to the Center. We also had to come to him for permissions as well after Evening Prayer.

During this time we had a large number of young men who had served in the Military Service. They were mature men with a lot of experiences. So eventually in time, Father Sheridan was isolatd and not respected by the Brothers. Times were changing.

He went back to the Philippines but it didn't work out as planned. So he return to Maryknoll, New York and became Guest Master of the Seminary.

The Brothers started to take on more responsibilities and we were advancing a lot faster and the Brothers were in Charge.

In 1961, I went to California to work in the Japanese parish in Los Angeles, California, which was for a few years with Father Michael McKillop and Clement baseplug and then I was transferred to our Maryknoll Junior Seminary in Mountain View, California with Fathrs John Linehan, John Teat and others.

It was a Junior seminary for our high school students who were interested in the missionary priesthood of Maryknoll. The young men had just come out of elementary school. The Japanese parish was a positive experience with a lot of youth, scouts etc and I had the opportunity to be driving a school bus through the the streets of Los Angeles which was quite an experience. I still keep in contact with the Japanese people today.

More to come..