 Good evening, everyone. My name is Jessica Colligan, and I am happy to welcome you on behalf of Fairfield's Alumni Relations Office. Thank you for joining us for the latest in our virtual spirituality series. We are so happy to have Father Jerry Blaschek, our Vice President for Mission and Identity, and Father Michael Duty from the class of 1970, who is our Director of Restorative Mentoring. We do ask that you please keep your microphone muted during the presentation. This is the boy distracting our speakers and our other guests. And now I will turn things over to Father Jerry to pick off the conversation. Thank you, Jessica. Let me just, I'm not going to leave. I'm going to continue. All right. Jessica introduced this conversation as part of a series on spirituality. Jesuit spirituality is not ethereal. It's not abstract. It's flesh and blood. The best way to introduce you to a further reflection or a deepening of your already great familiarity with Jesuit spirituality is by looking at people who live it. And so Janet Canapa and I and Jessica were discussing who should be on this series, who should be able to talk to you about their lives and therefore introduce you to what Jesuit spirituality looks like as it's lived. How could we not invite Father Michael Duty? For many of you who are part of tonight's gathering, to talk about Fairfield is to talk about Michael Duty or to talk about Michael Duty is to talk about Fairfield. To say that Michael is a substantial presence on our campus is no exaggeration. And it is not only because of his size. It is because of the strength of his presence, because of his affability, because of his availability. If it weren't for COVID, Michael would be, I'm sure he'd have about six different student events that he would have lined up to be attending this evening. So I welcome all of you and I welcome my dear friend and my Jesuit confere Michael Duty to share with you different aspects of his long Jesuit life and therein help you understand really from his example what it means to follow God in the path of Ignatius Loyola. There are many spiritual paths. There are many different paths. But the Jesuit path is one that has its own particularities and its own specific qualities. And I think as you listen to Father Michael Duty, I challenge you to ask yourself that question. What is there about this man's approach, about his ministry, about his story that helps me understand better this charism, this special spirituality of the Jesuits that I hope those of you who are alumni and alumni experience during your time at Fairfield. Now, I don't think many of you, there actually may be some. I'm not sure how many of you have as long an experience of Fairfield, except maybe Jim Fitz, if he's watching. Michael, I believe it was back in September of 1965 that you made your way onto this campus. I know that you had turned Georgetown down and that you had decided to come to Fairfield. Could you tell us a little bit about how you got here and what you found when you got here? You know, I had a cousin, second cousin, so forth, when I was a boy in Canada who related to my mother, who was a Jesuit. And we saw once a year at the family picnic in Lake Ontario in Port Hope. And he inspired me and so did my Paris priest inspire me. So, wait, Michael, I'm sorry, are you a Canadian or an American? I moved to Canada when I was five. My mother was from Canada. So, moved back to the States when I was 15. So, and my Paris priest also inspired me in Canada. So, when I came to the States, St. Dominic's High School Night of the Bay for two years after being in boarding school in Canada for two years, I knew applying to schools that I wanted to go to a Jesuit school, you know? And my grandmother lived in the Bronx since she wanted me to go to Fordham. I didn't want to live in the Bronx with my grandmother. Imagine that. So, as much as I loved her. And I looked at BC, but it was too far from home. And I really wanted to go to Georgetown. But for some reason I declined Georgetown's invitation and Fairfield was it. And I mean, it was such a gorgeous campus when I came here, but when I visited, I mean, it was 205 acres at the time and we didn't have the convent yet. And it was just stellar. It was mostly woods. It was, of course, it was only 2,200 students and not very many buildings. So, Fairfield became my choice. It was 72 miles or 72 minutes from oyster bay. I could get back and forth very quickly to bring my laundry. So, which I did on some occasions. But, you know, what really hit me at Fairfield as a kid, the 18 year old kid was the number of Jesuits. There were about 85 Jesuits here at the time. They lived in the top floor of Berkman's. They lived in top floor of McAuliffe. They lived in the top floor, half of the top floor of Gonzaga. There was a Jesuit at every corridor and every residence hall. And they lived in Bellamon Hall. They were like cockroaches. I mean, not really, but there were so many of them. Come on, a better metaphor, please. They were everywhere. They were everywhere. And they were happy. You know, they looked happy. I knew them. I came to know them as happy. My father was a happy man, but I think, but my father was a driven, driven business man in New York. We never saw him. He traveled too much and he didn't seem happy. So, in comparison, the Jesuits seemed remarkably happy, and I was a religious kid, Irish Catholic family, with the Mass every Sunday and yada, yada. It was just after Vatican II when I came to Fairfield. And it was really exploding here on campus with the Jesuits. And the Jesuits had been so much part of it in many ways. Many Jesuits were famous for their part in Vatican II. So, Fairfield was a mecca for anybody interested in the Vatican II. The liturgy was changing. We had hootenanny masses. I don't know if anybody remembers those terms, but the guitars came in and dialogue homilies. And I was, I became a really, really, really religious kid. And I loved the Jesuits. I mean, you could always find a Jesuit to talk to about anything that was on your mind, you know? And Bill McGinnis, who was the president at the time, for some reason became fond of me and I of him, I used to drive him to the airport in his car with license number FU-777. We don't have that car anymore, or that license for some reason. Ray Bertrand, who was my quarter prefect as a freshman, who later became my novice master. Willie Holman, who was Loyola one, walked up and down the hallway with his small baseball bat and threatened to hit you, but never did. And there was just a variety of men in the Jesuits. And, you know, it's funny at the time, I mean, it wasn't unusual for me at Condom Boys boarding school, but it was all men when I came here. And matter of fact, in 1966, the student body voted against going co-ed. I remember that very clearly. Now we don't have any women here, so that you couldn't have women in your rooms until I think my junior year when you could have parietal hours. You could keep your door open eight inches with the telephone book or something, you know? But it was a big deal, so women could finally go into the guy's rooms. The seniors, I think only that year. But so parietal hours. So we had to go to mass twice a week. When I was a freshman or sophomore, we had to turn in your mass card to prove that you've been to mass, otherwise you were threatened with losing your housing, which they wouldn't have done, I don't think really. But it was a real campus, and you know, we all went to mass and it was religious. I remember the campus center opened the, I think the beginning of my sophomore year, maybe the middle of my freshman year, and we used to have mass at midnight on Saturdays in the campus center. And about 30 judgments were show up to come celebrate mass, be packed, be packed in there with students. It was just a wonderful experience. We had guitar music, it was, so I loved it, and I loved the Jesuits. And, you know, the Jesuits were all, some of them were kind of quirky, you know? But you sort of dealt with that, you know? But most of them were just there to help you. They really, really wanted to give themselves to God by giving themselves to students. And that was really true of the Jesuits I knew here. Michael, when did you start thinking yourself that you might want to be a Jesuit? In my freshman year. Your father was a businessman, he had his own business. He must have had his heart set on your continuing his business, right? That you would go on and study business and take over his work? He told me what I was going to do with my life. It was a different age. So, we butted heads, but I knew, I knew from the time I was a sophomore that I wanted to go down this road, you know? My time spent with Bill McGinnis and with Ray Bertrand and with a scholastic named Tony Hecker. They were such important times to be there. They never tried to bring me in. George Gallarelli. Ah, George. What a prince of a man. When I was a freshman and the dining room was in the basement of Loyola Hall. And after dinner, we'd all put our chairs up on the tables and George and brother McElroy would go downstairs after dinner at some point and mop that floor in the cafeteria. Imagine. I mean, it's just, every Jesuit, every priest in the house on the weekends would be going out to a parish in order to bring money into the university. You know, these men really threw themselves into it. And I, you know, they had joy in their work. And they really loved what they were doing there. I said, you know what? I want to do this. They're way happy with my father. And I told my parents, and I figured I'd wait till I graduated. I told my parents when I was a junior that this is what I was going to do. My father rather lost his temper because he believed I was taking business courses. There was no business school, but I was taking philosophy courses. I told them, well, they're required, dad. They're required, they're required. Finally, I did this. Adrian Foster. And then I ended up my junior year because of junior. I had some really close friends. Poor Tony Giuliano. He was my roommate junior year. I haven't seen him in years. I wish I'd kept in touch with him. But he, he was- What was his name again, Michael? Anthony Giuliano. He had the- In case you're out there, Anthony. He had the patience of Job because, and I was working this thing through and do I want to do it? Should I do it? Will I know my father? Do I dare to threaten this relationship with my father? I just- So it'd be two hundred more. I'd say, Tony, what do you think Tony? What about- Michael, shut up. I need to get some sleep. But I had a couple of friends. Tom Fix, another one who had to listen to me constantly. Michael Coonhands, another one who listened to me constantly. But it was- So finally I just said, screw it. I'm gonna enter out to junior year and I had a summer plan to be away for the summer anyway. I was working on cruise ships as valiant of the captain. So my parents didn't have access to me. And I finished out my summer and I entered. But I had these great priests. I'm in a retreat with Bill McGinnis. Another weekend retreat with Ray Bertrand. I had, I knew this was right for me. Michael, were there other people, other graduates or other Fairfield students around the time who came into the society around the same time? Well, there were five of us entered my year. Wow. I'm the only one who survived. No, no, there's another. Calvin Goodwin entered my year. He left the judge was but joined a very conservative order of priests. I can't remember which group they are. But he has suffered bad help for the last five or six years with Calvin. And the Bob Arnone, Gary Walensik, Dan Madigan, I think he's a priest in Maine now. So there were five of us, you know. Wow. Michael Jesuit formation is notoriously long. So as you cast an eye over that long stretch of time about 12, 13 years. 10 for me. 10 for you. Okay. You were a fast learner. As you look over those 10 years, what would you identify as the high points of your experience as being formed as a Jesuit? You know, my division was... Shadowbrook, Michael? Shadowbrook, you know. And up in the country of Lenox, Massachusetts, you know, there were 50 of us as novices, you know, from around New England. We had a great novice master, a great socialist. And I enjoyed the life, you know, I learned how to pray. I learned how to look at my life in front of God and understand my, it was gratitude, my creation. I came to understand my weaknesses. But the thing that I really most learned of all, and I try to teach students is that God just takes us wherever we are. God just, wherever we are, that's where God takes us. And that's how I start, that's how I work with students. Wherever they are, that's where I take them. There God loves them exactly where they are. And I, that converted me in a lot of ways as a novice, you know, there was a great growth in me as a novice in that kind of thing. Because there was a lot of lack of acceptance of myself given my stress on my family. So, after the vision, since I had Korean philosophy, I went down to Jamaica West Indies to teach. You went to Jamaica? I went to Jamaica, St. George's College. Did you volunteer, Michael, or were you volunteered? I did volunteer, yeah. I mean, that's, no, I had never taught anything in my life. I had never taken a course in education. The sort of deal I was making with, there was a lot of teach first freshman religion, which would be down there, would be 11 year olds and so forth and so on and freshman English, fine, fine, fine. So I got down there and I kept asking for the books. So we got them, we got them. Finally, a week before school starts, well, you're not teaching younger kids, you're gonna teach the seniors because this guy from England didn't arrive. So they gave me the books for seniors. I was, I didn't know which way to turn. But, you know, you just do what you have to do. You jump in with both feet. And I taught the students pretty soon that I wasn't gonna be messed with. That was a nice guy, but they tried to play it. I'll never forget, Derek, the senior class, they knew I was fresh from the States and the kids know how to deal with new teachers in high school. So I was teaching this class in English and all of a sudden it was going like this. Different noises coming from around the room. Well, you know, what are you gonna do? Oh, you know, you can't, you can't win that situation when you're teaching high school, good, you just can't. And I knew it. So I said, all right, guys, then at the end of class, I said, close the doors. The doors had louvers as in the windows. So Eric could come through. And I said, well, the bell rings, just stay where you are. I said, because I'm told to teach you for 55 minutes and you have prevented that from happening. So once the bell rings, we will have our 55 minutes of class. And every time you interrupt me, I'll add five minutes. Well, I have soccer. I have this, I said, oh, well, you sat in the bench before with soccer. You know, you'll, actually they called it football. So they sat and I taught for my 55 minutes. And I said, so this is gonna be my way just so you know. I said, if it's second period and not the last period, you'll come back out to school and we'll get our work in because that's what I'm expected to do. That's what I was supposed to give to you. I never had another problem with this one. My whole time at St. George's. And I love it. I love teaching. I love high school kids. They were wonderful. What did you love about them, Michael? Apart from learning how to eat curry and jerk chicken and oxtail, what did you carry away that was really valuable for you as you continued in your Jesuit formation and then especially as you moved toward priesthood? Well, you know, I was down there with 13 scholastics, you know. Scholastics are Jesuit seminarians in training. Right, some of us teaching. And we have a Jesuit scholastic teaching at prep right now. Brendan Coffey, whom you, I hope you'll meet if you come back to the series. But there were two guys up at Campion. There were two of us at George's. Some were at the University of West Indies, but over the period of two years, 10 of them left the Society of Jesus. And after I came back to the States, the other two left. So you learn how to deal with disappointment. You learn how to pray and stay praying and put yourself in God's hands, you know. And to find rewards in the work you're doing, you know. I mean, I really believed at the time, I still believe that if God hadn't wanted me to be there, I wouldn't be there. And I took my vows very seriously. Still an Irishman, in case you hadn't picked up on that over the years, Jerry. So I just said, this is the right thing for me to do. You know, I had a great impact on these students. I ran the yearbook for two years and I was so impressed by how these kids gave themselves to this kind of work. But it's part of how they give themselves is how you give them, set yourself to them, you know. And it's really true. And I mean, it's, you go to Mass every day and if you can. And my father by this time had sort of had a mayor culper and he sent money to me from time to time to take a busload of students from Kingston. My kids lived in the ghettos of Kingston, basically. And they had never seen a beach. So he was- He lived in Jamaica and they had never seen the beach. They never seen a beach. Never stepped in salt water. So my father sent money, I had rented a bus from time that I want some on time, rent a bus. And Jack Alley, the others classic and I and maybe somebody else would take these buses over Mount Diablo to Ocherius to Dunn River Falls where all these white tourists would be busful of black kids from Kingston would get out and be there at the beach. We had wonderful times. But at least I was able to show them their own country to some extent, you know. I think it gave my father an opportunity too to be expressed. So it was, you know, that's the sort of thing he did. And it just took pleasure with it. But you know, the rector there, Larry Burke was, became Archbishop of Kingston later, was such an understanding man. I mean, I spent a lot of time with him because he was a Jamaican, native Jamaican, right Larry? It was a struggle, it was a struggle, you know. And there were only two scholastics in St. George's. Well, I'll tell you a funny story. On this, I'll be at the end of St. George's because that will run down my time. So I was a scholastic when then, and they used to say in the Society of Jesus the end of a scholastic is to be kicked. So scholastic, there used to be so many that they didn't have many privileges or rights and you could be walked over by the older fathers. I thought it was their job to humiliate you. Right, right. Well, I didn't take too well to that. So I remember one weekend, we couldn't get off campus. It was so difficult to leave campus because it was a dangerous part of the city. I had signed up a car for a Friday night with a scholastic that I was living with and two scholastic is a campion to go to a movie. When we had left campus in the ages. So I went to get the car and somebody else had crossed my name off and put his name in and I wonder, so where did father have it and go? Where did father take my car? I said, oh, he went to play Mahjong with the Changs. I remember it like it was yesterday. So I said, Mahjong with the Changs. I was so annoyed. So I said to the guys, I said, well, we can't go to the movies. I said, who wants to go to Boston Beach tomorrow? Boston Beach is in Port Antonio, about 50 miles away, great beach. I said, yeah, I said, well, we'll get the van. Well, no, the father, the father had a van. He and the hand has the van signed up tomorrow for golf with his buddies from Campion. I said, you know, Heffernan. I said, well, you know, you can't have it both ways. So he took off. I said, are we ready at six thirty in the morning? I had the van, we're going. So I crossed his name off, put my name in and he had our food all packed up and off we went in the van to Boston Beach. And apparently Heffernan was quite annoyed but he found his van wasn't there. They missed their golf date. And we came back around five thirty and the rector was out in the parking lot. Larry Birkin, he says, duty, said, what did you do? I said, what did I do? I said, I went to the beach. Father Heffernan is so mad at you because he was supposed to go golfing. I said, listen, Larry, you know, I was supposed to go to the movies last night with a couple of guys. We signed a card up to go to the movies and Heffernan took the car to go play mahjong. So he signed up to play golf today and I took the van to go to the beach. I said, you know, turn a bus fair play. Oh, God, he says, you know, you're brazen. He says, good for you. Good for you. Well, don't go in the house just yet. Let me go straight in the cell with Heffernan. So he calmed the waters before I ran into him. Never happened to me again. Michael, when you came back to the States then, did you, I know this because I ended up living in the same community with Michael. You came up to Weston College, correct? I did. Cambridge Mass. Well, I went to. I went to. You were also doing another degree. Did you do a degree at BC at the same time? I did a massive degree at BC in MBA and finance at BC. And then I finished the degree at BC and I went over to Weston where you were in 75. And while I was with you in 35, I taught at Boston College and studied theology at Western School of Theology. While you were studying at Harvard. The esteemed Harvard PhD. You can see the grief I took. Oh, yeah, absolutely right. Absolutely right, but no, but that's when we became friends. I mean, 1975, it's been a wonderful friendship all these years. And Jerry actually has directed my retreat on several occasions, keeping my head above water from time to time. Praise, no blame, Michael. So we had, I mean, that's been three years at Weston studying theology. And what I wanted to do when I finished theology was to either go for the DBA or just to go over to BC and teach. And then eventually get the doctorate and business administration. But superiors had other things in mind for me. They were sure that I needed a pastoral year because I was too business oriented at the time. So they said there were a pretty normal stage in Jesuit formation that, you know, we've been in studies for so long that the year after ordination is being plunged into the ups and downs and the requirements of being a priest in an ordinary parish. But Michael went to anything but an ordinary parish. He went to Holy Trinity in Georgetown. I loved it. I was supposed to go for one year I stayed for three, Jerry. So they were, one of the reasons I liked it, one of the reasons they sent me they were doing a renovation restoration of the church. And funny enough, it was 1978. It was only gonna be a million dollars. I imagine trying to restore church today for a million bucks couldn't do it. There were a lot of wealthy parishioners but they weren't very generous at the time. But the money got raised and the church got restored, beautiful restoration. Not a major, major restoration. We couldn't afford what it would have cost but it was spectacular. In Jim English, the parish priest had such insight. But they were there too. I mean, I learned all the theology I needed to be a priest at Western School of Theology. I learned how to be a priest from Tom McGavigan and Jim English, the two parish priests at Holy Trinity in Georgetown. The remarkable man. Wonderful, wonderful man. Jim English, though he had some issues himself later in life, he had a silver tongue. He was a brilliant, brilliant preacher. Then litter just, and he loved his people. Tom McGavigan, who had been novice master, Jim's novice master and the previous pastor was also a very fine preacher, a good theologian. He actually, he was, he wasn't allowed for a couple of years he wasn't allowed to preach at Holy Trinity. He wasn't allowed. Oh, by, oh boy, Cardinal Boyle. Yep, because he had said something negative about Imani Vitae, the birth control document. So even though he couldn't preach, the nuncio sent a limousine up once a month to pick up Father McGavigan to bring him down to the nuncio journey to hear the confessions of everybody in the nuncio church. So he was good enough to hear the confessions of the people from the nuncios on down, but not good enough to hear the confessions of the people who was parish. So it's just, that's just one of these things with the Jesuits, I suppose, you know. Michael, did you ever imagine that you would then go? I know that there was a little detour, but then the bulk of your life before you came back to your alma mater was in St. Louis, right? Right. How did you end up in St. Louis? Well, I had done five years of development work at Western School of Theology after Trinity. And it was time for my internship because I, I know it was 10 years already. I was 10 years out already from ordinary. You all know the internship is the last stage, official stage of Jesuit formation. It's supposed to be what the Jesuits call or Ignatius called the school of the heart. So that after all these years of study and formation, you go back and you make the spiritual exercises again. Very often you're sent to another culture. Very often you are invited to do ministries that you haven't done before. So it's a real spiritual renewal before you're invited to pronounce your final vows, which peculiarly what the Jesuits happened some years after your ordination. So Michael, you went to Holy Ireland for your internship as a... I went to the Holy land, Holy Ireland, I did indeed. So it was, you know, now I had been, Jerry, I had been in this at Holy Trinity. It was very wealthy parish. And then at Western school, theology is direction development. So I was wearing in those days, pinstripe suits, dress shirts, I mean, out to fancy dinners, big fundraising dinners, all this sort of stuff. And then all of a sudden I'm sent off to, to Ireland, 40 years old, to do this school of the heart. And we get there and the, the tertian director decides he wants us to live like novices, you know? I mean, and they're, they're somewhat austere. They were in those days. So he, we were told that we would return in all our money that we've brought with us and that we would get an allowance that we might need from, from him or minister. And we were to live austere poverty. And Holy glory, this is not gonna be the, not my idea of a good time. So I, I took him at his word. I turned in all my money, but I kept my credit card. My, you had mentioned credit card. So if you wasn't asking for him, you weren't giving him, right? He didn't ask for it. I didn't volunteer it. So, so I was obedient, not in the spirit, but in the practice. So, so I had to have some little freedom there. But it was, it was good. I enjoyed the, the, the exercises again, were wonderful for me. It made me look at my life in retrospect. I knew that I didn't have a lot of excuses. And I realized, look at some, some areas where I needed a little polishing, a little penance, some confession, a reorganization of my spiritual time. Cause when you get busy, busy, busy, sometimes you, the prayer is sometimes the first thing to go years. So, so it was a great year for me. And, you know, I, I certainly wasn't, I certainly wasn't working with wealthy people when I was on my experiments. My first experiment, we had food. That's what Jesuits call these pastoral assignments, either during the novitiate or during Personship. Ignatius believed that what most formed Jesuits were Esperimenta experiences. So, so Michael's a tertian master, like his novice master, would have tried to look for experiences that would both challenge Michael and bring out the best in him. And humbled me a little bit. So, so my first experiment or experience was to work in a large community in Inverness, Scotland. So this was, I went there October 31st that day after my birthday and stayed there. Do you want to explain Michael what a large community is that? Oh, okay. Yeah, I will. I'm sorry, I should have done that. Lars. By Jean Vanier. Jean Vanier founded this community of people to care for challenged individuals, mostly mentally challenged individuals. Seriously, seriously challenged though. All over the world they are now large communities and so there'll be about four, maybe five challenged people in a house and maybe three or four people who were challenged in different ways, shall we say. We're also charged to be caregivers. Right. So that's where I went and there were. Well, you know, so Michael's fast mouth and his fancy, you know, oyster bay manners wasn't going to get him anywhere with these, you know, extremely mentally challenged and sometimes physically challenged sisters and brothers in the large community. So his tertian instructor was very wise. Well, I shouldn't tell you the story, but I'm gonna. Now Michael, be careful. This is, you know, this is like God knows who's going to hear this. All right, then I won't tell the story I was going to think of, but they left little hints around the house about how much you were cared for or not cared for, shall we say. Like the toilets might not always be clean. So they were little digs, you know, because I had to learn to deal with these people and I, no, I came to love them. So when the time was up. Because they can, you know, I'm guessing that they called, I mean, like your tertian instructor knew that this was an opportunity for you to move from your heart. Which is ultimately, as I know you, what has really given force and power to your ministries anyway. I'm conscious of the fact that I don't want us to not get to your return to Fairfield, but could you say a little bit about St. Louis? So after Tertianship, you went to St. Louis, to the University of St. Louis. I did two more years of fundraising for one of our high schools. And then I've had nothing that and Provincial had promised me before, but I wouldn't have to do any more fundraising, but he was going back in his word. So I had a chance for him. How would he like me? So he says, all right, go work at Chemist Institute. That's what you want to do. So my friend of mine was a St. Louis University, a very close friend of mine. He'd been the president of Western School of Geology when I was there. So I went down there into campus ministry. I lived for 16 years in a 17 story high rise dormitory. And I would take the elevator to the top every night and walk every floor down. Wow. Every night, the whole time I was there and any door that was open, I would even talk to people. So I, after two years of that, so you overcame your native shyness and reserve. And... But I love the students, you know, I just did. And you know, people get annoyed with students. I seldom get annoyed with students because you know, they're 18 to 22 and they're basically a fine lot of doom what comes natural to them, you know, they ain't perfect. And neither am I, neither are any of us, you know. And so I became very popular with students. I mean, I was privileged and humbled because they would come and see me about things that were on their minds and in their hearts. And it really is, you know, when somebody walks into your office and unloads all the stuff in their lives, it's such a privileged place to be. To be trusted like that, have someone pour out their heart to you and ask, don't even ask them to solve their problem. It's just more or less to hear their problems, you know, and to let them cry and just to be with them sometimes. That's, oh, these are some of the hard times. I mean, it could be something internal or it could be the death of a parent or a grandparent just to have the experience of being there for them and have them take them to their time. It's such a holy place to be, a holy place to be. So I did that and then I became director of campus ministry. I stayed living in that dorm. I still did my thing every night. But even before I became a director, there weren't enough kids going to mass as far as I was concerned at St. Louis University. Not enough. We had a big, big college church where we had a mass. The parish had two masses in the morning, maybe a third and that was it for the parish, but it was also our chapel. So we, the campus ministry had a mass at 430, which was attended by a lot of parishors too and a mass at 7 p.m., which wasn't very popular. So I decided to start at mass at 10 o'clock at night. So this is 1989, I was told it couldn't happen. They wouldn't go. I said, yeah, they will. And so it's, well, you're gonna have to do it by yourself because no one's gonna help you. I said, it's fine. So I started this mass at 10 o'clock and I got volunteers. I mean, I remember the first one, Dr. Willing, Dr. Michael Willing. He's a wonderful man in Cincinnati, Ohio. I paid for his guitar lessons and he was our first guitarist and vocalist and he got a couple of his buddies to sing and that's how our music started. And then when I became director, I had a lot of access to money and we had a great budget. So I started paying five musicians and singers and within a year and a half, we started getting 1,000 people every Sunday night at 10 o'clock mass and we had a choir. I said to the guy hired the choir director, I said, I want any kid who plays any instrument to be able to play. So we had, we told them, if you have playing instrument, you wanna play it? Come, come to the practice. So we had violins, we had cellos, we had drums, we had bongos, we had keyboards. We had 60 or 70 kids in the choir. It was with all their various instruments. I paid five and there's a tape with the music. It's still going. It's just wonderful. The 10 p.m. mass choir, it took off like nobody's business. And you know, one of the things about it was there be, people wanted, of course, also the judges wanted to be able to say this mass. I said, fine, you can say it. I said, but you have to con-celebrate. So we would have eight or nine con-celebrants every Sunday night at 10 o'clock, you know? And if you'd con-celebrate on a regular basis, then you got to preach at it. And so we had great preachers. We had great celebrations. And when we did con-formations and baptisms right after Easter, we would do like the whole Easter vigil all over again. It was just wonderful. We'd have a bishop come in, usually a good bishop, not always, but it was such a privilege. And I got a retreat program really going, you know? It's a lot ahead of steam. We used to send three buses to Washington, D.C. for the March for Life. We just send a couple of buses down to Georgia for the Ignatian Teach-In near the Army base. Wow, I loved my time at St. Louis University. I started three different chemistry centers because they kept moving us. Michael, as you described what you did, what you accomplished, what you experienced at St. Louis University, it's almost a prelude to what you accomplished here. You were eight years director of campus ministry? Six. Six years. Michael, when you came back, you had been away from Fairfield for a very long time. Yeah. What was your, when you came back, what year did you come back? Come back in 2006. When you came back in 2006, you talked about your classmates and the Jesuits and faculty who affected you and shaped you. What happened when you came back? Did you meet some of those same people? Were there new people? Tell us about the Fairfield that you encountered when you came back. Before we invite you to say something about how you transposed, what you learned about campus ministry and shaping a new campus ministry here. Well, you know, George Gallarelli, God bless George Gallarelli, was still here, was still working full time, you know? So, Larry O'Neill. When George, George was, what he was doing when I first came back, I think it was, Was he director of admissions or he was dean? I was the director of admissions when I came back, you know? He was dean of admissions when women first came, right? For a long, yeah, 1970, yes. They said he liked short skirts, but he was dean of admissions for a long time. And then he became chaplain for the athletes after Larry O'Neill died. And Vinnie Burns was here, top theology when I was a student here. Wonderful, funny. He was one of your models in learning how to be abandoned, right? Didn't Vinnie have a car or two and a boat or two stashed away? Yes. Somewhere on campus that superiors didn't know about? Right, it was. He didn't ask for permission for them so he couldn't be said to be disobedient. So he, so you ask forgiveness, not permission as a judge would, you know? Was Jim Fitz on the staff when you came back? Jim Fitz is, he played basketball here when I was a student, but Jim Fitz, Jim Fitzpatrick is my role model for what it is to be a layman who lives the exercises. Jim Fitzpatrick is one of the most remarkable Catholic, Christian, Ignatian men I've ever met in my life. I am so grateful to him. The impact he's had in my life these last 15 years. He is so remarkable, so remarkable. And he is a role model for so many of our students and so many of the good things he does and does so many good things for people. You never hear a whisper about it. He never blows his own horn, you wouldn't know it. He is, he is for me, Mr. Fairfield. He welcomed me back in wonderful ways and has helped me in every way I want, everything I could ask in ministry. He is, I can't say enough good things about Jim, but now he's probably, if he's watching, he'll be all red and embarrassed. But there are other people like Jim too, not as great as Jim, but there are people who really understand the exercises. They really do. And Joel Lee is one of them, I see her face there. But, you know, so many of the people here now have done the exercises. Like a little louder, please. So many people here now have done the exercises through your program, Jerry, the 19th Amtation Retreat. And so the spirit of Ignatius still is here in this university, but there are standout characters who like Jim Fitzpatrick. And I think it was Colleen Gibson, you know, she was a student here and she was very involved in campus ministry. And now this is the Colleen who's now a sister of St. Joseph of Chestnut Hill. Paul Lakeland brought her back in one of his series quite recently. I hope you've had a chance to hear Colleen. I didn't, but I can hear it. I know I can listen to it. But I spoke to her last year, she was here for an event last year at one of the dances. And we didn't dance together, but we had a long conversation. She's a, yeah, she's a remarkable woman. But there's so many people like that. I think when I started the liturgy here at Fairfield, the 9 p.m. mass, I really got going. When I came here, there was one guy played the piano and sang. I didn't think that was quite adequate. So I started with the help of a lot of students, the Lord's Chords. I bet there's some Lord's Chords alumni and alumni. Oh, there's, well, maybe, and I'm sure some of them are probably, my Alex Parris perhaps, when he was one of them, there were so many of them that were so good that the music at the 9 p.m. mass was excellent from the time they started going with two guitarists to up to recently, well, even now, I mean, it's quite hard during the COVID, but their music has been great because they've thrown their hearts into it. They really haven't thrown their hearts into it. And I'm very proud of what they did, what they've done, what they do. And I hope when COVID's over, that energy comes back to the liturgical music at Fairfield because it's great. We used to even have a retreat for the Lord's Chords that they went on when Caroline Maxwell, God bless Caroline Maxwell, she's, when I arrived, because I don't arrive quietly anywhere, Jerry, as you know, so I decided that we were gonna do something with that liturgy come hell or high water. And she was in charge of liturgical music at the time. And so I told her what I wanted and what I anticipated, what I expected. And she was, but together, we did it. You did it. And then, Michael, after six, after eight years, you transitioned into a position which you have described to me as the most gratifying and the most meaningful ministry you've had. Could you move your head a tiny bit, Michael? Because I want people to see what's behind you. Oh, there! It's Rembrandt's painting of the prodigal son returning to the prodigal father. And so, would you share something, Michael, about this last period, this most recent period of your ministry here, which, as I say, you yourself characterize as the one that's meant most to you? Yeah, it's been, it's the ministry that I didn't have to run anything in a way. You know, higher fire salaries. Yeah, it's the most joyful ministry I've had that's so sustaining. I got started with Jeff Onarchs, who... What's the title of your ministry again, Michael? Many, almost everybody's familiar, but say it again. I'm the director of restorative mentoring. Restorative mentoring. So I try to restore students to our community and to their families, you know? Because when they're in trouble with us, they're in trouble also with their families frequently enough, you know, and kids mess up, you know? So it's, and I, this picture behind me means so much to me because that's, that's how I picture my life all the time. You know, I'm always going back for forgiveness and knowing that God comes out to me first. You know? Don't you have a mug that says something like that? Yes, we have your mug with you. Thank you, Betsy. Where's your mug? I'll show you. I mean, we see your mug on there. You know, we see your ugly mug now, but I mean, you also have bad joke. What? Yes, there's the mug, Jerry. Can you see it? Okay, Fairfield University. A feisty stag, totally forgiven. So not partially, not conditionally. Oh, no, totally forgiven. What about eggs? Oh, yes. So I have some memory or somebody, somebody talks about you and what's the egg? Well, you know, when I gave a retreat with Todd Palazza and my friend Hannah, I was, I was trying to get Todd Palazza to come and help you too, huh? Every crossroads retreat, he helps me. Everyone he helps me with. He gives a great talk. He's wonderful with the students. They love him. And Hannah Donovan comes to Todd Palazza. Shout out to Jim Fitz. A shout out to Todd Palazza. I saw Carolyn Rosakus as well here too. A shout out to Carolyn. They're wonderful people. Yeah, but anyway, Michael, so the egg, what the hell is the egg about? The egg is, I wanted to have something to give them besides the cup. So I, eggs are a great religious symbol, you know? And they contain the fullness of life, you know? An egg does can, everyone is different. Everyone has little flaws in different shapes and slightly different shade of color, but they all contain within them everything necessary for life. And that's what every one of our students has. I tell you, you have all that's necessary for good life to give new life, to bring new life. God gives it to us. We're all unique. We're all different. We're all wonderful. And so take care of that, you know? Michael, what are the kind of people who end up in your, who are the students? What do they bring with them when they're, it's not, again, it's not just your charm that leads them into your office. It's usually they've been encouraged to go to see you and to participate in your programs, right? Well, the one to go on the Crossroads Retreat are assigned. So they have, most of the students who see me are assigned to see me for restorative mentoring or for the retreat. But most of the time- Let me go back to that. What is restorative mentoring involved? What are you looking to have to facilitate there, Michael? Well, you know, kids get in trouble for various things, you know, some serious, some not so serious. So basically, my program, they don't know it, is based on this. Oh, the examine. The examine. I mean, I don't call it that for them. I stretch it out just to help them to look at, what are you thankful for? What, why are you here, you know? And so I have them look at their lives, do an examination, look at their lives. And I tell them, you know, it's very firmly depends on the student, but if they have, if they're in serious trouble, it means their grades usually suck as well, you know? So I'll have them, I'll say, so tell me, I said, ask them where they're from and backgrounds, so forth and so on. I said, how do you see, have a 2.4, you know? And I asked them if they know what it costs to go to Fairfield for a year. And then sometimes they don't know. I said, well, tell them. And so you have scholarship money and so on. I said, so that, so somebody is paying you, giving you money to come to school here. I said, some of that comes from the Jesuit scholarship fund. The Jesuit were so hard for so many years and others come from alumni. I said, and your parents spend the rest of the balance. Yeah, I said, tell me, where's your ski home for the wintertime? And I went, well, I've got one of those. Oh, do you have a place on the Cape? No, what do you do for the summers? Well, you don't have a house. I said, you know why? It's because your parents are putting $50,000 a year into your education. They're giving you Mercedes-Benz value. You're going back to Jalopy. I said, so how do you look yourself in the face in the mirror in the morning? How do you look in the mirror? How do you face? So I get a little bit jumpy. And then I said, so how can we change this? So then I get them, you know, some, I teach them how to manage their time. And they have to come see me every week. And I make them do a calendar online, you know. And I said, so I want you to put in, you know, all your class hours. And then I want you to put 25 hours more in on top of that. Your parents work 40 hours a week. Yeah, I said, well, I want you to work 40 hours a week. And I want you to account for it every week. Where's your time? Where's your time gone? And I say, if you put the 40 hours in, you'll be on the dean's list. And they do. So when I bring them through the whole examine, you know, Thanksgiving, illumination, examination, examination was first. And then contrition, are they sorry? And I say, have you told your parents how sorry you are for what you did, for what you've cost them? But this expensive ambulance ride, you know, on a Friday night, because you decided that Tito's, you were going to beat Tito's and Tito's beat you. I said, now there's a future. So let's go to the future. Let's put all this crap behind us. And now let's focus on the future. Where are you going to go? I said, it wouldn't hurt you to drop in the chapel at the time of the time. You know, thank God for what he's done for you. I don't admit this should go to mass, but you know, God is in your life. And you're here at the Jesuit University, Catholic University, and you might want to develop a relationship with God while you're here. Guys, it'll be there for you when times get tough. So that's basically how I deal with them, you know? I also go to lots of athletic events, you know? And even when I was an undergraduate, I remember we went to all the basketball games. I remember Art Kenny, the six foot eighth center, when I was here, he was a giant. Peter Gillan, who was a coach some place after in the middle West, there was a kid named Boyd. I liked, Jim Fitz was on the basketball team. He hasn't let go since, you know? So I went, I go to a lot of sporting events. You were pretty, you've been a pretty loyal supporter of soccer, but I think if I don't, if I get this right, you're particularly loyal to the lads and Lasses and the rugby. My rugby fugs, absolutely right. I love the rugby kids. And you know, when I was here, they had a gravel thing to play on. It was terrible, terrible field. Now they have a growered field thanks to the growered family. But they're wonderful young men. I got involved with them about 12 years ago because they got in trouble. But I've kept them on the straight and narrow. They're on not a short leash. I'm not too short of leash, but I love the rugby guys. And you know what? They have to have a higher GPA than every other club because we redid their constitution. And they perform, you know? If you ask students to perform, they will. And all they need is some attention, you know? Michael, we only have a few minutes now. So I wonder whether I can come back to the question that I initially presented to you when we reached this juncture in your Jesuit life. I want to give a shout out to two other people first. Please. Bob Burcham, who is such a role model also in the exercises, is such a great alumnus. And Mary and Brian LeClair, who have become good friends through basketball, who are so generous with our basketball players. So I just want to call up to them. I don't know if they're here or not, but they did great things. And I see Carol Rezika's name here. Nobody in the world has trained better ministers or lecturers than Carol and Rezika's. She is dynamite. Sorry, Jerry, go ahead. No, no, I'm just gonna say, Michael, say again why it is that you characterize this ministry as very much the apex or the fullness of where God has brought you to? Well, it's because I see, I have a good prayer life and it's because God allows me to be available to the students that I serve and the people I serve. And God has used me in his hands for this kind of service and it's very humbling and gratifying. And I'm gratitude is what I'm at about right now. It's about service as much as I can be, given my age. But it's, I take such pleasure, Jerry, when graduation comes around and I stand up behind this VIP tent and I watch the students I've walked by and the students I've talked to who have had to see me and they call out to me, it could be such pleasure because I say, well, here's a kid who's gone on. He overcame that difficulty and he's accepted himself again. It's just, I think of my ministry as healing and I think always of myself as being healed. I can't think of a better note on which to end our time with Michael duty. I hope that your visit with him this evening has brought back many warm memories of your own experiences with him and with other mentors, faculty members here on our campus. This is what Fairfield is about. And I thank you all for being such important members of our Fairfield family and helping Fairfield to continue to live its mission through the example that you give. Thank you very much. And Michael, thank you very much. Great, thanks Jerry, thanks everybody. Thank you both so much and thank you all for being here. We hope you have a great night and Father duty, happy early birthday. Thanks very much. So the checks, the money orders, the credit card gifts, they can all come in so that I can afford to take him out for dinner on Saturday. Thank you everyone. Have a great night.