Memories of considering a Priestly Vocation, Getting Married, Finding God's Plan in my life ....
Pic: Keith & Maria Wedding, July 1983, Most Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, Double Image by John Fulwiler, PhD, Social Work Professor, Photographer.
“Mom, I think I may try to study to be a priest,” I said to my Mom when I was about 12.
Being a very timid and somewhat insecure lad, I certainly was raised in a faith practicing Catholic family in New Orleans but was very immature in terms of relationships with girls.
I didn't date much in high school and college years, as I did take more formal steps to consider a priestly vocation by getting some spiritual direction at Loyola Campus Ministry and through meeting with members of a local religious order, the Holy Cross Priests, which had a House of Studies on Audubon Street near some of my buddies, Scott Vincent and David Laroussini.
When I was in college and "flirting" with the consideration of going into the seminary, I had a very platonic friend and confidante, Maria, whom was also studying Social Work at the Loyola/Xavier/Dominican Consortium.
Maria and I had some mutual college friends, whom had dated for a few years and then one decided to join the Jesuits, so they broke up.
Maria was shocked when she had first heard of the break-up for our friends, and she shared about that with other colleagues in the Social Work/Sociology office where she worked part-time.
Fr. Joseph Fichter, SJ, a tall, renowned Jesuit Sociologist who had a deep, authoritative voice and whom had helped desegregate Roman Catholic parish schools in the South, shared the following statement with Maria and other staff that Maria remembered when I had started to disengage from priestly considerations and had developed a non-platonic affection for her:
"Nothing Can Come Between God and a man!"
After graduating from Loyola in 1981, I spent a year doing volunteer work in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps as a lay person in outreach to the elderly per the Porterville Community Counseling Services.
This volunteer service helped me to find that a Gerontology (study of aging) emphasis in Social Work was a perfect fit for me - and I subsequently formalized that at San Diego State University in Graduate Social Work. During this time, I did start to date some gals.
Maria had transferred from Loyola to UNO in the late 70's and graduated in Education for Teaching. Maria and I hardly saw each other after I graduated from Loyola, as we were mainly infrequent phone and correspondence friends.
Well, one thing led to another, and I did eventually long-distance date Maria, as we would see each other frequently when I had breaks from graduate school.
We became engaged after Midnight Christmas Mass, 1982 at the Most Holy Name of Jesus on St. Charles Avenue!
I played a fun trick upon Maria at the airport when I had flown into New Orleans from San Diego - not long after the March 1983 airing of “The Thorn Birds” television mini-series movie with Richard Chamberlain.
One of my priest friends had lent me his black shirt and a white collar, so I switched into that apparel while still on the plane while we were just about to disembark at the then named Moisant Airport (now Louis Armstrong) in Kenner.
As Maria went to welcome me while getting off the plane walkway to the airport - which people used to be able to do before restrictions came about after 9/11 - she was surprised to see me dressed like a priest when I gave her some kisses! Some on-lookers had a good laugh as I mentioned “The Thorn Birds Live!”
Maria and I married in July 1983 at the Most Holy Name of Jesus Church and it was presided by the late Jesuit, Fr. Harold Boggs,SJ – who was brother to the late Congressman Hale Boggs – and we have been married now for 37+ years.
While I may have had some wayward, sophomoric fun in that plane episode, I/we certainly honor all priests for their dedication and service to God and us.
Keith John Paul Horcasitas, 1133 Knollhaven Dr., BRLA 70810, khorcasitas.yahoo.com, November 9, 2020.
I can see from nearly all of these posts that you are entwined with the Roman Catholic tradition. And it has served you well throughout your life so far. I grew up in the Protestant tradition, but my high school graduating town was about two thirds (Polish) Roman Catholic. Many of those kid's parents could not afford the Catholic high school so they came to our school, Central High. While we have meat on Fridays in the school cafeteria, we did enjoy fish frys on Friday nights. And we ridiculed much of the dogma.
Like you, in 1981, in the hometown Presbyterian Church, I married a classmate from that 1961 graduation. She was going steady at the time. And in 1981 she was dating a medical doctor.
It turns out the rumors we learned about priests and altar boys had a ring of truth in it. There is no way of sleeping under the rug the long history of pedophilia, and perhaps, homosexuality that has worked its way into the highest ranks, including bishops and cardinals. There certainly are good priests who never practiced anything other than the word of Jesus, but forcing men to become celibate to enter the priesthood seems to me the way make it unlivable.
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Pic: Keith & Maria Wedding, July 1983, Most Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, Double Image by John Fulwiler, PhD, Social Work Professor, Photographer.
